“Oh!! Oh!! Oh!!” Santi exclaimed, standing at the glass doorway leading onto the outside corridor.

Staff member Santi, whose hours are from 11 – 7 p.m. at the Center, and I were in the office, waiting for those last 2 hours to end. The other 4 staff members had left already. I usually am hanging out until 7 – 8 p.m. as I have so much work to do.

Santi’s exclamation caught me off-guard as thunder, lightening and then a gigantic tornado-style wind sent leaves, tree branches, our trash cans and potted plants flying around our cement courtyard. Then came pelting sounds hitting our tiled roof.

Marble sized hail!

And then ……CRASH!!

The courtyard rotted-out tree cracked in two and down it came, just missing the recently-purchased second-hand van.

In fact, Santi had just moved it not more than 10 minutes before as it was blocking the view of the gate. We like to see who is coming and going. Had it stayed where it was, I dread to think what would have happened. This vehicle, which is not really ours but we can use it when necessary, totally destroyed.

My own beloved midnight blue Scoopy, which is only 3 months old, was likewise being pelted by icy circles of hail. Santi was the one who held me back from racing out to move it, which is a good thing as hail can be pretty damaging, especially on people.

Naturally, we excitedly whipped out our cell phones and began recording. This phenomenon is so rare in Laos where our temperatures sore daily into the 100s. Yes, it’s VERY hot here.

The Aftermath

The storm didn’t last long but the mess it left behind is taking the entire week to clear up.

Santi and I had fun searching out mangos from the tall trees and filling bags of those.

There was no way to deal with the fallen tree immediately so we just walked around it. We tisked, muttered, moaned and groaned over the amount of time this would take to clean up. I was concerned as classes began on Monday. Having a huge tree, palm branches everywhere, leaves and branches spread throughout the compound didn’t look very good for our Center.

Already, the place was falling down around my ears needing so many repairs and new office supplies. Having even further damage aired so openly and publicly didn’t make for a very prosperous image.

The Clean-up

Santi had an idea to call the owner and find out if there were any tree folk around or a Laos hiring company that could take care of this quickly. The owner recommended someone but refused to pay so that came out of our SLVC bank account.

For 800,000 Kip ($35, which is a fairly substantial amount of money), the person Santi called said he’d come right away the next day to begin clean-up.

What a relief for Director Connie!

A Pitiful Sight, Every Day

But seeing the tree removed proved more a burden to my heart than I could have ever imagined.

Saturday brought over an older man, all by himself, with a beat-up truck, to deal with the fallen tree by himself. His son was not able to help. That first day, his chainsaw broke due to the thickness of the trunk.

He began with the smaller branches, hacking at those with a machete, before leaving that first day after loading up a truckload of branches.

Sunday was Easter Sunday and the Center had no one here to let him in.

Monday, he returned and spent the entire day in the hot sun, slowly sawing away at the trunk. We encouraged him to drink from our water dispenser. On several occasions, when he went out for lunch, he brought back cups of iced-down Pepsi.

Those drinks are not cheap here in Laos and having so little money already, he must have been treating himself as the job was so very big for just one person.

A full week later

It is a full week later. Our tree removal man has only a small piece of the trunk left. I was here last evening until 8 p.m., after my children’s class finished, and watched as Lelaine helped him finish up sweeping the rest of the leaves and twigs away. Lelaine stays here in one room for free. She is from the Philippines and teaches at a local school during the day while diligently taking care of the Center’s outside needs. She is the one to protectively guard us, lock the gate at night, open it in the morning, deal with filling trash bags for garbage pick-up, sweep the porch area, unlock and lock doors to all the classrooms, plus just make sure we are somewhat safe from any nefarious people or unusual weather events.

These are the last pictures from yesterday evening. He will be returning either later today or tomorrow to finish up the last of the trunk.

A Note of Cultural Differences

When I mentioned to my Laos office staff that he had worked so hard and I’d be sure to give him a tip, they looked at me blankly.

What’s that?

I explained when someone worked very hard, we often gave extra money to show our appreciation.

I received many frowns of disagreement and disdain for my idea.

“Let him clean out the back of the hall,” one responded rather heartlessly. “He can clean that and then you can give him the extra money.”

The back of the hall was filled with palm branches, twigs, and piles of dried leaves. After his back-breaking labor for 6 days, he was expected to clear out more to receive $13 more?

“Yes!” was the consensus of the group. “Let him clean out the back. He accepted the job. He needs to do more if you give him more money.”

I thought on this for a moment.

“I absolutely agree,” I piped up. “You are all very wise. I am just a foreigner and I’m new to Laos. You can help me learn more about the customs. I need to be careful with my money.”

My office staff smiled and nodded at my prudent decision, all instigated by their careful guidance of clueless Connie.

I in turn smiled, headed out the door, caught the man outside the gate, ….and gave him his tip.

Connie in Laos