We enjoyed all the normally tourist things in Laos, but it was our visit to two organizations that will bring us back. Both Laotian organizations are improving the lives of Laotians. Big Brother Mouse adds to their literacy and the number of people who read for pleasure. Saoban, the product of years of community development work, empowers local artisans to produce quality products and set fair prices for them. If you are a tourist in Luang Prabang buy a book to keep or donate. In Vientiane shop!
Big Brother Mouse: Yikes, we didn't take any pictures. A photo of bungalow with books won't lift one's spirits as much as just walking in. Big Brother Mouse (BBM) is an all-Lao (Lao-owned, run, and staffed) book publisher and distributor located in Luang Prabang. Its mission is to show Laotian children and youth that "literacy is fun." For some children part of the fun may be a visit by a part-time staffer, Boom-Boom, an elephant who helps deliver books to remote areas. BBM designs, writes, and publishes books in Lao and Lao/English. Some stories are original. Others are translated. A good story is a good story no matter where its from.
Visitors to Luang Prabang can drop into Big Brother Mouse and purchase books in Lao to leave in villages or give as tips. We bought a small packet of pre-selected books for the staff to include in a book party. At set times tourists can engage in English conversation with local people. We met a woman who learned about the lives of novice monks from her conversations at BBM.
BBM seeks donors to sponsor the publication of a book or a book party. Sponsoring a book or book party may be an ideal gift for a special occasion - birth, bar mitzah, retirement, and so on. We plan to sponsor a book now, and perhaps a book party when we return to Lao. Visit the web site to learn more, to be impressed and inspired.
Saoban: First our back story - I am not much of a shopper. We have everything we need and then some. After buying virtually nothing in India - I later regretted that we hadn't purchased hostess gifts and the like. We can give interesting gifts, and more importantly we help local artisans. I vowed not to make the same mistake in Laos. By our last day in Vientiane we had a suitcase full of gifts.Good karma must have been radiating from Saoban. The store's display was beautiful, and the story behind the shop was awesome.
Saoban is a social business that evolved out of PADETC, a Lao community development NGO. During our visit we chatted with Shui-Meng, the shop's owner, about her work in community development. She worked with village women help them think about and set fair prices for their products, e.g., that their labor was not free and that materials (even if locally accessed) had monetary value. As part of pricing their labor the women needed to think about what they wanted from their work, e.g., ability to educate their children. They learned the importance of setting prices and sticking to them, especially the need not to accept lower prices for their products and thus undercut each other. She helped them understand the importance of quality - using natural dyes rather than cheap chemically produced dyes and keeping consistency between products.
Shui Meng and other developers did not lecture village women. Rather they undertook the long process of gaining the women's trust and soliciting their input. One consequence is assuring the sustainability of a way of thinking about how to value work, especially if new products and crafts are developed. While Saoban sells the products these women produce, the weavers are free to market their products to other shops and outlets.Truly the women are empowered. Here is an observation Shui Meng recently posted on Saoban's FB page "You will no longer take for granted what goes into your bowl of rice or how much work goes into your little scarf or bamboo basket once you spend sometime with the people who grow the rice or make the stuff you use everyday."
What did we buy? A piece of fabric, now hanging on our wall. We hadn't found anything that won us over and had decided to wait until "next time." I took a photo, but it doesn't give it justice. Here is a youtube presentation to show how such pieces are woven. It suggests what our design looks like. We also bought scarves and napkins. After a short debate we decided against spoons crafted from aluminum contained in bombs dropped in Laos. We had sympathy for the project, but didn't know what we would do with more spoons. While we talked about the spoons Shui Meng quoted a women in a bombed village "Why did they (US) hate us?"
We talked with Shui-Meng for about 20 minutes. Afterward we Googled Saoban and PADETC. Our admiration grew. Saoban's FB page includes videos and slide shows of the artisans at work. Visits to Saoban's villages can be arranged - something for our next trip. PADETC's website said that it welcomes experienced and skilled volunteers, preferably volunteers who can stay for at least 3 months. In 2013 it is particularly interested in hearing from Environmental experts who have time to volunteer in Laos. A sabbatical or transition to retirement project? Makes me wish that I had some hands on skills.
The PADETC website had a link to Sombath.org that tracks the status of Sombath Somphony the founder of PADETC who went missing on 15 December. A reminder that a tourist can overlook the human rights and development struggles that go on in Laos and other countries.
Big Brother Mouse: Yikes, we didn't take any pictures. A photo of bungalow with books won't lift one's spirits as much as just walking in. Big Brother Mouse (BBM) is an all-Lao (Lao-owned, run, and staffed) book publisher and distributor located in Luang Prabang. Its mission is to show Laotian children and youth that "literacy is fun." For some children part of the fun may be a visit by a part-time staffer, Boom-Boom, an elephant who helps deliver books to remote areas. BBM designs, writes, and publishes books in Lao and Lao/English. Some stories are original. Others are translated. A good story is a good story no matter where its from.
Visitors to Luang Prabang can drop into Big Brother Mouse and purchase books in Lao to leave in villages or give as tips. We bought a small packet of pre-selected books for the staff to include in a book party. At set times tourists can engage in English conversation with local people. We met a woman who learned about the lives of novice monks from her conversations at BBM.
BBM seeks donors to sponsor the publication of a book or a book party. Sponsoring a book or book party may be an ideal gift for a special occasion - birth, bar mitzah, retirement, and so on. We plan to sponsor a book now, and perhaps a book party when we return to Lao. Visit the web site to learn more, to be impressed and inspired.
Saoban: First our back story - I am not much of a shopper. We have everything we need and then some. After buying virtually nothing in India - I later regretted that we hadn't purchased hostess gifts and the like. We can give interesting gifts, and more importantly we help local artisans. I vowed not to make the same mistake in Laos. By our last day in Vientiane we had a suitcase full of gifts.Good karma must have been radiating from Saoban. The store's display was beautiful, and the story behind the shop was awesome.
Saoban is a social business that evolved out of PADETC, a Lao community development NGO. During our visit we chatted with Shui-Meng, the shop's owner, about her work in community development. She worked with village women help them think about and set fair prices for their products, e.g., that their labor was not free and that materials (even if locally accessed) had monetary value. As part of pricing their labor the women needed to think about what they wanted from their work, e.g., ability to educate their children. They learned the importance of setting prices and sticking to them, especially the need not to accept lower prices for their products and thus undercut each other. She helped them understand the importance of quality - using natural dyes rather than cheap chemically produced dyes and keeping consistency between products.
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| Doug and I with Shui Meng - An inspiration for all those who want to empower women |
Shui Meng and other developers did not lecture village women. Rather they undertook the long process of gaining the women's trust and soliciting their input. One consequence is assuring the sustainability of a way of thinking about how to value work, especially if new products and crafts are developed. While Saoban sells the products these women produce, the weavers are free to market their products to other shops and outlets.Truly the women are empowered. Here is an observation Shui Meng recently posted on Saoban's FB page "You will no longer take for granted what goes into your bowl of rice or how much work goes into your little scarf or bamboo basket once you spend sometime with the people who grow the rice or make the stuff you use everyday."
What did we buy? A piece of fabric, now hanging on our wall. We hadn't found anything that won us over and had decided to wait until "next time." I took a photo, but it doesn't give it justice. Here is a youtube presentation to show how such pieces are woven. It suggests what our design looks like. We also bought scarves and napkins. After a short debate we decided against spoons crafted from aluminum contained in bombs dropped in Laos. We had sympathy for the project, but didn't know what we would do with more spoons. While we talked about the spoons Shui Meng quoted a women in a bombed village "Why did they (US) hate us?"
We talked with Shui-Meng for about 20 minutes. Afterward we Googled Saoban and PADETC. Our admiration grew. Saoban's FB page includes videos and slide shows of the artisans at work. Visits to Saoban's villages can be arranged - something for our next trip. PADETC's website said that it welcomes experienced and skilled volunteers, preferably volunteers who can stay for at least 3 months. In 2013 it is particularly interested in hearing from Environmental experts who have time to volunteer in Laos. A sabbatical or transition to retirement project? Makes me wish that I had some hands on skills.
The PADETC website had a link to Sombath.org that tracks the status of Sombath Somphony the founder of PADETC who went missing on 15 December. A reminder that a tourist can overlook the human rights and development struggles that go on in Laos and other countries.
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