Walking up a mountainside in the early morning mist in Laos, you may be greeted with a friendly Hmong phrase “Nyo ko tue,” which means “where are you going?” It is a question that the government of the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos is also asking itself. The country is currently one of the world’s least developed countries. While the Lao government is determined to see this change by 2020, it is a difficult challenge. About three quarters of the population live in rural areas and practice subsistence farming. In the upland areas, where ethnic minority groups like the Hmong make their homes, the poverty rate is as high as 43%.
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When CRWRC began working in Laotian communities, many villagers identified education as one of their top priorities. CRWRC helped them build schools, obtain school supplies, and hire teachers
An improved road
Through a variety of community initiatives including agriculture training, livestock rearing, improved health and sanitation, new schools, improved roads, and gender training, children now have hope for a better future.Walking up a mountainside in the early morning mist in Laos, you may be greeted with a friendly Hmong phrase “Nyo ko tue,” which means “where are you going?”
It is a question that the government of the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos is also asking itself. The country is currently one of the world’s least developed countries. While the Lao government is determined to see this change by 2020, it is a difficult challenge. About three quarters of the population live in rural areas and practice subsistence farming. In the upland areas, where ethnic minority groups like the Hmong make their homes, the poverty rate is as high as 43%.
It is in these areas where the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) is at work. In 2003, CRWRC signed a five year agreement with the government of Laos to carry out community transformation in 12 remote villages. It added an additional 8 villages in 2005 and in 2008 signed a second five-year agreement to work in an additional 10 villages.
Despite these increases, CRWRC’s mission remains the same – to not just provide quick fixes to poverty, but to work alongside the local people and bring about a process of renewal in all areas of their life including food production, education, health, and community infrastructure as well as interpersonal relationships, gender dynamics, civic education, and spiritual transformation.
When CRWRC staff met with representatives from the first 12 villages back in 2003, they noted a number of issues that needed to be addressed.
“In almost every community, there were three months of the year where there was not enough rice,” said James Zwier, CRWRC Program Consultant in Laos. “In addition, about 31 per cent of the children didn’t go to school, there were only 8 teachers for more than 800 children, only a small fraction of people were vaccinated against common illnesses, and clean water was not accessible in any of the villages. It also took two to six hours to walk to the nearest road, market or health center.”
In order to address these multiple concerns in a lasting way, CRWRC emphasized training local people to be leaders and agents of change.
“In every village we set up a Village Development Committee (VDC) consisting of 3 men and 3 women. One member is a chairman, another is the treasurer, one is responsible for agriculture, another for education and another for health,” explained Mike Fennema, CRWRC Country Consultant in Laos. “We provide training and opportunities to the members of this VDC so that they can increase their own abilities and are able to help others in their communities. Because they are involved in all aspects related to the development in their village, they are able to carry on in their leadership role even after CRWRC phases down its activities.”
Through these VDCs, each village identified the areas or activities that it most wanted to address and developed plans for meeting these goals. In some villages, the first step was to construct schools which involved villagers preparing lumber and doing the construction while CRWRC provided the design, cement, and tin sheet roofing. In other communities, people worked together to build roads that would provide motorcycle access to their villages. As community members worked on these infrastructure projects, CRWRC also equipped them with training on topics such as improved farming techniques, animal-rearing, sanitation and hygiene.
The work was not without its challenges. In Namkhong village, for example, the villagers decided to build an improved footpath in a new location after CRWRC staff had already had technically-appropriate plans designed. The reason: the planned path direction passed by a cemetery and villagers feared that ancestors would not be happy with a road passing through.
In another village, Saenta, community members were afraid to use mosquito nets even though mosquito bites put them at risk for malaria and dengue fever. They believed that if they slept under the net their ancestors would not be able to find them and protect them from danger.
“Our long term goal is to be a part of the process whereby villagers examine and change harmful cultural beliefs like these without destroying what is unique about their own culture,” said Fennema.
This type of transformation takes time and a meaningful relationship of trust between Christian CRWRC staff members and those in the villages.
Nine years after starting these community programs in the original villages and two and a half years after the most recent expansion, CRWRC is seeing results.
Mr. Cheu Ka Thor of Dong Ko village is a great example. He used to have five cows and two pigs. Although he bred his animals, he struggled to increase his herd because every year he lost several animals to disease. Through training in animal care, Mr. Cheu Ka Thor learned how to plant and use improved forages to fatten his cattle before selling them as well as how to vaccinate his animals and prevent diseases. He now has 12 cows, 28 pigs and 32 chickens. His community also has a healthier supply of water right in the village.
“We used to get our water from a pond, but there was very little, and it was not clean and was difficult to collect. Some families would get up at 3am to go and collect water for the day,” said a woman in Dong Ka. “Because our village is high up in the mountains we never dreamed that we could get clean water in the village. But when CRWRC came, they supported the installation of a gravity fed water system, which brings clean water right to the village. This has made a big difference to us – we have a much cleaner water source and families do not have to spend so long collecting the water that they need.”
Similarly, in Namkoud village an elderly resident, Mr. Sonethong, has seen tremendous changes over just the past few years. “Our community has lived in this area for hundreds and thousands of years, and getting in and out of the village has always involved great difficulty.”
He explained that a trip to the district center to buy supplies meant walking for three days to get there. Through a community project, the village now has a good road and a round trip can be made in one day on a motorcycle. This also makes it easier for Mr. Sonethong, and others in Namkoud, to sell their goods at the district market and increase their family incomes. Values and relationships are also changing.
“[Before CRWRC came] my situation was poor; we did not have enough to eat, and my wife could not read or write. We also had poor hygiene and sanitation in our home, and my wife had to work very hard,” said one VDC member in Thalin village. “After the project came, I was involved in the VDC and joined many trainings. Due to improved agriculture, now we have enough to eat, and my wife has learned to read and write. We have been named a model health family because of our improved hygiene. Furthermore after the training on gender I have changed my behavior to help my wife more, carrying water, washing the children and supporting in other ways at home.”
So, nyo ko tue, where are these remote communities going? They are bravely moving forward into the future with a new sense of hope, a new recognition of their God-given potential, and a new commitment to working together. This is what the mission of CRWRC is all about.