Plans

Roger and I got on very well and we became good friends. One day we got talking about about some business ideas that he had. His degree is Economics from the national University of Lima. His father also owns several businesses, a number of farms I believe, a trucking business and a few other interests. He is an entrepenuer I suppose and Roger wanted to follow suit. Roger had been brought up as a priveledged and confident person with a great future ahead of him in business. He was at that time very ambitious and he wanted to eventually strike out on his own and not always be so reliant on his familys money. His father and his uncles had built up the family wealth from scratch, Rogers father (the family patriarch) had worked hard his whole life. Indeed he is still working now even though he must be a sectogenarian I guess. Out of the two of us Roger has by far the most ability, of course he also had a good knowledge of the business we eventually undertook whereas I had none. I think he wanted to work with me initially because I had some money (he didnt want to borrow from his father), because he wrongly thought I had access to low interest credit abroad, and I think also because he thought he could trust me.

Anyway, I had a dream of my own. My idea was to go back to Britain and build towards setting up my own shop selling Fair Trade goods from abroad which I then envisaged I could grow into a big business. Of course it was a total Pie in the Sky idea with absolutely no chance of actually happening. But at the time I was foolish enough to really believe it could be done. I was an idiot. On the other hand many people (not just children but otherwise sane adults also) have crazy dreams. For example to be a famous pop star, or actor, or writer, or set up their own successful business and be rich. But these dreams are often impossible to fulfill. My dream was to save the planet through Fair Trade and make a lot of money in the process. But Rogers ideas seemed sound to me so before I left to Britain I gave him $500 to invest for me in the hope of receiving $800 in three months time. Was I crazy to give this guy I met in Peru $500 to invest in shares? Yes I was! That was just the beginning though. Although I have ended up losing about half my money I invested I have not been scammed. I believe also that Roger has always been honest with me, although I could be wrong I suppose. After all he has lied to many people before, for example lied to his family and to Susanne extensively about the project we undertook together. But back then I trusted him, and for the most part I still do.

You have to understand that I was just 21 years old at this point and that I was a real head in the clouds dreamer. I was a delusional person who wanted to do exciting things with my life, but was not sure how to start.