A Flower Blooms From the Ashes of War

by JG Learned

From the beginning, North by North East Tours has tried to help and support the villages in Laos through which we run tours. It is an ongoing commitment to show as much respect and responsibility to the people of the countries in which we operate as we do to the people whom we introduce to them – especially at a village level.

This past year we have brought doctors through many remote villages lacking even the most basic health care and amenities. We encourage our guests to bring school supplies to these villages. We do all we can to create the right conditions for guests and locals to make contact and learn from one another, to bridge the gap between cultures. And we are continually making progress. Thanks to donations of time and money we are involved in several ongoing projects. One of these is on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a story of war and death and the eventual blossoming of friendship and gratitude.

Ban Nahom is a village very close to the Vietnamese border. All around it are huge craters; gifts from the United States who, in their infinite wisdom, perhaps thought making fish ponds in and around the village with bombing missions would win the hearts and minds of the people. An incredible amount of death and destruction ensued and a great percentage of those bombs still lie patiently waiting for the unfortunate water buffalo, farmer or child to take one fatal last step.

The village boats are made of discarded fighter plane fuel tanks. Cluster bomb casings make vegetable planters. Rocket tubes are used as piping. Everywhere you look in this village are relics of the war. Everywhere around it are craters. But the water table is low, so the fish farming didn't work out.

Jeff Hudgens father was an airforce pilot. He died in Laos when his plane was shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In 2002 the villagers of Ban Nahom village helped Jeff and our team to locate the wreckage of his father's downed plane in the rugged limestone mountains behind their village.

Greatly touched by the villagers' help and hospitality, Jeff wanted to find a way to help these people who captured his heart. Jeff discovered that basic amenities, like running water and toilets, things that we take for granted in the West, are considered luxuries in most of Laos. Jeff & North by North-East thus began long-term planning with village headmen & elders to find ways to improve the basic quality of life; first for the children.

Donors like Jeff are not rich, but they have big hearts; they want to help, but must take care to choose their work wisely. The biggest challenge in this case is to determine what can be done on a limited budget, to benefit the largest number of people.

Ban Nahom is a remote village. Here the most basic medicines such as fever-breaking aspirin and antiseptic cream are practically unheard of! A simple, infected insect bite can lead to gangrene, taking a life and affecting a dozen others. Periodically, insect and water-born epidemics occur. Last June, 54 of the 195 inhabitants came down with cholera: four died. They had no medicines or even the knowledge of what disease was killing them.

During the rainy season, the roads become impassable, so it's Jeff's and our goal to provide useful general medicines which will ease hardship when the roads are closed and to supply the teachers and school children with needed school supplies and uniforms. Ironically, Lao Government policy dictates that villages supply children with uniforms & books, but in Nahom and villages like it, teachers and school kids write their lessons on the dirt floor or on slates.

Jeff and his friends in the last year have provided the following items and more to Ban Nahom :

1). 6 blackboards, rulers, chalk, notepads and spiral notebooks, pens & pencils for all 79 students

2). Sports equipment - 3 soccer balls, 3 volley balls & nets, 3 takraw balls.

3). Medicines - Aspirin, Paracetemol, antiseptic cream, hydrogen peroxide, bandages, cold medicine, anti-malarial and other drugs. Elder villagers die every year simply from fever or from the common flu. Small, infected cuts can threaten life. Malaria can kill before a villager can get to help. So we select medicines which are the easiest to administer, and which will do the most good for the most people.

4). Aluminium water coolers for the school.

NEXT STEPS IN BAN NAHOM

In January 2004, we plan with Jeff's team to build a new concrete floor for the school at Ban Nahom, which today is made of mud; not very comfortable for learning during the monsoons! Jeff and his friends will work side by side with the villagers to complete this project.

We would like to express our gratitude to Jeff and friends and the spirit of giving which has arisen from the ashes of war! It is only on an individual level that we can effect the most profound changes in those we meet and in ourselves.

Why do we help out at Ban Nahom village? Because we can. Because we should.
Today's complex world offers us few crystal-clear choices between right and wrong. It is not often when a course of action which is clearly correct and right avails itself. North by North East and people like Mr. Jeff Hudgens will continue to assist where we feel it is needed and it is the right thing to do.

We hope some day you'll join us.

Note: If you are interested in contributing your time or skills or donations, please get in touch with us. Accounting for such trips is transparent, and a detailed list of expenses & purchases for these trips are available to any who wish to see. Please send us your request.