“When eating a fruit, think of the person who planted the tree”
(Vietnamese proverb)
I have been in Laos in South East Asia for 3 weeks and this
is the end of my last week. Next week I head straight to India. I have been
evaluating an emergency nutrition programme that was put in place as result of
the flooding that took place as a result of a typhoon. Thus I have been spending most of my time in the
southern provinces of Laos where the nutrition programme was being implemented.
Typhoon Ketsana hit Laos in 2009
causing extensive flooding and wind damage in 4 southern provinces. (Attapeu,
Sekong, Saravane, Savannakhet) It struck during the lean season when household
food stocks were at their lowest levels and farmers were preparing to bring in
the new harvest. The resulting damage meant that many households did not
harvest sufficient food to meet their needs for the next year. This led to
further deterioration of the already chronic malnutrition problem in the area.
This problem became progressively worse leading to the need to establish an
emergency nutrition programme in that area that lasted until 2012/2013. I went
to 2 provinces to evaluate this response – Attapeu and Saravane.
As I write this I am in Vientiane the capital. Similar to
it’s cousin capital city of Phnom Phenh
in Cambodia down south, the mighty Mekong river runs through the capital of Laos.
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| Mekong River flowing through Vientiane |
Known locally as the Mae Nam Khong (Kong, the mother of water), the Mekong
river extends nearly 3000 miles from it’s source
on the Tibetan plateau to the vast delta in Vietnam, where it flows into the South China Sea.
Along the way it passes through,
south west China, Burma, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.
Although I had been to
Cambodia before, this was my first time in Laos. Laos is a small landlocked mountainous
country in South East Asia of 6 ½ million people and is squeezed between its
more muscular neighbours Thailand and Vietnam. It’s identity as a separate state dates back only to 1945. The
idea of a separate Lao nationality was formed during the 19th
century when western ideas of national identity reached South East Asia and
when the Lao speaking peoples in that area were being squeezed between the 2
expansionist powers of Thailand and Vietnam. The current borders of Lao were
created by France in 1893 and 1904 and Laos was then a French protectorate
until it’s independence after 1945. This history explains it’s rather cramped
position on the map.
It is one of the
world’s few remaining Communist states and is one of East Asia’s poorest
countries. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union it has struggled to find its
position within a changing political landscape. Communist forces overthrew the
monarchy in 1975, heralding years of isolation. Laos began opening up to the
world in the 1990s but despite tentative reforms, it remains poor and dependant
on international donations. The government has implemented gradual economic and
business reforms since 2005 to try and liberalise its domestic markets. The economic
outlook has been helped by major investment projects in hydro power and mining.
Forestry and rubber are other important resources. Tourism is a rapidly growing
industry.
Vientiane ticked all the boxes for me in terms of being a
perfect city especially for the visitor as it is an easy, user friendly place
and fantastic value. I did not have much time but I managed to grab a few hours
here and there to wander it a bit. Like Cambodia there were the spirit houses
outside most shops and many trees.
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| Spirit house usually outside shops,houses,certain trees |
These are small shrines that combine Buddhist and more animist beliefs with the
belief that leaving offerings of food and flowers at them wishes luck in the
next life for the recently deceased. In doing so they also believe they are
giving themselves good luck. Some mornings at 6 am I would have a quick stroll
outside and see flocks of birds at these spirit houses feeding off the food left there. I would imagine Buddha
smiling benignly down at them from his sitting position under his tree. As a
bird lover myself I was enchanted with these morning spectacles. I managed a
few quick strolls down some of the peaceful narrow streets of Vientiane dotted with
temples and frangipani trees. Although
the frangipani is found in many tropical countries, in Laos it is the national
flower. The most common variety is a creamy white flower of a velvet texture
with a warm yellow, luxuriant centre. They have an evocative perfume that is
released in the evenings. Many memories of warm tropical nights for me would
have the scent of the frangipani flower in there somewhere.
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| Laos national flower - frangipani |
In Vientiane I stayed in one of the best value places I have
ever stayed at. Hotel Khamvongsa is like a boutique hotel but cheaper than many
tiny, basic places that I have stayed in over the years in various remote towns
and areas in Asia and Africa. It was situated near the Mekong River on a quiet
side street opposite the Inpeng temple. It is named after the owner’s mother who was one of the first Lao ladies to
seize the opportunities presented by market liberalisation in the early 90s.
She started the hotel as a guesthouse and ran it successfully for 10 years.It
was then upgraded with bright spacious rooms individually decorated in French
colonial and Lao style. It seems that the family have a passion for
construction and were inspired by the beauty of both old decaying French villas
and the richness of Lao textiles and patterns.
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| An example of Lao textiles |
I would enjoy early cool mornings sitting outside the hotel
before the onslaught of the heat – a target for the china delicate mobs of
feral yet friendly cats that would come and wind themselves whimsically round
my legs. I would marvel at how tiny they were – the size of Ginger nut, my
cat’s paw and he is no great size for a male cat – in fact he’s a bit of a lady –cat it has to be said.
Across the road and behind the Inpeng temple and behind an
ivy clad wall I discovered the Le Vendome restaurant an atmospheric French style restaurant with a stucco balcony
with candle lit tables. On my last night
I ate there as a treat. I felt as if I was in the middle of a Somerset Maugham short story set somewhere in 1920s Asia – the excited buzz of conversation, cigarette
smoke lingering in the heavy, frangipani scented evening air, walls adorned
with vintage bull fighting posters the evening chant from the monks in the
gleaming gold coloured temple across the road, untidy cascades of bougainvillea
on a wall nearby, pink, orange, apricot, purple,lilac, white, scarlet – turbulent
tropical colours.
When I was in the southern provinces I was privy to
witnessing the effects of Laos’s rapid economic transformation. Laos has some
of the largest and last intact expanses of primary rain forest left in the
Mekong region of South East Asia. These forests harbour a wealth of bio
diversity and also support the livelihoods of millions of rural and indigenous
people who rely on them for food, fuel, materials and medicine. A large part of
the rural Laotian diet comes from foraging in the forests for fruits and plants. During my first few days in the southern provinces I ended up
eating a green, spinach like plant which is found in the
forest. It was delicious and tasted
sweeter than spinach, lacking that metallic iron taste that spinach sometimes
has. Eventually I found out that I was eating bindweed or more prettily known “MorningGlory” .It grows all over the world. In UK and Ireland we have the white
variety – in other countries such as Laos it comes in more glorious colours
such as gentian blue. Now these forests are seriously threatened by over
exploitation resulting in escalating deforestation that supplies the voracious
timber processing industries of neighbouring Vietnam, China and Thailand. Going
through Attapeu province where much logging takes place, the Laotian colleague
with whom I was working would exclaim in a distressed and puzzled fashion
pointing to one of the many denuded areas we passed on the side of the road as
we drove along “The last time I was here six months ago – this was all forest –
I cannot believe it has all been cut down.” In rather crestfallen and rueful
tones he would explain that the forest was Laos’s identity, the mainstay of
people’s lives. It was also something that people in Laos were proud of as Laos
is one of only four countries in the world that hosts a natural teak forest. I
am a member of Bird watch Ireland and only weeks previously had been discussing
in the same rueful fashion how the corncrake was more or less extinct in
Ireland. Only a generation ago the rasping call of the corncrake was a familiar
night- time sound throughout the Irish countryside. That is gone. So I could empathise
with my colleague who was rightly fearful of what Laos would look like a
generation down the line without it’s forest - a bit like Ireland now, more or less without it's corncrake.
Also in Attapeu I noticed the presence of some villages
along the side of the road that reminded me of when I was North Korea. All the
houses looked the same and were set up like an identikit Lego town. In the back
ground there were fairly young trees planted – a huge plantation of them all in
symmetrical rows and all the same trees – no other varieties for miles and
miles. The eerie part of all this was that I could hear no birds singing or see
the usual medley of goats, chickens, pigs etc foraging around as elsewhere in
Laos. I asked my colleague about these villages that we could see along the way
and he told me the story of the rubber plantations in Laos. As well as logging,
Laos has also been experiencing a boom in rubber plantations over the past few years,
mainly in response to a rising market demand for rubber from neighbouring
countries. Generous incentives including long term concession agreements given
by the Lao government have helped the industry flourish. Attapeu province, the
most southern province of Laos which shares its borders with Vietnam and
Cambodia is host to a rising number of mainly foreign controlled plantations. However as my colleague said
“After 3 or 4 years of
a rubber plantation the birds leave the area because there are only miles and
miles of the same trees and plants. Then the animals like goats and pigs who like
foraging around do not thrive because the soil has been filled with pesticides.
The forest plants much loved by the villagers do not grow and it is expensive
for them to buy vegetables from the market or shop. Before they did not have to
buy vegetables – they got all they needed from the forest”.
During my few weeks in Laos during March 2013, North
Korea over the way further east, like a capricious child started to once again
as it has done over the years throw a tantrum. It has cancelled a hotline with
the US (last done so in 1953) and also cancelled a non aggression pact with
South Korea. This is in response to the United Nations (UN) Security Council
vote to impose more sanctions on the North due to it’s recent third nuclear
test which flouts what had been agreed on. North Korea has turned up the
bluster and says it will retaliate with “ a crushing strike” if enemies intrude
into its territory. The vote for sanctions by the UN on a
resolution drafted by North Korea’s closest ally, China and the United States
and their resolute stand on this, despite North Korea’s threats of nuclear war
etc, sends a powerful message to North Korea. Everyone wants to see the child
grow out of its tantrums. President Obama has said “.....now’s the time for North
Korea to end the kind of belligerent approach that they’ve been taking and to
try and lower the temperatures. Nobody wants
to see a conflict on the Korean peninsula. But it is important for North Korea,
like every other country in the world, to observe the basic rules and norms
that are set forth, including a wide variety of UN resolutions”
And so after several weeks in the provinces I returned once
again to the capital Vientiane. On my last evening I took a walk along the
Mekong river reflecting on how it also flowed throw Cambodia’s capital Phnom
Phenh. In fact Laos reminded me a lot of Cambodia but without that air of
trauma still present to a certain degree in Cambodia 30 years after Pol Pot’s
regime. A sort of fifty shades of
Communism hit Africa and Asia post World
War 2 – Cambodia, North Korea, Ethiopia to name just a few. Thankfully Laos
seemed to escape the darker shades compared to Cambodia and North Korea. Although
it is evident when in Cambodia that people have resolutely put the past behind
them and the younger population do not have the memories of that awful time
back in the seventies ...... the trauma is still there for those
aged over forty.
In Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 an attempt by Khmer Rouge leader Pol
Pot to form a Communist peasant farming society resulted in the deaths of 25%
of the country’s population from starvation, overwork and executions.Pol Pot began a radical
experiment to create an agrarian utopia inspired in part by Mao’s CulturalRevolution which he had witnessed first hand during a visit to Communist China
.And so he began this extreme from of peasant Communism in Cambodia. All of
Cambodia’s cities were forcibly evacuated and 2 million inhabitants were herded on foot into the country side at gun point. Millions of Cambodians accustomed
to city life were now forced into slave labour in Pol Pot’s “killing fields”
where they soon began to die from overwork, malnutrition and disease on a diet
of 1 tin of rice per person every 2 days. Workdays in these fields began around
4 am and lasted until 10 pm with only two rest periods allowed during the 18
hour day, all under the armed supervision of young Khmer Rouge soldiers eager
to kill anyone for the slightest infraction. Starving people were forbidden to
eat the fruits and rice they were harvesting and would be shot if caught
attempting to do so.
The journalist John Pilger writes of this chilling era in Cambodia in his book, Distant Voices.
I remember working in Cambodia a couple of times; assisting
Ministry of Health with developing guidelines for community based management of
acute malnutrition. I will never forget in a workshop, a discussion on
nutritional oedema and its management. One of the doctors broke down in tears
relating how back in the seventies when he was a youngster he had watched his
brothers and sisters slowly starve to death, developing nutritional oedema in
their last days. Another day I was in a province called Kampong Speu not far
from the capital Phnom Penh which had been one of the sites of the “killing fields”.
I saw peaceful jewel green rice fields with temples dotted here and there their
golden pagoda roofs catching the sun. Docile looking buffalo harnessed to carts
ambled slowly by in almost benevolent fashion. I remarked on how peaceful it looked. But my
Ministry of Health colleague with me saw a completely different view of the
same fields.She proceeded to bitterly recount how as a 5 year old child she had to hide in the ditches lining
these same rice fields, watching in terror as Khmer Rouge soldiers shot people because they were not working fast enough. So the trauma remains.
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| Inpeng temple - one of many dotted around Vientiane |
And so further up from the Mekong river in Laos I luxuriated in
the more easy going atmosphere of it's capital Vientiane on my last evening there as I strolled along by the river twiddling a
piece of frangipani releasing it’s almost vanilla like scent. Later I wandered through the night
market and then sat in a couple of temples
listening to echoing laughter of
monks in their orange robes as
they leaned languorously back on sun
warmed stone benches under the trees
like young mischievous Buddhas. Like those tiny cats
that I encountered dancing around my feet, Vientiane had enchanted me – a small,
snug, city where I hoped to return. But if not, it will always be there in my
mind – fluttering frangipani, china delicate cats, scraggly ,turbulent bougainvillea
hiding dignified, decaying villas with all the stucco crumbling away underneath
And always, always, there is the slow, mighty heave of the Mekong in the
background reminding me of that other mighty river in Mississippi, United
States of America – that “Ol man river. He jes’keeps on rollin’ along!”
Excerpts from Old Man River ( by Paul Robeson)
Ol' man river,
Dat ol' man river
He mus'know sumpin'
But don't say nuthin',
He jes'keeps rollin'
He keeps on rollin' along.
He don' plant taters/tators,
He don't plant cotton,
An' dem dat plants'em
is soon forgotten,
But ol'man river,
He jes keeps rollin'along.
Don't look up
An' don't look down,
You don' dast make
De white boss frown.
Bend your knees
An'bow your head,
An' pull date rope
Until you' dead.)
Ah, gits weary
An' sick of tryin'
Ah'm tired of livin'
An' skeered of dyin',
But ol' man river,
He jes'keeps rollin' along!
Dat ol' man river
He mus'know sumpin'
But don't say nuthin',
He jes'keeps rollin'
He keeps on rollin' along.
He don' plant taters/tators,
He don't plant cotton,
An' dem dat plants'em
is soon forgotten,
But ol'man river,
He jes keeps rollin'along.
Don't look up
An' don't look down,
You don' dast make
De white boss frown.
Bend your knees
An'bow your head,
An' pull date rope
Until you' dead.)
Ah, gits weary
An' sick of tryin'
Ah'm tired of livin'
An' skeered of dyin',
But ol' man river,
He jes'keeps rollin' along!
