Bad memories of lightning

The village where I grew up was a very flat piece of land. There were no tall buildings around and no hills, the highest point was a tree or a person riding a bicycle. General knowledge tells us that lightning always strikes at the highest point, therefore many of my village folks were struck by lightning while taking a shelter under a big tree or cycling in the rain.

My class mate's father was killed by lightning strike, the shocking memory is still fresh in my mind after all these years. He, his name was Kau, lived across the road opposite my house.Kau had a bigger family as compared to mine, both his parents worked in the field, plus 3 brothers and 2 sisters, it was a noisy farm. I like to hang around if there was not much to do in my own farm.

It happened on a quiet Sunday, and the harvest was just over. The irrigation office had shut the floodgates to allow the fields to dry up in order for the formers to start the planting of dry crops like sweet potato, long beans, chillies and tobacco.

It was relatively free in the farm, therefore my father did not ask me to help him in the field. Naturally I went with Kau to his farm. It was quite a fun day because his father was not around, he went to the forest to collect some sticks for building a support for the long beans plants to twine on. Although Uncle Kau was not fierce but seldom talk and smile, we were quite scared of him anyway.

The usual knock off time was 6'clock pm, but the clouds began to gather and looked like it was going to rain. Since there was not much to be done, Kau and his 2nd elder sister and me left for home at around 4'clock pm.

As we reached the shops area we saw people gathered around in groups talking, out of curiosity we went close to them. Suddenly one of the crowds pointed at Kau's sister and started screaming,"your papa, your papa!" After listening to their explanation, we learned the shocking news that Uncle Kau was struck by lightning!

We ran to the scene, as I ran my mind was blank and breathless as if I was in a nightmare. When we reached there, Uncle Kau was already being taken to the nearest hospital. The bike was still intact, but the sticks were strewn about. The most striking scene was a deep crocked trench running across the road. It was the result of the lightning strike. Eye witness said Uncle Kau was thrown up as high as the lamp post. Imagine the strength of the strike! Kau's sister rushed back to the farm, crying all the way, to inform the family members who were still working in the field. It was confirmed later that Uncle Kau could not be saved by the doctors.
It was not even raining when Uncle Kau was struck by the lightning.
The reason he was struck was because his clothes were wet while working in the forest.Since then I know that lightning strikes do not necessarily occur in thunder storms.

Here are some advice, keep away from wall, do not hold any tool or equipment made of metal.Avoid doing the following activities when it is raining:

• Do not take bath - wet body is conductive to current
• Do not cook - cooking utensils are metal. A housewife was struck by lightning while cooking
• Do not watch TV - 2 brothers were killed by lightning coming down through the external aerial
• Do not use the telephone
• Do not lean on the wall - My neighbour's wall was struck by lightning
• Do not take shelter under a tree - the most common place where a person was killed by lightning
• Do not play in open fields, like football field
• Do not swim in rivers
• Do not ride on a bicycle

Cooking with firewood

When we reached the lower end of the canal, the firewood were lifted out from the water. This was where a lorry could reach.They were left to dry on the banks and mean while my father arranged with the owner of the only lorry in our village to transport them back to our house.
The logs were further swan into shorter lengths of about 2-foot long each.

Then they are split into smaller pieces with a huge axe. Watching my father splitting the firewood, it all seemed so simple. He lifted the axe high above his head and with one chop, the round block split into two and fell off to the floor.But when I tried to do it, it was so heavy that when I lifted it above my head I was almost pushed down backwards by its weight.

Therefore I could only lift it up to my eye level and chopped it, of course I had to chop it few more times in order to split it.

The split firewood were then strewn about in the front yard and allowed to dry. I assume everyone knows that wet firewood are difficult, if not impossible, to catch fire and will create a lot of thick smokes if added to a burning fire. You all may have heard about allergy of all kinds, but have you ever heard of allergy to wood? I bet many of you haven't.

There is a type of tree in Malaysia called Qi Shu (Paint Tree or Seven Tree). It is a hard wood and is dark brown in colour. When a piece of chopped Qi Shu is soaked by rain water,the brownish water oozing out from it is harmful

to a person allergic to it, when he comes into contact with it while walking in the rain will trigger his symptoms. His body will be covered with red rashes, in adverse case his face will be swollen and can hardly open his eyes.You may not believe it, but I had seen many such cases with my own eyes in the village.Some claimed that even without coming in contact with the tree, just the sighting of it will trigger allergy symptoms in them.Now, that is a little hard to believe.

Starting a fire was a skill every child in the village learned for cooking with firewood when he/she reached the age of 10. Before that they were not allowed to try it because they may start a fire but did not know how to control it and could burn down the whole house, worse still, together with the neighbour's.
Every household has a gas stove in this modern day and there is no need for it any more. But it is still useful if you like camping or outdoor life. You may impress your peers by starting a fire with ease for BBQ or a camp-fire!