Seven days in Laos (part 2)

The 12 students has been given scholarship for some specific reasons. Most important, they all come from districts and villages with a big lack of teachers. The villages is mostly in remote areas, some of them up to 50 km from the nearest town. The government has in recent years build a number of schools, so that about every fifth village now has an primary school. But in most of the schools there are only one teacher, limiting the class offered to two or three.

Marit, a student and Somchai in front of a new school

The Lao Theung

In Phin and Sepon districts, most of the people is Lao Theung. Lao Theung is not an ethnic group, but a label that is put on a dozen of different ethnic groups sharing some similarities. They differ from Lao Loum (the 'mainstream Lao') in a number of ways. Their language is very different - most of the Lao Theung speak languages related to Khmer, and that has nothing to do with Lao. The religion is also different. 10 of the 12 families we visited followed animistic / spirit beliefs, not Buddhism. And their spirit belief is rather complex. There is plenty of taboos to remember, and it is very important to respect to spirits living in the house. Every member of the family has his or her private spirit, living in a cup on the wall. If a member of the family is sick, the head of the family will ask the spirit what kind of offering it requires. The spirit might want a chicken or goat, or even a water buffalo (a rather expensive offering). If several members of the same family is sick, their spirits can share the same animal, but if two people in two different houses become sick, two animals have to die.

When visitors are received in the house, the host and the guests always drink Lao Lao together. If someone for some reason cannot or doesn't want to drink, he has to pour out the drink on a plate. Drinking Lao Lao is kind of a ritual to honor the spirits, that's why it's serious business.

A bottle of Lao Lao

I was surprised to see the position of women in the Lao Theung villages. I think it would make even the most conservative become a feminist. The women are very hard working, beeing responsible for not just raising the kids and taking care of the food for the family, but also doing most of the manual work in the village and in the rice field. We visited several villges in mid-day, and it was really a lot of men and children around, while the women were out working. Many of the men were sitting around chatting and drinking Lao Lao, I met quite a lot of drunk men before noon. Even if the women does the hard work, it is still the men who is the family head and controls the family economy (unlike for example most Thai families). And when a women gives birth, she has to go out in the forest. Giving birth inside the house is a taboo (the spirits again), and when she returns with her newborn, she is even not allowed inside the house, but has to stay under the house for a while.

...making sticky rice

For more information on the ethnic groups in Laos, see Country Studies