Avalanche warning - the trees are coming to life!

Yep, we are back from the doc and he is fine; his bank balance has been improved, and he is as excellent a person as he always was. He said something that I found profound:

"Few people are brave enough to live a high spiritual life, to be aware of their higher being."

That made my headache disappear.

So far it was a fun day: I have mentioned the doctor, my wife is friendly, the sun is shining and I made a few bucks on the futures market. Whisper: never trust your wife to read what you write. Mine had me edit yesterdays blog to remove the errors of language, and that while I was still in bed! She has the sharpest eyes in the universe - tremble, tremble.

After yesterday's class-action mention, it was as if certain parts of the world suddenly woke up. It reminded me of a scene in one of "The Lord of the Ring" films where the mighty forest of trees suddenly woke up, began moving, and proceeded to meet out havoc to the enemy. Many emails arrived, even up to a few minutes ago, and even phone calls from past staff members pledging support for whatever the investors decide to to. The crowning surprise was to receive an email from Carole Gardiner, ex CEO of Edwabond. This I will discuss in the next blog (yes, of course today.)

Unfortunately, the most telling email came from a person who was able to clearly set out what happened around middle December 2008. Unfortunately, and for good reasons, I promised the person to keep the lids on the letter until perhaps need in court.

But let us get a bit more serious.

Yesterday as well as today, I have received a variety of comments from past-employees of Edwafin and subsidiaries, some rather high up in the managerial levels of the company. Most prefer not to have their names or submissions published, but two have commented anonymously to this blog. Since the comments to these pages are not that obvious when one arrives at the blog, I would like to quote both below:

Hi Mario,

I know that this blog was initially intended for the wronged investors, but ex-employees have also been lied to and led down the dingey cellar stairs by the "famous flabulous four" (oh yes, there were more - but as you mentioned they have slipped back into the snake hole they came out of) There are many of us who at our initial job interviews were led to believe the company was a profitable and successful one, and there were super promises of greatness,learning and growth, as well as fantastic career benefits "forging the way into a new frontier", one that many left secure jobs for, and put our qualifications, licences,reputations and very careers on the line for, and woke up a year or so later - retrenched, unpaid and unceremoniously kicked out of the offices. Please do belive that there are many former employees who are not you enemy - many of us sat in silence disgusted at your situations, and sickeningly aware of the fact that it would happen to us too! Yet as we sat, monitored by CCTV from every angle, our incoming and outgoing e-mails opened and read with a fine tooth comb, our telephone conversations tapped into, and sneaky little Stapleton spies everywhere; many of us sat back stumped and wondered "How the hell did I end up here, and how do I get out?" And yet meeting after meeting we prayed together, were assured that "God is on our side" and greatness sits just over the horizon - hang in there we have almost weathered this storm; and " No, we are not considering any retrenchments" Those who apposed and voiced their uneasy consciences were retrenched for "Operational Requirement" reasons or bullied into resigning for fear of having the deepest dark secrets of their personal lives revealed to all; and most on leaving were awarded the same respect as you and the other investors. We diligently log onto your site, hearts aching and minds boggled at what has transpired. Keep your ear to the ground - we are approaching from the rear - and reach a hand out to all the investors in support. What happened was WRONG, and should NOT go unpunished.

I believe this lesson has been bought to us to test and stretch and strengthen us in many ways. To the former employees - find your voice and the you that existed before Edwafin - the battle is not over, and together we can reclaim our dignity, self-respect and self-confidence we lost along the way. And hopefully, eventually, actually get paid what they owe us.

and the second:

To anonymous number one - I have no idea who you are, but I was standing with you through this as I too found myself in the same situation and I too was dumped on the side walk because I raised my concerns. The staff who didnt form part of the directorship were all victimised, scrutinised and had their spirits and self esteem broken. I too watch this site daily - I want to see the wheel turn - But Marc & Mario believe Anonymous when they say that the ex employees and hell, probably the last few that are still there were broken down mentally and spiritually like you would not believe.

I was rather moved when i sensed the desperation, anger and sadness in the tone of both these emails. These feelings were confirmed when I read the others that arrived as well. These letters speak for themselves, and one senses as sense of responsibility for what has transpired in our lives.

Here I speak for myself, but there may be others who feel the same way (in fact I know there are). I do not hold the representatives who sold the debentures to us, as well as any other supporting staff, responsible for selling us the dud investments. I firmly believe that one must have confidence in what you sell in order to be able to sell any product, and I think these agents must have been solidly under the spell of the hype that was disseminated by Edwafin to the public. The two persons who visited us were decent, honest and sincere people, I don't like them less now than I did when we signed our money over to Patrick and friends.

However, my heart does go out to those ex-employees whose careers were put in jeopardy and whose names became sullied by association. Most of them suffered a great deal materially as well, and are still trying to get salaries, pension money and severance packages from the Fantastic Four + 1 tiny one. They are scared to speak out under their own name, or to speak out at all because of real or perceived danger of physical harm.

To these people I can only say that I'm sorry that they have fallen prey to the same cruel intentions, by the same people, as the investors. If you would like to join the possible class action, the email address is on the right hand side of this page: edwafinclass@chromatique.com. Pleas do not hesitate to make your voice known on this blog, we are talking about a phenomena of which we are all part.