Proving Myself as Petmeanie

Well after 12 liters of BeerLao, 4 kilos of sticky rice and 2 grilled fish later I successfully made it home from my first Lao happy hour.  In the last two days I have learned that the Lao take their drinking very seriously, in a frat-drink-as-much-as-you-can sort of way.  Yesterday we continued our village visits, starting with a Hmong community about 2 hours away.  While we were there to survey their water system, they insisted on giving us a tour of the village, leading us up to a section of town inhabited by weavers.  With their looms carefully positioned under their houses, the women take shifts weaving and are able to produce some beautiful fabrics, made from locally grown silk and cotton.  We all purchased some of the fabric and paid using 100,000K bills, which the women had never seen before.  Being able to watch the fabric come off the loom and directly to the purchaser was quite the experience.

My new fabric and the weaver who made it.

As we headed back into the main center of the village we were invited for lunch and, because it is rude, obliged.  Little did I know that each Hmong meal with special guests ends with rounds of Lao Khow whiskey shots.  Not only do you have to take the shot, but if you say it was delicious, you have to take another.  Being a novice and not speaking any Lao, I was tricked into not two, but three shots of this burning liquid.  Now I know "Poh Sai Dai" which means "I've had enough!!!"  My colleagues think it's funny that I've already caught on to one of their most important traditions.

After the shots we piled into the car for our next village.  This one took about a half hour to get to and was even higher in the mountains.  We were greeted with a tea made from eggplant leaves and invited into the house for a meeting.  After discussing their thoughts on the RCD project, we were given a tour of the water supply then invited into another house for Lao Hai. And again, the drinking began.  Lao Hai is produced with fermented rice in a very large jug.  Although it tastes sweet and goes down easily, the drinking part is also turned into a game.  Two bamboo straws are placed into the jug and water is added to the top.  Each pair of people must drink two cups worth of the wine before passing the straws to the next pair.  Being a guest, I was asked to participate twice although I'm positive my partner was not pulling her weight.  Needless to say, I spent all day proving myself and by the time I got back to the office, word had got out that I could hold my own.  Odd, but that was a huge compliment by Lao standards.

Drinking from the deadly bowl of Lao Hai.

This morning we started the day by visiting the hospital. On September 1, three young boys had been playing about 9 meters away from their home when they found a 37 mm round and began to throw it around.  When it exploded, one was killed instantly and the other two were rushed to the ER.  One boy had to have his arm amputated while the other suffered severe injuries to the abdomen.  After several surgeries, the young boy is still recovering at the Friendship hospital and we were able to visit with him and his family.  WE has a program called the War Victims Medical Fund that provides monetary assistance to cover the medical expenses accrued after these accidents.  After spending 3.5M Kip, or about $500 on bills, the family had used up their savings (It was amazing that they had that much to begin with) and was eager to hear that the fund would cover all the expenses.  While the little boy looked frightened, it was clear that he was getting good care as the hospital was clean and medical staff kept coming in to check his status.

UXO victim, age 10, with his parents.

The Women weavers of our
handicraft village

From the hospital we went to visit a local village that the QLA center is working with as part of the handicraft project.  They have been producing laptop bags for the store and I will be working on some marketing and product design over the next couple months to increase sales.  The women weavers were all very eager to learn more and sell more, but their was a lack of materials, so we will have to figure out how to fix the supply chain.  After that visit we made our way back to town for a meeting with the Department of Public Health.  They discussed the WVMF, a hospital needs assessment and the RCD project.  I was able to meet four of the main physicians for the district and we donated a computer to one of them for use in RCD management.  Running late, we headed over to Halvetas, a Swiss NGO, for a meeting of INGOs in Ponsavan.  The representatives from about 6 different groups discussed relocation, education and handicraft production from their various organizations and it was very interesting to see how these groups collaborate while having different motives: empowerment vs. sustainability vs. sanitation etc.  We will probably end up trying to work with some of their villages, which produce bamboo crafts, in our handicraft project in order to diversify sales.

Woman displaying her Pandau
work on laptop bags

The day ended with Happy Hour at Barbara's house.  Four members of the office joined us and we sat around for over two hours sharing stories and drinking BeerLao (Every time someone raises their glass to drink, everyone else must follow).  Vyenmini tried to get me to sing the theme song to Titanic but I could only remember the chorus, which I nailed.  My Lao is improving and my colleagues are very excited to teach me.  Because Cah-lee (the only way Lao can actually pronounce my name) actually means prostitute (if only I could recreate the Chair of the DPH's face when I introduced myself), I have been given the nickname Petmeanie, or Pet for short.  It's literally translated to Diamond Starlight, so it's a big step up.

Tomorrow we are driving back to Vientiane although we are dropping Mark off at Vang Vieng and I am undecided if I will explore the city too for the night before heading back on Sunday.  I have a couple hours in the car to decide.

Much love!
Petmeanie