Khmu Village

Kaarina and I have been blessed these past two weeks to have Bounpheng help us in our work. Bounpheng is a former IVEP’er and has done translation work for MCC in the past. He will help us as we begin our work as our Lao is still in its infancy. He is an immense help, teaching us more technical Lao words and couching our sentence structure. In addition to Lao, Thai and English, Bounpheng also speaks Khmu.

Studying with Bounpheng

 Work in Tha Thom recently brought us to Thitnoon, a Khmu village roughly 21km to the south. 103 families call the village home and all the structures are built in the traditional stilted style with bamboo walls. The village does not yet have electricity, but running water is present provided by the first development organization that worked in the area.

Thitnoon Village

A Traditional Home

   After arriving to the village in the afternoon, bathing in the river, learning a few key Khmu words and eating chicken soup we retired to bed in one of the homes. Bed consisted of a mat, blanket and pillow. Morning began early (3:00am) when the roosters began to stir and some farmers started getting ready for the day. We decided to wait stay in bed till 6:30am.

Evening in the Village

Morning Sun

The reason for our trip to Thitnoon was to observe the agricultural team’s workshop about animal raising and vaccines. About 107 villagers attended, plus the MCC agricultural team, several government officials and us, all crammed into a small classroom.
Topics of the day included:
1. A recent law stating that all farmers must keep their animals contained during the night and work harder to keep them from destroying crops. Farmer’s heard the new law and agreed that it is good to start following.
2. Basic needs of animals.
3. Importance of vaccinations.
4. Breeding.

Village Farmers at the Animal Training

We are eager to get to know the other villages in which MCC works.

Posted by Jeffrey