In Need of Repair
As much as I love this temple, it’s not a feast for the eyes, it does need a lot of repair. This small building structure is at the entrance of the Wat, every time I see it, I want to peel the paint off, and put a fresh coat of paint, ivory color preferred. As you can see the peeling of the paint, it seems like an impossible task for me to tackle because the structure looks very old, no telling what I would get myself into.
This is only at the tip of the iceberg, then the main Wat is a colonel house, the kitchen, living room, bath, hall, let just say all rooms are in need of fresh coat of paint. I can come up with the money to buy paint and brushes, but it’s the man power that is needed. Now you know why I feel so heavy hearted when I look at it, might be easier for me to climb a mountain.
I’m beginning to see the task you have ahead of you.
Be careful with the paint. I don’t know how old is this structure but the paint might have lead.
You can not do this alone or even 2 people (unless you have the right tools and know what you are doing). It looks like you need to chip the old paint off first before you can put in the coat.
It is time like this I wish we have a central place, beside the temple, to recruit volunteers.
How about posting a flyers around town asking for volunteer?
Dallas, I’m capable of painting the inside, I painted an old house 2 years ago and it might be something that I need to tackle first, I just need to talk to my three sisters and see what they’d say, we spoke about this every time we were there. As for the small building upfront, I might ask my dad to inspect it first to see if it’s doable. My dad has all the right tools, but I’m not capable of doing any carpentry work, and my dad is too old to tackle anything that big, if he was younger, it’d be no problem. The bad part is the drive, quiet a distance from my house, at a time like this, I wish I am a male, that way I can take a few days off from work and stay at the Wat while working on this, I’d trade place with you.
I’m not sure about getting outside help, when I volunteer to help paint the old house that I mentioned above, I ended up doing it all by myself on the second weekend. It was a big disappointment; the owner and their children didn’t even want to help, you can’t rely on other people, help is hard to come by this day and age.
I got permission to start the project, and have my dad oversees the whole thing since he has more experienced, my younger sister will do drapes, and the rest of us painting. It looks like it’s going to be a long project and everyone that I talked to is looking forward to doing this, but I will not be recording or blogging about the progress. Thanks for the encouragement; we’ve been talking about this for over a year now, it’s about time we do something about it.
Ginger, I support you for not wanting to blog it. But, can you send me the pictures on the progress?
Thanks Dallas, I’ll keep you posted.
What a shocking photo! I can’t believe this particular temple is in such a terrible shape. I didn’t imagine the building would be in this state.
Here comes the criticism: It should have never gotten to this state of deterioration. Preventions should have taken place because when major improvements are needed, then lots of time and money will have to be spent, which could have been prevented.
I am an outsider but sometimes and outsider can point things out that the regular members might not be able to. I know you will defend the actions of the head monk for using resources to do other “more important things” than taking care of his own temple. But think about it, if you are regular members or visitors to the temple and have donated a certain amount of money already, then you might be reluctant to make additional sacrifice to keep the temple in the best state as possible. Some people might think that’s it not their place to save the temple if the owner (head monk) is not doing that himself or doesn’t think it’s important to maintain the building structure. You can’t blame others for not sticking their heads out because they might think it’s not their responsibility and it is their right to think so.
If there is no Nye Ginger and family to come to the rescue, then this temple will just wither away. Readers can ask themselves if they would let their own home turn into this state of deterioration and the answer would mostly likely be “no”. If a temple is looking like this, then how can you maintain the members and visitors and how can you attract new members? Yes, the temple is not as important as the monks that reside there (the opinion could differ for some) but if you don’t take care of your own spiritual house of worship, then how can you expect others to do the task for you?
I worry about the inside of the building and I hope there is no carpet and the walls are in good shape. When I see such a building I think about future inspections and what would happen if the temple doesn’t pass the city codes. It’s a lot to think about and this temple serves as an example of how no Lao temple should look like. Yes, it is not a big deal to the die hard members, but how many die hard members do we have really to keep the temple alive and thriving. Some people will not take their children to this place and the younger people will not find this place appealing or wanting to go there on a regular basis.
It would be a good idea to set a side a fund for reconstruction of the temple and if not then set up a separate box assigned for improving the temple. Correct me if I am wrong but I thought Buddhism teaches moderation and doing things in a right balance. To use the temple’s resources for other “more important things” mostly is not a good idea. You have to get your house in order first before trying to save the world.
I applaud you for your bravery and bringing up this topic. I am being frank with my comments and opinion and have tried to put myself in those people’s shoes to understand why they are reluctant to come forward and help. Sometimes it’s not because they don’t want to help or don’t care or being lazy but it is because they feel they have done their part and are not willing to do more. This is justifiable on their part to think that it is the responsibility of the head monk to take care of his own temple.
Best of luck to the restoration project. After it is completed I hope you and your family will be able to sit down with the head monk and discuss a plan to maintain the temple and to get the community involve.
Darly, the worshipers are Khmer, Lao and Thais, and most worshipers don’t have a lot to give, especially right now when most people only get to work part-time, and the head monk stresses more in Tum Boun than donating. I heard he spoke to my dad about expansion, building a new worship hall but the city didn’t approve of the structure, this is one of the problems that the Wat in North Carolina are facing, and might be because the majority of these Wat are in the residential area. Also, I kind of feel like some went to help overseas, and from hearing him telling us and talking to those that have gone with him and seeing the videos, he is thinking that they needed more, which at this point I’m not putting the blame, knowing myself, if I was in his shoes I might have done the same.
As for the worshipers, I feel like it is not that they don’t care, it is more that they don’t see anything wrong with it, they don’t see that it needs improving, you might think, how can they not? Sometimes when you live with certain things too long, it becomes a part of you. The project starts as early as this weekend, I want to get part of it done before he leaves for Cambodia next month. Also, some people don’t know that Wat is very much like an extension of your home, if you want to help do something, such as working in the garden or updating the bathroom or kitchen, all you have to do is asked, any help is greatly appreciated, for those that have money and don’t want to do the work themselves, they can hire a contractor to do the work. I always thought, if I win a lottery, I would build a new Wat, but the only problem with this is that I don’t buy lottery.
Ginger and Darly,
You know I thought about the exact same thing if I’d won a lottery.
This is sort of off-topic but inline with modesty. Do you all think we should have the same type of temple in USA as the one in Laos? I am talking about the architecture and other designs or maybe we should have just a simple building without any decoration like we have in Laos.
Dallas, I personally love the architecture of the Buddhist Wat, the detail wood works, and the Nagas at the roof line, but I’d imagine it’s very expensive and difficult to build in the US, and the Lao community that have Wat similar to back home are very lucky, I do wish that we have something similar to that, but I seriously doubt if it will ever happen here. I think what make Wat feels like one are the presence of the Big Buddha statue, and the smell of incense, it’s not that important as to what the outside looks like IMO, but it’s a Boun Tar (feast for the eyes ) to see the real Buddhist architectural style Wat.