Hunting Swallows

Today is humid! It seemed like everything was dripping wet after last night’s rain! Welcome to the rainy season. I sat with Bounpheng at a nutrition training exercise in Phonchaluern Village. It felt like we were on an island since the meeting house is partially surrounded by verdant rice paddies stretching off into the distance. Mist shrouded the mountains lining the valley.

Rice Paddies

Today the district health partners and village health workers are practicing how to give a presentation and monitor the growth of village children. When the training wraps up we walk out into the meeting house yard and head to the road. I follow Bounpheng, who begins to stare at some electric lines running parallel to the road. Some boys line a fence underneath the lines holding long bamboo poles at the ready. Little black swallows sit perched on the lines, some fluttering into the sky returning seconds later to rejoin the other lined birds. As soon as a bird lands one of the boys stealthily raises his bamboo pole and taps the newly perched bird with a blade of grass attached to the pole’s tip. The swallow then attempts to take flight only to fall to the ground milliseconds later. The boy then drops the pole, catches the fallen bird and places it in a small woven basked holding a congregation of other birds already captive.

Intrigued by these proceedings Bounpheng calls to one of the boys, “How do you do that? Are you using electricity?”
A boy responds, “No, we use glue to stick the birds.”

Birds on the Line

Confused further we ask more questions. One boy shows us a can of sticky rat glue and explains that you have to start with a few decoy swallows. These swallows have had their eyelids glued shut and then are placed on the electric line. Since they can’t see they simply sit on the line and attract other wild birds. The boys take a blade of grass, soak it in the rat glue and attach the grass to the end of a bamboo pole. When the wild bird lands the goal is to touch the bird’s feathers with the grass covered with glue. This temporarily disables the bird’s flight and it falls to the ground.

Personal Demonstration

So why would someone want to catch swallows? If you have followed this blog at all or know much about Lao culture, I’m sure you know the answer. To eat them! Swallows are a delicacy and sell for a good price…at least in the city. Bounpheng is so impressed with the village price that he buys 10 of the birds, costing just over a dollar for the lot! I am simply impressed by the method of catching the birds and wonder who came up with such an idea?!

Buying Birds

Back at the office Bounpheng proudly displays his purchase to the other staff. Kaarina and I wonder how he will cook the morsels and so decide to help prepare the fire. After a lot of tedious plucking Bounpheng deep fries the birds whole. We swallow the swallows for lunch…they are crunchy and tasty, like anything fried. Just watch out for the innards since they make for a bitter bite.

A Single Spark

Sitting on a small wooden stool, holding a traditional Lao rice basket in her lap, Mrs. Van glows with happiness as she enthusiastically shares the importance these baskets have in Lao homes. Through the MCC Global Family supported project, she had the opportunity to share her talents and interest in bamboo weaving with the next generation. Local wisdom teachers, like Mrs. Van, are helping enrich young students’ learning by teaching practical handicrafts and kindling interest in traditional arts.

Mrs. Van Holding a Rice Basket

In a culture where sticky rice is eaten every day, rice baskets are central to family life and meals. Sticky rice, or gluttonous rice, is different from common white rice because after it is steamed it sticks together and is easily eaten by hand. In Lao homes, sticky rice is steamed several times a day and then stored in and eaten out of woven bamboo baskets.

Mrs. Van learned how to weave rice baskets from her grandmother about eight years prior to joining the local wisdom project. She first brought her expertise in local wisdom to the November 2010 Traditional Wisdom Training held in the district capital. She, along with other farmers and teachers, discussed local wisdom topics and how to include them in the school curriculum.

The next step was to return to their village and start implementing those activities in the schools, but at this point Mrs. Van felt apprehensive. ‘I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to teach the students how to weave… [and] was not sure of [teaching in the schools] at the beginning, but I knew we had a good plan and followed it.’

Mrs. Van may have been nervous and worried, but she was willing. She and two other villagers brought their expertise to the Khonsana Primary School, where they spent a day teaching students to whittle bamboo into thin strips and then weave those strips into rice baskets.

‘We worked in three groups.’ Mrs. Van shared, ‘Some students had difficulty figuring out how to [hold the knife and smooth the strips of bamboo].’ Because of these difficulties, students that knew how to whittle were paired with students that had difficulty. All the students worked together to create the final products, and their positive attitudes removed any fear Mrs. Van may have had in her inabilities to teach.

“Every student was interested! Some children had trouble finishing the rice basket at school, so they came to my home afterward, asking for my help… It makes me so happy to know that students are excited to learn. …I urge everyone in our village to make rice baskets so they can use them, or they can make them to sell. Though this is a very small activity in itself, when we do it together it can become a great success.”

Yum! Sticky Rice!

Now Mrs. Van, through the local wisdom program, has taken rice basket weaving full circle, transferring her knowledge to the next generation. Her involvement in activities, like integrating local wisdom into the school, keeps the spark of tradition and culture alive and spreading to the next generation.

A story written by Kaarina and submitted as part of a Global Family report.