Sunday, March 4, 2012

One Thai man's story and reflections across the Pacific

Last week Erin and I got our first peek at what will be our home for the next two years. After my Krung-Thep extravaganza we both spent the next three days with our new host family in a beautiful teak house that was designed by our host mother without the aid of paper or pencil. She basically just walked around and told he contractors what to do for the duration of the building process. Our host father, Samung, was off working in Libya at that time where he has spent ten of the last seventeen years working abroad. Stints in Iran, Taiwan and Libya, away from the his family, have earned enough cash for him to be retired at the age if 55. Samung worked in four year increments then returned to Thailand periodically to check in and apparently father another child (they have four, ranging from around 20-30 years old). When I asked Samung what his vocation is, he said farmer, even though his work abroad was always auto body repair. I was struck by the apparent modesty in his answer. Samung was a fleet mechanic in Libya for a large Korean corporation who 20 years ago secured a contract to build a water pipeline from Egypt there. The project was scheduled to take thirty years but Samung says he doubts it will finish in that time. If what I understood was correct, this pipeline will be 1000 kilometers long, about 4 meters in diameter and buried in the ground. I was impressed by the story behind his early retirement. He speaks four languages, among them enough English for me to understand just how warm hearted a man he is. I asked if he missed his family over this time and Samung said the work was too much fun to think about that. Thinking about this now I am reminded of my grandpa Tito, who is the only other person I know who seems to like work this much.

We have heard many times since our arrival here how common it is for Thais to move away from their rural homes for work. Samung's is the most drastic example I have encountered yet.

The day before we came back to Sing Buri he received a phone call from his friend in Libya asking if he would come back to work. When Samung told me he would probably go in three or four months I smiled at him and said "I thought you were retired"?

1 comment:

  1. Oh, I love your stories. Please keep them flowing. You and E are in my thoughts and prayers and I can't wait to come see you! I am SO PROUD of what you're doing and I'm happy to call you my fine fine friends.

    ReplyDelete