The Dream House

What an incredible day! We awoke early in Pakse and decided to get some local coffee and lemonade to start the day on the right foot. We were then picked up from our hotel and taken to the local shelter VFI runs, which supports girls who have been trafficked and works to re-assimilate them into their communities. Before we get to that, however, I will tell you a l little more about the human trafficking situation in Laos…

Laos is a very poor country…very poor. At this point, Laos is struggling to bring itself out of the classification of “Poorest 20 Countries in the World.” Unfortunately, there are several problems associated with a government regime that seeks to raise the economy of a country as a whole, when the government is not overly concerned with all of its citizens. The number one problem is that the gap between the rich and the poor grows larger as the economy struggles to grow. Thailand is a perfect example of this problem. Thailand is another poor SE Asian country, but one that has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent years. Unfortunately, this growth has largely been at the expense of the lower classes and as the economy grows, the divide between the rich and poor grows. Currently, in Thailand, there is no middle class. Laos is now following suit. However, as the poor, indigenous people are told by the government that they must become more economically solvent, the people turn to their neighbor (Thailand), see the new prosperity, and think it is available to who comes to Thailand and is willing to work.

The poor of Laos flock to Thailand, often illegally, in search of jobs and prosperity. These people rarely find anything in their new country. Most of the time the people are caught by the police and thrown back across the border (termed a “push back”) as illegal immigrants. In these cases, people are thrown into buses, the doors are locked, they are driven to the Thailand-Laos border near Pakse and forced to leave Thailand. On the Laos side of the border, police await the people and they are taken away to be questioned and made to pay a fee for reentering the country without the proper paperwork. Those who remain in Thailand often become something akin to an indentured servant or are forced to participate in the sex trade industry (most of the sex trade workers in Thailand are from Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, or Burma).

I could go on about this problem, but it is a depressing topic and I’m not sure how much you actually want to hear about it now. Suffice it to say, this is a huge problem in SE Asia and Laos in particular. Young girls who are “pushed back” (often after being forced to take part in the sex trade industry) have a difficult time returning home or being accepted into their home communities (obviously the girls often have a lot of physical and emotional issues). Some lucky cases will be taken in by VFI’s shelter outside of Pakse. Called The Dream Home by its residents, this Shelter houses girls who have been within the trafficking system and teaches them trades and skills that will help them return to their communities.

The Shelter has been in operation for two years now and has helped 47 girls return to their communities so far. About 15 of those girls had been trafficked at some point (the rest were “push backs” as illegal immigrants only). In most cases, the girls stay at the Shelter for around 6 months, going to school, learning trades (hairdressing, cooking, sewing, gardening, etc.), and then return home to their families if the Shelter determines they are not abusive or environments where the girls are likely to be forced to return to the old patter of life.

We spent the morning visiting with the girls (speaking through translators), helping with their activities (I made a silk flower and helped prepare lunch!) and getting a tour of the Shelter. It was a beautiful place and obviously doing a lot of good for these poor girls. The girls even prepared lunch for us, a veritable feast of rice, stir-fried vegetables, fried beef, pork soup, and pork buns (amazingly delicious!). We all sat on the floor, eating in a large group. The Lao way of eating is a lot of fun, although quite a messy experience. Food is placed on small plates and placed in the center of the table, usually at intervals so that three or four people can eat off each plate. With the amount of dishes that are usually made or ordered, this usually means there is not a square inch of table left uncovered by food. You are equipped with a bowl or plate and bowl, a spoon, and sometimes a fork. You then dig in. First, you pile your plate with food. Soup goes in the bowl, laap and the meats onto your plate, although you shouldn’t take too much of any one thing or you will be laughed at. A better practice is to go back for seconds or thirds later. Second, you pull some sticky rice out of a small basket that sits beside your plate and roll the bite sized bit of rice into a ball. Third, you use the sticky rice to dab at your laap or other chopped up food and throw the whole mess into your mouth. Fourth, keep eating. The whole process is messy and delicious. Meat is picked apart by hand and then stuffed into the mouth with another ball of sticky rice. If you like the food, the trick is to have a small ball of sticky rice with each bite. If you don’t like the food, increase the ball of sticky rice exponentially. The rice is delicious and extremely filling (much more so than steamed rice), and very addictive. Once you start eating, it is hard to stop. The food at the Shelter was incredible and once I learned there was no egg in the pork buns (just for me!) I made a total pig of myself and ate four! Even thinking of it now makes me feel a little pang of delight at the remembrance of that good food.

We left the Shelter at 1:30 pm, when the girls had to prepare for their afternoon lessons, and with many thank-yous and see-you-laters (you don’t say goodbye here, you say see you soon or later only), we took our leave. After hopping into our trucks, we headed out of Pakse to the Thailand-Laos border where the “push backs” occur, but we did not get to see one as they usually occur on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. We drove through some beautiful countryside on our trip to the border, getting closer to the mountains and driving through more farming country. We returned to Pakse quite late (around 6 pm) and headed to the Riverside, where we ate food, drank BeerLao, and relaxed during our last few hours in Pakse.

At 8 pm we left to catch our return bus to Vientiane, which turned out to be a bit different than our trip here. The bus we rode on our trip down to Pakse was called the “King of Bus” and I must admit it deserves the label. Now, if that was the “King of Bus,” what we rode tonight was the “King’s Second Cousin Three Times Removed’s Second Sister’s Sons Bus.” Not quite in the same class system if you get my drift. This bus was a different type of animal. While I suppose you could term it a “double-decker,” you could only do so if you use the term very loosely. I entered the bus from the front and was immediately confronted with a single aisle. Making my way down, I had to crouch to waist height (on me!) to see into the bottom bunk. Above each lower bunk (meant for two people once again), was an upper bunk, accessed by a small metal ladder, although most people simple climbed up like monkeys by standing on the bunks below. Above each top bunk, was another bunk at cross angles across the top of those bunks. It’s hard to describe in words, but if you picture a house of cards and imagine every top card is a bunk, you’ve got the general idea.

At first this didn’t seem so bad. I mean sure...it’s not quite as nice, but really, you’re just sleeping through it all, so what does it matter? Well, it matters. You see, as the people above you climb up to their bunks, they are standing on the rails holding you in, and while they are climbing, the bus is swaying, lurching, and bumping, so that you’re sure the person will soon slip and *wham!* there goes your head…crushed by a foot. If you have a girl with a small bladder above you, such as my upper bunk mate, this means you will live in abject terror of death by crushing foot five times during the night. The mattresses were like rocks covered with a sheet, the driver thought it was fun to honk the horn all night, and the people were smellier than the previous bus (I kept looking around for that Romancing the Stone chicken). Luckily, I had a secret weapon…sleeping pills! I popped 1/3 of a pill when I got on the bus and managed to get three hours of uninterrupted sleep! Woo-hoo! And now, we can check another cultural experience off my list. I have now taken an entire trip using only local transportation. In the future…let’s just fly.

A Few Interesting Notes About the South of Laos:
1. The rules of the road here are strictly guidelines. I’m not talking in the sense of “*wink wink*I think the rules of the road are guidelines. Hahaha. *wink wink*.” No. Here, they really are guidelines. For example, there are lines denoting lanes on the road, but if you feel the need to pass someone (a common need as a majority of the population is traveling at a slower speed by motorbike), you can simply pass, and if there is an oncoming car, oh well. Basically, driving is one big game of chicken, and if you’re drunk, you will probably win, although, most of the drivers are drunk, so you should give that some thought.
2. Don’t have enough seats in your vehicle? No problem! Extra passengers simply hop in the back while we drive at 120 km/hour down a highway. There’s no problem with standing up in the back of a fast-moving truck…all the better to feel the wind in your hair! We laugh in the face of death!
3. Everyone on a motorbike “must” wear a helmet (technically adults must wear helmets, but it’s really hit or miss as to the actual wearing), except those hard headed babies. Why would a one year old need protection on a motorbike? That’s just crazy! Instead, strap them on and be on your way! Babies are tough, after all.
4. Families of five or six will fit on one motorbike. There might even be room for a chicken riding in front.
5. When passing someone on the road, honk six, seven, or a hundred times to let them know you’re passing. If you’re in a sleeper bus, honk more. That way all your passengers know you’re passing someone too!
6. The leading cause of death in SE Asia is motorbike accidents. Basically, if you travel by motorbike, you will die. Good luck!