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วันพฤหัสบดี
ถ้าวันนึงคุณรู้สึก"เหนื่อย"..กับความรัก..
Good Meal...
I live in an apartment opposite the Engineering Faculty of the Lao National University. I often have noodle soup for lunch in a shop 2 minutes by foot from my place. Today, I went there as normal. There were many people than on a usual day, but luckily there was a table with two seats free in the corner of the shop. I suspected that it had not been taken by anybody because it was far from the ceiling fan hanging from the ceiling in the centre of the room. The temperature at midday is rising every day and this reminds Lao people that Lao New Year is coming soon. I pulled up a chair and sat down quietly without taking any special notice of the people working in the shop.
The shop owner, who cooks herself, was busy preparing food for customers while her husband took orders and served soup to each table. He looked physically tired, but still took time to chat with his regular customers with a kind-hearted smile. He would respectfully say thank you to every single customer when he took money from them.
I was about to ask for a bowl of noodle soup when his wife looked at me with a tired smile and asked, “The usual?” I nodded. She knew I didn’t want meat in the soup since I’m also a regular customer. While I was waiting for the food, a man walked into the shop. He looked for a seat and then walked straight to my table. He sat down without asking me if the seat was free and didn’t even look at me. He was about 30 years old and was wearing shorts with a beer Lao T-shirt. I didn’t know if he really liked to drink beer Lao, but looking at his big belly I could guess he did. He turned to face the kitchen and ordered, “One Big Noodle Soup please”.
The shop’s owners who is a waiter himself said while placing a noodle soup bowl infront of me ‘A noodle soup with no meat for you’ Do you want any thing else? He askedNo, thanks. I said.
He continued “Today sure is hot. I bet you’re not used to this kind of weather.” He said to me. He knew that I am from the north of Laos where it is cooler. “Oh Yes! It’s really hot for me. Looks like you did good business today.” I said.”It’s usual”. He said while heading back to the kitchen.
I was really hungry so I though that I was going to enjoy the soup a lot. I tested the broth to see if I needed to add more sauce or lime. It did need one more squeeze of lime it seemed the man sitting opposite me was hot as well because he stared at the fan, but then, he shifted his gaze to his T-shirt pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. I told myself “No! No!” He was not going to smoke at this table and this moment. I was right. He pulled out a cigarette, put it to his mouth and lit it. He blew the smoke freely without thinking that it might bother other people I was asking myself ‘what I should do and what I was going to do. Usually, I cannot stand eating while someone is smoking at the same table. I looked around for another tables, but none were free. I had not choice, but to continue eating. I felt irritated. I wanted to say, “could-could-could YOU go---- to smoke OUT –OUT side PLEASE?”
This is a place to fill your stomach not for YoU to burn your LUNGs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At the same time, my left side brain told me,”No! Bounchanh is not going to say that.” I was suffering because my mind was attached to the smoke and the actions of a stranger. Then I cranked down my anger degrees by counting, 1—2—3—4—5” It helped me to calm down. I concentrated on my bowl of noodle to bring me back to my senses.
He stopped mid-way through his cigarette because his soup had come. Like anyone else, he tested his soup, added two big spoons of sugar, one spoon of pounded chillies and a dash of fish sauce. He ate very quickly. It must have been spicy for him because he sneezes hard. I ended up leaving before finishing my food. Now I discovered that a good meal depends on the place and your meal partner more than the food itself.
By: Bounchanh, VTE 2010
The shop owner, who cooks herself, was busy preparing food for customers while her husband took orders and served soup to each table. He looked physically tired, but still took time to chat with his regular customers with a kind-hearted smile. He would respectfully say thank you to every single customer when he took money from them.
I was about to ask for a bowl of noodle soup when his wife looked at me with a tired smile and asked, “The usual?” I nodded. She knew I didn’t want meat in the soup since I’m also a regular customer. While I was waiting for the food, a man walked into the shop. He looked for a seat and then walked straight to my table. He sat down without asking me if the seat was free and didn’t even look at me. He was about 30 years old and was wearing shorts with a beer Lao T-shirt. I didn’t know if he really liked to drink beer Lao, but looking at his big belly I could guess he did. He turned to face the kitchen and ordered, “One Big Noodle Soup please”.
The shop’s owners who is a waiter himself said while placing a noodle soup bowl infront of me ‘A noodle soup with no meat for you’ Do you want any thing else? He askedNo, thanks. I said.
He continued “Today sure is hot. I bet you’re not used to this kind of weather.” He said to me. He knew that I am from the north of Laos where it is cooler. “Oh Yes! It’s really hot for me. Looks like you did good business today.” I said.”It’s usual”. He said while heading back to the kitchen.
I was really hungry so I though that I was going to enjoy the soup a lot. I tested the broth to see if I needed to add more sauce or lime. It did need one more squeeze of lime it seemed the man sitting opposite me was hot as well because he stared at the fan, but then, he shifted his gaze to his T-shirt pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. I told myself “No! No!” He was not going to smoke at this table and this moment. I was right. He pulled out a cigarette, put it to his mouth and lit it. He blew the smoke freely without thinking that it might bother other people I was asking myself ‘what I should do and what I was going to do. Usually, I cannot stand eating while someone is smoking at the same table. I looked around for another tables, but none were free. I had not choice, but to continue eating. I felt irritated. I wanted to say, “could-could-could YOU go---- to smoke OUT –OUT side PLEASE?”
This is a place to fill your stomach not for YoU to burn your LUNGs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At the same time, my left side brain told me,”No! Bounchanh is not going to say that.” I was suffering because my mind was attached to the smoke and the actions of a stranger. Then I cranked down my anger degrees by counting, 1—2—3—4—5” It helped me to calm down. I concentrated on my bowl of noodle to bring me back to my senses.
He stopped mid-way through his cigarette because his soup had come. Like anyone else, he tested his soup, added two big spoons of sugar, one spoon of pounded chillies and a dash of fish sauce. He ate very quickly. It must have been spicy for him because he sneezes hard. I ended up leaving before finishing my food. Now I discovered that a good meal depends on the place and your meal partner more than the food itself.
By: Bounchanh, VTE 2010
A Necgleted Child
Noy just turned 17 this year. She was born in a rural district of Phongsaly. From the time her family fell apart with her parents’ divorce at age three, she was raised by her grandparents. Her mother remarried with a single father of 5 children and her father remarried another woman. When she was 9 years old she was sent to be with her mother under the same roof with her new father. She only stayed there for five months because she could not bear the way her new father treated her. She had to deal with the five step-children as well and when the parents were not home she endured moments that she would rather forget. For lessons at school we have to repeat and memorize many times to remember it but still often we forget it easily which opposed with experiences of one’s life. This is a characteristic of human being’s life. We’re told to remember our lessons in school, but it’s the harsh experiences of real life that stick in our memories.
She moved to LNT when she was 10 years old. There was a girl who was five years older than she was at that time and invited her to go work in LNT with her. She agreed right away. “I didn’t think anything of it,” she said. She went with the girl to LNT. They had jobs in a fish pond owned by Chinese. They had been working there for two years then her friend got married to a labourer at a brick factory. She went to work as a cook for the brick factory workers with her friend. After working there for 5 months, she decided to leave to search for something new in her like. She was 13 then.
Luckily, she got a job in a restaurant in LNT as a cook but to try to live without any support from her family at 13 was beyond the expectations of any girl. After three months, she went back to her married friend at the brick factory. “My friend was like a roof for me. I could go back to her any time rain or shine,” she said. For myself, I could hardly hold back my tears when I heard her voice become dark. Two months later, a woman living near the brick factory approached her and offered her a job in a beer shop. The girl did not know at that time that she would have to sleep with customers. Now, she has been working there for 5 months. Her job is to serve beer to clients and sleep with them on their requests. She can only write her name and has only a basic reading skill. She makes on average of 500 000 kip a week by earning100, 000 kip from sleeping with a client. She told me that she has 2,000,000 kip in her bank account. She has not been to her hometown for nearly 7 years. There’s rumour news that her grandparents have been sick. She is planning to go back to her hometown in March to visit her grandparents. “I don’t miss my hometown, but I miss my grandparents day and night,” she told me with a depressed voice.
By: Bounchanh 2010
She moved to LNT when she was 10 years old. There was a girl who was five years older than she was at that time and invited her to go work in LNT with her. She agreed right away. “I didn’t think anything of it,” she said. She went with the girl to LNT. They had jobs in a fish pond owned by Chinese. They had been working there for two years then her friend got married to a labourer at a brick factory. She went to work as a cook for the brick factory workers with her friend. After working there for 5 months, she decided to leave to search for something new in her like. She was 13 then.
Luckily, she got a job in a restaurant in LNT as a cook but to try to live without any support from her family at 13 was beyond the expectations of any girl. After three months, she went back to her married friend at the brick factory. “My friend was like a roof for me. I could go back to her any time rain or shine,” she said. For myself, I could hardly hold back my tears when I heard her voice become dark. Two months later, a woman living near the brick factory approached her and offered her a job in a beer shop. The girl did not know at that time that she would have to sleep with customers. Now, she has been working there for 5 months. Her job is to serve beer to clients and sleep with them on their requests. She can only write her name and has only a basic reading skill. She makes on average of 500 000 kip a week by earning100, 000 kip from sleeping with a client. She told me that she has 2,000,000 kip in her bank account. She has not been to her hometown for nearly 7 years. There’s rumour news that her grandparents have been sick. She is planning to go back to her hometown in March to visit her grandparents. “I don’t miss my hometown, but I miss my grandparents day and night,” she told me with a depressed voice.
By: Bounchanh 2010
วันพุธ
...Beautiful Smile
Wednesday 27th, 2010 after spending 3 days carrying out the training for the ADRA (Adventist Development Relief Agency) staff in Luangnamtha on data collection and report writing. Our team traveled to Nalae district to conduct research on youth heath. It is only 75 km from the town of Luang Namtha, but it took more than two hours so you can imagine what the road condition is like. While sitting in the car, I thought about how this district must be isolated and less influenced by the world. When we got close to town, I could see a bridge in the distance. I thought, “Wow, this is really beautiful.” By chance, the guesthouse that had been booked for our team was located right next to this bridge. As soon as I got out of the car, I walked to the bridge. I could see that the bridge was under construction. There were around 20 workers and I guessed that they were Chinese because of the language they were speaking. There was a car with a Chinese license plate just 20 meters from the bridge site and it confirmed what I had thought. I talked with an old man who was living near the bridge and he told me that the bridge construction started in November 2009 and is expected to be completed in the next five months. He explained that they are building this bridge because there are a lot of villages on the other side of the river.
After that, I walked around town, eager to explore the place as a newcomer. On my walk, I saw a group of children playing on the ground. I approached them and took some pictures and spoke with them in their dialects. At the corner of a house I saw a woman making something and I left the children to approach the woman.
‘Sabaidee…What are you doing? I asked.
I tried to be as polite as possible so as not to make her suspect that I was a spy or a government officials. She smiled and turned her face to look at a boy who was sitting next to her and a girl who was washing some vegetables outside of the kitchen. I later understood that they were her children.
“You have such a clean kitchen!” I said.
“No! No! It is very small and not tidy,” she answered.
‘Maybe so, but for me, it is so clean,’ I said.
She asked me what am I doing here and where I was from.
“…I am from VTE and I am here to do research on youth health.
‘Where are you staying?’
“I am staying in a guesthouse near the river’. I could not remember the name. “Are they your children?
“Yes. He is my youngest son and she is my older daughter.” She pointed her finger at them in a very polite way.
“How many children do you have?’
“Oh, I have many. Five children. Three3 boys and two girls. The oldest and youngest are boys. She talked to me but her eyes were fixed on what she was doing. ‘A lock for a door’
“Do you grow upland rice or lowland rice?
“Upland rice,” the girl said. “It is very far, about 4 hours by foot,” she added.
“Why don’t you grow rice nearer your place?” I asked.
“Now it is forbidden to clear the land around here”, the girl answered.
“Why?” I asked.
“Don’t know,” the girl said.
“Where was your upland field in the past?”
The girl pointed to a nearby mountain.
“How was your own land used?”
“Rubber tree plantations.”
“Are there a lot of rubber tree plantations around?
“Oh yes, almost all HH in the village planted rubber trees, but a Chinese rubber plantation company covers a big area in the district,” she explained.
“Does your family have rubber trees?”
“Yes! Just around 300 trees.’
“Good!” I said.
Some people say that it is good and some say that it is not so we don’t know exactly for sure. The mother said.
“Did you get a good harvest this year?”
”No, because it rained during the harvest time,” the girl said.
“How many kg of rice did you grow?”
“100 kg but we had got only around 2 000 kg
“If the yield is good, how many kg would you get?
“3,000 – 4,000 kg of unmilled rice.
“Will the rice you harvested this year cover your family needs?” I asked.
Yes, if I don’t have to sell some of it for cash for necessary family expenses such as children’s education, tax or clothes.
“Do the two of you sometimes go to your family upland field?”
“Oh yes, the girl said.”
“How often?”
“Almost every weekend.”
“Tired?”
“Yes, but we have to go because if we don’t we will have no rice to eat,” the girl answered. “How old are you?“
“13 years old,” the girl answered.
I turned to face the boy. He looked at her mother and said, “10 years old”
“What grade are you studying in?” I asked the girl.
“I’m in the seventh grade and he’s in the third,” she answered.
I looked at the boy and asked, “Is your school far away?”
“No,” he said.
“What do you do during the school break?”
“I sometimes go to do day labor selling in a Chinese rubber plantation,” the girl said.
“What do you do?
“I do some weeding.”
“Oh! How many times have you been there?”
“Two times.”
“When?”
“In August just two weeks before the new school year started.”
“How was it?”
“Not so good because the Chinese often cheat us. They don’t pay as they agreed to at the beginning.
“Why don’t you complaint?’
“I don’t dare because they speak very loudly and look very angry.”
“How much money did you get?”
“I got 90 000 kip the first time.”
“That was for how long?”
“One week.”
“What time did you start working and when did you stop?”
“I started at seven AM, took a break for lunch for one hour and worked until 5 pm.”
“What did you do with the money and how did you get there?”
”I walked there.”
“How long did it take?”
“Around four hours, we walked very fast. It took less time on the way back because it is downhill.”
“How many people all together?”
“18 people…”
“How many boys?”
“No boys, only girls.”
“Did you feel afraid?
“Yes, but I need money to buy a school uniform and books for the new school year…”
“Do they provide food?”
”No we have to bring our food and cook it by ourselves…”
“Where did you sleep?
“They have a bamboo hut and we had to bring our blanket.”
“Are there any Lao people working at the rubber tree plantation?”
“No, only Chinese people.”
“Do they speak Lao?”
“Very poorly.”
“Did you have your dinner yet?” The girl asked.
“Yes!”
“What did you eat?”
“Plain noodles.’
We eat only vegetables almost every day,” she said with gloomy voice.
“Oh I love vegetables. I eat only vegetables, not any meat.” I said. I will stop bothering you now. Otherwise you won’t be able to finish cooking. This has been such great conversation for me. Thanks. Thank you very much. I will come again tomorrow. I have some English books that you may be interested in. …Thanks….good bye… Good bye!”
Bounchanh January 27th, 2010, LNT
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