Francisco Villanueva 50, has Diabetes Mellitus Two and needs help in improving his conditions. But his ill health and resulting poverty conditions had not always been as such, since for 22 years he had been selling a variety of spices in both Belize City and Belmopan. He had to stop selling spices two years ago after losing one leg, and now comes the added burden of having lost a portion on another leg. Francisco Villanueva is a fighter and is holding on to life tenaciously, because numerous persons have had amputations only to succumb to their conditions weeks or months later.
Today, Spice Man, as he is compassionately called, spends night times in his Nissan Altima by a tree at the San Ignacio Market or by the large walls of the Norman Broaster Stadium in San Ignacio, to shelter himself from the weather, and faithfully comes out on his wheel chair the next day and head to the market.
But Francisco Villanueva does not always pass his time begging. He reports to his music teacher at the House of Culture in Benque Viejo del Carmen regularly to refine his skills with the playing of guitar. His musical course of singing and guitar playing is scheduled to begin again in April of this year. As a result a group of concerned citizens are now trying to get Francisco Villanueva a guitar, but that guitar has been elusive, since the identified guitar so far does not have strings on it and only $65.00 has been raised. If you would like to help Francisco Villanueva, please call Elias Rodriquez at 604-7107.
