I am accommodated in a guesthouse that also belongs to the company.
It is no longer new, but it serves its purpose, and for the local conditions it is pure luxury.
You don’t need an alarm clock here either.
At 4:30 the muezzin calls us to prayer. At 5:01 am, a whole truckload drives right past my bedroom on its way into the bush to pick up the wood on the first tour and transport it to the factory. At 5:30 the siren goes on for the first time and the first shift begins. Then the siren wails again at 6:00 and at 6:40.
This is repeated every morning, even on weekends. On Saturday and Sunday we also work, even if only until noon. So 7 days a week work, both here in the village and in the bush. It’s a very hard life for the workers, because service and maintenance have to be available all the time to take care of urgent repairs and maintenance, even on weekends. That’s overtime then, but that doesn’t make it any better. In the forest, they work 7 days, the next day will be no working day.
At weekend, I walked through the village to have a look at the surrounding area. It is shocking that there are still so many small mud huts. The house wall is a network of wooden branches, filled with mud inside and out. Water is fetched in buckets from a pump well. Electricity is available in some but not all huts.
Or the house is simply a tin hut or wooden hut. I have never felt so wrong about the place.
The people are very friendly and open. You only look into good-humoured faces, people say hello or ask where you are from. I am not afraid at all or have the feeling of being robbed, I feel very safe here.
The closer you get to the company, the bigger and nicer the houses become.
The managers, on the other hand, live very luxuriously in their own housing complex with a barrier at the entrance, which is controlled and guarded by security. There is a large sign at the entrance with the clear message, “Only those who live here may enter. Visitors are not allowed on the premises alone, but must be picked up by the owner.”
This then is the class of rich here in the village.
On Sunday mornings they meet at the golf and then at the pool bar.
Then in the company one said to me. “Erwin, this is the company. You just have to block out what’s outside and not think about it.” I can’t just block it out. But I won’t be able to change it either.
On the company premises, elaborately crafted heavy dining tables are made, with LED lighting embedded in the tabletop, which are exported to the USA, and outside, there is not even running water in all the houses.
Now, to be honest, I also have to say that the company does a lot for the place. It runs and finances the school and the hospital, sponsors the football club, is partly responsible for the electricity supply and the entire water supply and disposal, and renovates roads and bridges. The company is the only major employer for over 2000 people. The business only works if people and their families can live here and want to stay here. And apart from work, there is absolutely nothing here.
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