👨🌾 Dirt Hauling In The Village 🛺 Employment Meets Volunteering 🤦♂️
Our friend Stephen requested some assistance acquiring and planting bananas, but seemed reluctant to hire my wife or I, so we found a villager also in need of employment.
💰 11 Bags Of Topsoil
We've helped our foreign friend Stephen acquire 20 banana trees for planting, but after acquiring the trees he seemed reluctant to take on the planting project by himself due to a lack of farming experience. We informed him that bananas are very hearty and will thrive despite being planted in what is basically pure clay.
Our friend seems more than willing to overpay for just about anything, but when it comes to paying us for anything other than rent money, it seems there is hesitation. We offered to acquire the bananas for him, plant them and/or teach him how to plant them, and even when he said he'd like topsoil, I offered to wade across the river and collect it for him.
Giving Work Away 💸
I came to the realization that our friend thinks most people in our village are poor despite the fact most people here have sold land for $20,000 to $50,000 USD multiple times and lost it all at the Thai border casino. The locals, particularly soldiers, can illegally clearcut a patch forest and own the land within a few years, and so this process is often repeated multiple times. My wife and I's life savings of $10,000 USD wasn't enough to do anything here, so we had to borrow a lot and are heavily in debt.
There are Toyota Tundra trucks, Camrys, and even a Hilux here in the village, and most people laugh at us for having a tuk-tuk an old Honda SuperCub 90 for our family transport, but for us it's more than enough, plus they are efficient and cheap to maintain compared to a car or modern motorcycles. My wife and I have come to a realization that our friend thinks we're wealthy like him, and so hiring us for any kind of work is not an option in his mind.
I'm An Indiana Farm Boy 👨🌾 No Problem
When we realized all we had to do was connect our friend with anyone other than ourselves, we thought of one kind working class gentleman that wouldn't waste the money on cigs, alcohol, or casino trips. When our friend requested some topsoil from the forest, Taa Noap (the man in this post that's not me) wasn't sure how much to charge, so I reminded him not sell himself short because our friend likes to spend, just not on us.
In the end Taa Noap decided $2.50 USD per half-full rice sack was a fair price, but I insisted he tell my friend $3.00 USD. This put a smile on his face, and I could see he was far more eager to hike and haul for this price. I even told him if he could place the sacks near the highway that I'd help carry and transport them in my tuk-tuk. In the end I translated for an hour, and did about 40 minutes of manual labor. Taa Noap made $33 USD and I earned a "thank you very much," not ideal, but Taa Noap knows I helped him earn the money, so I'm sure he'll be glad to give me a helping hand in the future when I need it.
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What a strange attitude your friend has. And yet you guys have the knowledge to share with him. That was very kind of you to recommend someone other than yourselves so I'm sure it will come back to you tenfold.
Yeah, it is strange, but I am used to "neo-colonial attitudes," or whatever it can be called. Another thing that has been irritating me is that all the adults in my life never let me finish a sentence. Whether Khmer or foreign, it seems everyone around me talks in monologue form, and any attempts thwarting the one-way conversation are all done in vane.
A wise man once told me to judge the intelligence of a person by the questions they and not the things they say. Surely this expression is much older than the guy that said it to me, but it has stuck with me because it is very profound. I tend to to let someone ramble if they want, and nowadays I have the most intelligent and thoughtful conversations with my 14-year-old daughter.
That really is quite the different culture. It's neat that you were able to act as a mediary to get everyone what they need; the goodwill will undoubtedly come back in your favour in the future.
The man is a reliable one, unlike most folks in our village. He expressed gratitude for landing him a job that my wife or I would've been very capable of doing. I am sure he will keep us mind when he harvests some durians from his trees.
You are a good man sir. Helping other people is a kind of good deeds and practices.
This man is worthy of the help because he works hard and doesn't waste all his money on gambling, cigarettes, and booze. I wish we could help him more, but we are poor also.