A small celebration for the construction crew

The construction crew is an extended family, from Bali. They work seven days a week and camp out on the property in very modest conditions. They work incredibly hard and yet they do not complain. They do require time to go back to their villages for ceremonies of various types, but otherwise they work reliably and formidably.

Shelly and I decided that since phase one is complete and the concrete floor slabs are in place, we would treat the crew to food from the vendors at the beach. On Sundays the locals come to relax and there’s a half-dozen or so food vendors to keep the crowds happy.

In general the client (such as myself) doesn’t interact with the building crew. And I am naturally limited because the crew doesn’t speak English. The process for communication is that I talk to the builder (who can speak limited English), who then talks with the crew foreman, and from there the work gets done.

Shelly and I also bring food treats and old clothes to the crew every now and again, and I’m the type of client who likes to visit the building site daily, to see the progress and learn the details.

So treating the crew like regular folk and appreciating their contributions was something that we wanted to formally acknowledge at the beach gathering.

The heartwarming moment for me was when they told me to stop spending money on them. At that point I had spent about 300,000 rupiah ($20 USD) on bakso (meatball and noodle soup), grilled corn, martabak (veggie mini-pancakes), drinks, etc. The crew knew I wouldn’t say no if they kept eating and drinking. But they didn’t want to overdo it.