Report on Laos "Hardship and peril become daily experiences when the 20th century explodes in a quiet land of rice farmers." By Peter T. White Photographs by W.E. Garrett National Geographic Staff |
Decked in her worldly wealth,
a hill woman pauses outside a village market in Loas,
Oregon-sized kingdom whose borders edge a militant China and Communist North Vietnam.
Her headdress marks her as an Akha, one of the country's many minority groups.
Author White tells in this perceptive article how Communist-inspired warfare
has affected a simple land and its shy, peace-loving people.
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Chopsticks Yield to Busy Fingers
of a Hungry Lao Youngster
Established by the young United States doctor who died recently of cancer,
the clinic brings a touch of modern medicine to an isolated area. Lao youths
taught by Dr. Dooley give shots and medical aid short of surgery.
Says Dr. John M. Keshishian of MEDICO, the organization that sponsored
Dr. Dooley's pioneering: "We don't know how much longer they can
carry on at Muong Sing. But Dooley's work was not in vain.
The tribesmen won't forget. And from Laos have sprung other MEDICO
projects in Asia, Africa and Central and South America."
Wrist strings seal a blessing at a Lao baci.
This ceremony combines a feast with ritual hopes for the honoree's
luck, long life and many happy returns. Strings may be worn until
they rot away to avoid any chance of spoiling the charm tied with them.
Students give this baci as a farewell for Owen Loveless, a United
States teacher in Vientiane.
Hill Village Wrests Living Space From the Encroaching Forest | |
Thatched huts of a hill tribe huddle on the flank of a ridge in northern Laos. To create fields for growing rice, villagers burn forest plots before the monsoon rains. Smoke hangs in the humid, quiet air for weeks, blanketing the land. Tribesmen move their homes to another hill when soil fertility wears out. |
To learn more about the Hmong People, please read " Tragic Mountains" and the oral history story of their exodus from Laos in " The Sky is Falling." |
U.S. Book Ordering Details
"This novel could be called �Non-Fiction� or a �Documentary Novel�.
It is about the �Hmong� (minority tribrspeople) in the Kingdom of Laos who had to fight
to survive during the Vietnam War era. In relating its story about the hard and
difficult war the Hmong fourth in order to retain freedom, and their long plight to help
stop the Communists� aggression in Southeast Asia, the book reveals the so-called
�American�s Secret War� in detail."
"Since there are so many Hmong from Laos living in the United States at the present, and
the majority of them know no other language but English because they are born in America,
we would like to ask any interested retail bookstore to please carry the English version
of �Chao Fa� in your prestigious bookstore for us. We feel that, for the Hmong in
the United States, this book is the book that will represent them in the international
community and will inform their friends and the world of how they have come to be refugees,
have to disperse in all directions and have become permanent residents in so many countries,
from Australia, Canada, France, Japan to the United States of America."
"Other than the Hmong that should be interested in �Chao Fa�, we think that the US servicemen
who used to be stationed in Southeast Asia might also be interested as well. Most of
them know very little about the fighting in Laos since there was no U.S. military personnel
assigned to the ground operation in that country. This is a good opportunity for them
to learn what else was going on when they were fighting in Vietnam."
- [email protected]
About the Author -
Piriya Panasuwan was born in 1943 in Chiangmai, Thailand. He attended the
Prince Royal's College in his home town for the primary and secondary education, and the
Bangkok Christian College in Bangkok for his pre-university courses. He spent five
years in the United States to study music at various institutions. Upon returning
from abroad, he immediately went to work in Laos for an international volunteer organization
helping displaced people. He had to leave Laos when the situation changed in 1975.
Other than Chao Fa, Piriya Panasuwan has written 10 more novels and three of which
received the national awards. Chao Fa is his first novel that has been translated
into foreign language. Besides being a novelist, he is also a well-known translator.
Under his real name, he has translated many books and novels from the English language
into the Thai language and vice versa. The English language edition of Chao Fa is also
one of his translation works. As a translator, Piriya Panasuwan is planning to translate
another award winning novel of his by the name of "Louis, E-Kaw, and friends" into English
language. This novel is another heart breaking story about a group of Amerasian children
in post Vietnam War era that were left behind to face their own destiny alone without fathers.
U.S. Book Ordering Details
U.S. Benya Publishing House is offering you a 30% discount or $9.00 US Dollars
on your orders placed through the U.S. Manager, Ms. Jettanaporn Suwannakoon.
Including $8.00 shipping charges, please make your check payable to:
Jettanaporn Suwannakoon
for the total amount of $28.95 US.
Please mail your order for "Chao Fa," the English Language version, to:
Ms. Jettanaporn Suwannakoon
Manager
Benya Publishing House
2 Greglen Ave., Suite 414
Nantucket, MA 02554
Telephone: (508) 325-5842
Email:
[email protected]
Notice: shipping charges covers both domestic and international orders.
We will also be very honored if you would visit our web site at
http://www.benyapublishing.com
to learn more about "Chao Fa" and view the cover of this book.
Your comments and/or your order are most welcome.
Sincerely,
Pongkaset
Benya Publishing House
Chiangmai, Thailand
[email protected]
© 1960, 1961 By National Geographic Society "The above is an excerpt, accompanied by photographs, from articles found in the National Geographic Magazine." |
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