Development Work and An Alms-Giving Project

---

I’ve been looking for a job here for about two months. I’d like to work for an aid organization helping disadvantaged people in Laos. This being one of the least developed countries in the world, there are many, many poor people. 80% of the population is still working in subsistence agriculture. 40% of children under five face chronic malnutrition. The rural population lacks access to basic health care and education. There are a million causes to help with here. But how to help?

I figured since I’m not an expert on development, the best route would be to get a job or volunteer work with an aid organization. There are about seventy aid organizations working in Laos, depending on who you ask. I applied to every organization I could find the contact info for, mostly by email, but also by visiting the offices I could find in the capital, Vientiane. I received a few very encouraging emails telling me an organization would be interested but didn’t have any positions. But they told me not to give up, to keep looking.

So I’ve continued looking, talking to as many people as possible, following up on every contact. I’m starting to consider going out on my own to rural poor communities to gauge how I can help. Primarily, by learning what skills or natural resources the local people have access to and trying to figure out how to turn these in to marketable assets. What I’ve learned from talking to people is that poor communities most need a way to make better money from their work in the long run, as opposed to just donations in the short run. I’m no expert, but in lieu of working with an expert organization, I might as well see what I can do.

Its strange to me, but I’ve repeatedly been told that working for aid organizations is extremely competitive work to get in to, especially in Laos. I guess these organizations really want experts, not just extra hands to volunteer to help. It’d be cool to create marketable assets in a rural poor town, and take advantage of tourist’s desire to give back while traveling, to set up a system to use tourist labor to assist the locals in making money.

In the meantime, I’ve started a project with the Office of Tourism to fix the problems with the morning alms giving in Luang Prabang. Morning alms giving, known as sai bat or tak bat to the Lao, is an ancient Buddhist tradition that sees the town’s monks and novices walk the streets of town early each morning, collecting rice in their baskets from local people, readily kneeling to give by the roadside. The locals create merit for themselves and their families, besides taking care of the monks, with this meaningful ritual. All participants should be silent and meditative.

This beautiful tradition has been turned in to a tourist attraction by those seeking to make money from it. Most don’t understand the potentially dangerous consequences of doing this. Dozens of tourists disrupt the monk’s procession, taking flash photograph inches from the monk’s faces. Some tourists stop the monks to ask for a photograph together. Other tourists actually sit in the path of the monks, to get a head-on photograph, forcing the monks to change their path to avoid the tourist. All these behaviors are rude and disruptive. The local people, just wanting to practice this religious tradition, and care for their monks, are also disrupted by this behavior.

Some tourists participate in giving alms just because they think it’s “the thing to do” in Luang Prabang, like visiting a certain restaurant or going to the museum. Buddhism is an open religion, and everyone is free to participate, but really, one should only participate in a religious ceremony if it’s meaningful for them to do so. Otherwise, one can happily and politely observe.

Additional problems include disrespectful local women harassing tourists in to buying their bad-quality and high-priced rice to give alms. Monks get sick because these women sell old rice to the tourists to give to the monks. These women pursue tourists, badgering those that just want to watch in to participating, often when they don’t know how to do so correctly. As well, many monks don’t have enough food, because there are less local people to give, as businesses have replaced homes, as well as increased amounts of monks, as more novice monks have been admitted to temples. More young men have been becoming novice monks in recent years not because of a desire to study Buddhism, or to bring merit to their families, but just to have a place to live and eat while they study at the town’s better schools. This is frowned upon.

For six to ten years already, these have been problems. Much discussion has been had over how to solve these problems, but unfortunately the problems still exist. Brochures and posters, educating people about respectful behavior at sai bat, have been disseminated. But their existence has been spotty. Generally, the informational pamphlets are funded and distributed, and then the funding is gone and there are no more pamphlets. If tourists read their guidebooks, they will usually learn how to behave respectfully, as most guidebooks have a section on sai bat.

This project has brought me in to conversation with dozens of interesting people living in town. Everyone has ideas on how to solve the problem. One contact has led me to another, and that one to another, and so on. Everybody is concerned about this problem, its impact on Lao tradition, on the monks, on the local people and on the tourism industry. The problem is receiving plenty of negative press online. When rumors spread that a tradition like this has turned in to a “Disney Land-like-zoo”, the authenticity of the whole Luang Prabang experience can come in to question, leading tourists to choose other places to visit over here.

Sustainable tourism is a huge issue here as tourism has helped to raise the standard of living for many Lao. It is extremely important that tourism spread and continue for the development of the country. Advisors from all over the world are now working here to ensure the tourists continue to come, making sure the current attractions are sustainable, and opening up new attractions throughout the country, making sure more locals benefit from tourism. As of now, the number of Lao working in tourism is a surprisingly small percentage of the population (5%).

So far, we’ve begun distributing new brochures and posters about how to respect sai bat. These materials are going to guesthouses, hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, tourist attractions, the airport and the bus station. These brochures have been distributed in the past but now we have a source of funding that seems to be sustainable from two local hotels. We are also designing larger posters that will go along the main street where the most tourists watch sai bat. We are considering creating voice recordings to play along the main street to the tourists just before the monks begin their walk. As well, we are drafting letters to guesthouses and hotels, trying to impart to them the importance of teaching their guests about sai bat. We are also drafting letters to businesses, making them aware of their responsibility to care for the monks in their village, by bringing them food. These businesses have replaced local Lao homes, and thus the responsibility for caring for the monastic community must shift partially on to the local businesses. (In Lao, the temple and the monastic community living at the temple is considered the responsibility of the community. If the community cannot or does not care for their monastery, the monks must leave, and seek a new community that will care for them.)

We are awaiting ideas and feedback from the governor on our project. We’ve met with many of the village chiefs (the town is composed of many “villages”, each with its own temple and monks, about 69) and representatives of the naughty women selling rice. The chiefs are supposed to be speaking with their villagers to generate ideas about getting more involved in protecting sai bat. The women have been instructed to sell only good rice, at fair prices and are only allowed to sell stationary; they cannot wander around, harassing tourists. They are to organize and split in to small groups. Seven of them have been banned from selling completely. A committee of concerned governing groups is being created to monitor sai bat, to ensure these women are complying.

We are figuring out how to get tour guides to instruct their tour groups on proper behavior prior to arriving at sai bat. Tour guides are some of the worst perpetrators, aiding and abetting their groups aggressive photo-taking. We need to make sure they know the rules, and we need to enforce their practice of these rules. (Tour guides here have a tendency to allow their groups to do anything, in order to ensure a big tip. Often their groups would much rather know the local customs and behave respectfully, but tour guides don’t seem to realize this, or to realize their own impact upon their future work. Instead of telling their group how to behave respectfully, they tend to imagine what their group would enjoy, and then to facilitate that.)

So far, just a few small steps, but as everyone agrees, this has been a problem for a long time. It’ll take some time to solve it, plus a lot of people caring about it, and committing to do their part, to solve it. I’d thought people might be upset that a foreigner was interfering with this local issue, but most people seem pleased that a foreigner is interested in helping. I’m not sure how much I can help, but I can try. So far, it’s been a great learning experience as I’ve ascertained an incredible amount about Lao culture.

---

Comments

[anonymous]

appluad your work and efforts
thank you for being a responsible traveler and in your case an active resident here in Luangprabang. LP needs more individuals liike yourself in getting people to be more aware of the customes and the long old tradition that makes LP unique

[Pascale]

Wonderful!
Thank you for this well written document. The negative effects of tourisme will always make me sad. Having travelled through India, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Sri lanka for the past 20 years, I have seen much of the negative effects unaware tourists are creating. A blog like yours may help people to remember to walk lightly on the planet.