Handymen with no tools

It is quite interesting to see all the workers who come to our house to fix things carry very little tools. They do carry a back-pack, maybe with a newspaper and some basic tools, but every job seem to be able to be done by hand. Sanding the whole second floor using sandpapers only, no power sander. Putting putties on with their fingers, painting polyurphene with a paint brush. Everything does take longer, but they get things done eventually. With Dan being the civil engineer, it was hard for him to just stand back and let them do their work the Filipino way, but I could see him interferring as little as possible, other than a few times when the guys was creating more problems than we originally have, or not doing the job right at all.

It also seems like only the foreman has some knowledge of handy work, the other guys 4-5 of them, are much younger and are learning things on the job, which we don't mind, since we know next time they do the same job, they will be much better at it.

I don't know how much they are paid each day for their work, (they get paid by the day), but we are sure not very much. One time the painter guy came a few hours earlier because of miscommunication between his boss and the painter, Dan gave him 50 pesos ($1 U.S.) and told him to go get some lunch and come back. He had the biggest smile on his face, and ever since then, he always come on time and always smile at us and is doing a wonderful job.

We need wisdom to know what to do with the extreme poverty in this country.