Death In The Thai Worker Community

[bina]

this past saturday, anon and i drove out to givat chen, a moshav in ra'naana. three nights previous, during an awful winter storm (snow at our placeso anon couldnt come home, no busses going up the mountain, rain and amazing strong winds gusting there) a thai worker burned to death.

he had built himself a wooden hut next to one of the worker's caravans (containers turned to housing). anon's 'brother' was sitting in his own wooden hut. a banging door annoyed him and he got up to fix it,stepped outside and saw flames shooting out of the next door caravan. he ran to wake up the sleeping workers but couldnt get to the fourth guy who was asleep in the hut and locked in. he called his employer who called police and fire fighters. in the mean time, no one could find the key to the locked door of the hut. the guy was drunk, they all say. he was using a spiral space heater and blankets or something fell on the heater, an accident waiting to happen. this after a million times employers and people like me who speak thai have reiterated not to sleep with the heaters on (we know that lots of these guys drink heavily and sleep like logs, often with cigerettes in their mouths also), not to put clothing near by, etc. the fire fighters couldnt do much as the winds had created some kind of whirlpool effect with gusts and fire.

a police investigation followed, his body was taken to abu kabir for identification and whatever police do when death wasnt of natural causes.

saturday, tamboon was done for him. the poor guy had three months left to go home. his wife had run off with a farang man a year or so ago and he had a filipina girlfriend... something like 50 thai workers showed up for the tamboon; money was collected to be sent to the family (parents i guess); his girlfriend showed up and was allowed to stay over with some other filipina girls to keep her company. a pig was slaughtered. the guys who were in the area at the time all got the white string thing (since they have suffered a trauma/near death).

when i spoke with one of the employers, i asked him what the mens' reactions were. he said that most were crying and very shook up that night and he took some in to his house to sleep for the next two nights as they were afraid to sleep where the fire had occured.

on saturday, it was as if nothing had happened apart from a sense of 'tightness' within the group. at the tamboon, people were laughing and carrying on as usual, but also spending a lot of time walking around the burnt out caravan and discussing and repeating the story over and over. 'thats life' and 'thats nature' and 'tamada' were said over and over.

people literally gave clothing off their backs (as we did also) to the three who were left with nothing. employer had given money and blankets but not enough for more then a set or so of clothing.

as with most thai 'ceremonies', i found that there was no set organization, timing, order or code... things just sort of happened by common consensus.

it was a very eirie experience, the opposite of jewish codes in regards to mourning, tragedies, accidents... where everything is very ritualized in certain way... here, during all the ceremony performed by an older thai as 'pu yai', people talked, and came and went... i also found it touching to see close friends and 'mates' staying close to the three that went thru the trauma of escaping the fire. they were never left alone, always surrounded but in a low keyed sort of way.

pic of the caravan ; the house was burnt to the ground, nothing left, and the caravan was the 'wall' of the house. tha thais set up an offerrng to the dead man including vodka (in the plastic cups) and cigarettes, oranges and apples since they had nothing else to give; pic of our friend by his 'house' which he no longer sleeps in, but uses as a closet; tying strings ceremony its about 0 celcius outside, and no one is using heaters in the caravans, and everyone cooks and eats outside anyway, no room in the caravans. husband (the one with the orange flames (arhg!) on his hat -- pic wont upload so gave up on it--, and others are kneeling on cardboard boxes since its all mud there.

the employer, with no cynicism whatsoever said he invited a 'ghost buster' from the thai consulate or the work company to deal with the dead man's spirit (i ahd asked if they didnt tell him they were afraid of ghosts.) five years ago a thai man died in his sleep in the same area. (whooooooooooooooooo..... )... this guys death (never learned his name) made the news along with all the other deaths and accidents from that stormy night; this wont be the last of these stupid accidents.

bina

israel

edits: having pic problems loading up and , all cell phone pics, not good quality, i felt a bit wierd photoing things although it didnt seem like anyone actually payed attention....

Edited February 3, 2008 by bina

[seonai]

God Bina it all sounds quite traumatic. Are you okay and coping? Please take care and I am very sorry for the person who died

[kat]

Yes, sounds terrible. I'm very sorry.

[sbk]

Sad for his family, but sounds like it could be fairly regular problem in very cold weather.

As for the attitudes and behaviors at the funeral, well that is pretty normal from all the funerals I have been to. Death happens to us all and while saddened by it Thai people do not show the grief they feel. Only time I have ever seen clear indications of grief at a funeral is when the body is being prepared to be cremated, and then cremated. But, up until then, it seems more like a wake than a funeral.

[bina]

yeah, i guess it was more like a wake...

for a group that just underwent a traumatizing exerience everything was calm cool and collected; no yelling or blaming (why doesnt the employer give a different or better type of heater - my reaction-- or any other of the typical reactions that i have seen from people (not thai) here... it seemed to puzzle the employer also; he, like most israelis, is emotional and loud and expressive, and he found it a bit bizarre that there wasnt any yelling or recriminations (i guess he is feeling guilty about giving that kind of heater! since we all know the safety habits of thais in the best of times) so he stood around for a while and chatted with me, and then sort of faded away in to the background, obviously didnt stay for the ceremony (he had no idea as of course thai never announce a time and place, they just sort of congregate and then someone starts speaking)...

its nice of u gals to respond; seonai, i'm fine, it was just a bit wierd to walk around on burnt up land where someone had just died (death doesnt bother me its the way he died)... and sort of wishing i could speak better more subtle thai to find out what people are really feeling (u farang think too much... anon says; its 'tamada' (regular' ) in this life, to die)

i also find it wierd that people here (as in the men) dont respond with their own thoughts -- its not thailand oriented, nor thai wife oriented, but it could have been one of their brother's in law or whatever; and i for one find the emotional reactions of people from other societies interesting, especially as i am married to one from that society.

check out pramut's hut; he is big, and the caravan he lives in has 6 guys in it (different employer; stingy--- as six is oercrwding which is why he built a hut... no room in winter for drying towels, clothing or moving around much. cooking is done thai style outdoors....

thats not the first time a thai worker died in a fire; every year it seems there is one, from the same reason: heater catching stuff on fire; in a past year it was a thai worker living in wooden boxes from some factory!!

what i also found interesting was the willingness of others that have almost nothing to give what they have to help; pramut ended up without a winter jacket and winter clothes (that we had proccurred for him, he bought them)so the three could have something so we ended up giving him and others stuff (no they dont see us as walking atm, it never occurred to them that we would give them something.... )

its 'naam jai' at its best.... something that thai here complain that we dont have enough of, here.

bina

israel

third pic finally loaded;

[Gimbo]

i also find it wierd that people here (as in the men) dont respond with their own thoughts -- its not thailand oriented, nor thai wife oriented, but it could have been one of their brother's in law or whatever; and i for one find the emotional reactions of people from other societies interesting, especially as i am married to one from that society.

third pic finally loaded;

Here are some of todays headlines from one of the internet papers I read daily:

Girl (16) Pushed Into Deadly Fall

Scout aged 15 Killed his Own Family

Pakistan: 6 killed by Suicide Bomber

9 Civillians Killed by Soldiers in Iraq

Rebellion in Chad: Bodies Litter the Streets

Cayak Paddler Drowned

Russian Ship Hijacked by Pirates

The death of one person in a housefire in Israel, while tragic, does not really register. It's just news for most people. Personally I read it to get to know more about funeral rites than anything else.

And I guess thats what it it was for most people...

[thaihome]

There are several men from my wife's village (no immediate relatives) that work in Israel. Very sorry to hear about the death. Do you happen to know where he was from?

TH