Here is a drawing of a friend that I met in Norway named Leo. His paintings drawings are fantastic
Friday, June 27, 2008
Leonardo Marinucci
Here is a drawing of a friend that I met in Norway named Leo. His paintings drawings are fantastic
Monday, June 16, 2008
the Children of Blessing: Lahu tribe
*note: the following pictures are ones I've collected, but did not take myself. those will come later!
The Lahu are a strong and proud people, slow to trust other tribes, and dedicated to maintaining their unique ways of life. For this reason, they choose to settle their villages high up in the mountains, removed from towns and roads. Hilltribe history and lore paints them as famously fine hunters, and they live intimately and harmoniously with nature. This is one of the things that stood out to me the most, in the time we spent with the Lahu of Ban Yafu village. As we trekked through the forests and hills, our guide and new friend Ja Ha, was constantly stopping to point out plants and herbs that had medicinal properties or other uses for the Lahu. He was so full of knowledge of the land, which is sacred and deeply spirit-filled to the Lahu.
The Lahu were originally from Tibet and the Tibetan plateau area of China and have been migrating to bordering countries for the past 200 yrs. As an ethnic group, they number about 60,000 in Thailand, located primarly in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces. They are complex and diverse ethnically. In Thailand there are no fewer than six different Lahu tribes, some of whose languages are not mutually intelligible. The majority of Lahus in Thailand are Red Lahu, which is what the people of Ban Yafu, where we stayed, were. Red Lahu are pantheistic animists who follow a Dtobo, a messianic leader. There are also a significant number of Black, Yellow and Shehleh Lahus in Thailand, many of whom have been Christian for nearly one hundred years, after being converted by missionaries. Black Lahu are the most populous throughout Southeast Asia and theirs is considered to be the standard Lahu dialect.
Lahu are primarily subsistence farmers, growing rice and corn for their own consumption. While so many of the villages of other hilltribes in Thailand are becoming strongly influenced by Thai urban culture, the Lahu remain a strict, serious people governed by strong principles of right and wrong, every individual in the village answering to the common will of the elders. While less importance is placed on the extended family than in other hill tribe communities, the Lahu are still strongly committed to principles of unity and working together for survival. There was a strong tribal feel among the Lahu of Ban Yafu, and it seemed like most every person in the village, young and old, had a specific role. Some were tribal council and elders. Some were representatives of the village. there was a kind of witch doctor or spirit doctor, and spiritual leaders.
An interesting observance- Lahus "may have the most gender-equitable society in the world." This is something that definitely stood out to Luke and me during the time we spent in Ban Yafu. Ja ha was most often the one taking care of the kids while his wife was in the fields doing physical labor. Ja Ha’s son helped to cook the meals and clean the dishes. All of the daily activities are shared. The Lahu have a motto regarding gender equality, which states that “chopsticks only work in pairs.” This was a shocking and very welcome change to come upon, after so much time spent in mainstream Thai culture where women have a very specific and less-respected role in society (I’ll expound on this later )
The Lahu language comes from the Tibeto-Burman family and has no traditional written form, though missionaries have tried to create a Romanized transcription. They call themselves the “children of blessing.”
The concept of “blessings” is an integral part of Lahu daily life, rituals, spirituality and folklore, and manifests in the forms of successful hunting, bountiful harvest and long life. The Lahu look to many sources for these blessings, the main two of which are their ancestors and their God of creation, G'ui sha, who controls all other spirits.
Well, there is so much more for me to learn and write and share with you about the Lahu and our short but impactful experience with them, and I will try to do that more vigilantly. Next, I will write about two sacred and amazing gifts of nature to the Lahu: bamboo and rice, and the amazing stories they created for us.
The Lahu are a strong and proud people, slow to trust other tribes, and dedicated to maintaining their unique ways of life. For this reason, they choose to settle their villages high up in the mountains, removed from towns and roads. Hilltribe history and lore paints them as famously fine hunters, and they live intimately and harmoniously with nature. This is one of the things that stood out to me the most, in the time we spent with the Lahu of Ban Yafu village. As we trekked through the forests and hills, our guide and new friend Ja Ha, was constantly stopping to point out plants and herbs that had medicinal properties or other uses for the Lahu. He was so full of knowledge of the land, which is sacred and deeply spirit-filled to the Lahu.
The Lahu were originally from Tibet and the Tibetan plateau area of China and have been migrating to bordering countries for the past 200 yrs. As an ethnic group, they number about 60,000 in Thailand, located primarly in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces. They are complex and diverse ethnically. In Thailand there are no fewer than six different Lahu tribes, some of whose languages are not mutually intelligible. The majority of Lahus in Thailand are Red Lahu, which is what the people of Ban Yafu, where we stayed, were. Red Lahu are pantheistic animists who follow a Dtobo, a messianic leader. There are also a significant number of Black, Yellow and Shehleh Lahus in Thailand, many of whom have been Christian for nearly one hundred years, after being converted by missionaries. Black Lahu are the most populous throughout Southeast Asia and theirs is considered to be the standard Lahu dialect.
Lahu are primarily subsistence farmers, growing rice and corn for their own consumption. While so many of the villages of other hilltribes in Thailand are becoming strongly influenced by Thai urban culture, the Lahu remain a strict, serious people governed by strong principles of right and wrong, every individual in the village answering to the common will of the elders. While less importance is placed on the extended family than in other hill tribe communities, the Lahu are still strongly committed to principles of unity and working together for survival. There was a strong tribal feel among the Lahu of Ban Yafu, and it seemed like most every person in the village, young and old, had a specific role. Some were tribal council and elders. Some were representatives of the village. there was a kind of witch doctor or spirit doctor, and spiritual leaders.
An interesting observance- Lahus "may have the most gender-equitable society in the world." This is something that definitely stood out to Luke and me during the time we spent in Ban Yafu. Ja ha was most often the one taking care of the kids while his wife was in the fields doing physical labor. Ja Ha’s son helped to cook the meals and clean the dishes. All of the daily activities are shared. The Lahu have a motto regarding gender equality, which states that “chopsticks only work in pairs.” This was a shocking and very welcome change to come upon, after so much time spent in mainstream Thai culture where women have a very specific and less-respected role in society (I’ll expound on this later )
The Lahu language comes from the Tibeto-Burman family and has no traditional written form, though missionaries have tried to create a Romanized transcription. They call themselves the “children of blessing.”
The concept of “blessings” is an integral part of Lahu daily life, rituals, spirituality and folklore, and manifests in the forms of successful hunting, bountiful harvest and long life. The Lahu look to many sources for these blessings, the main two of which are their ancestors and their God of creation, G'ui sha, who controls all other spirits.
Well, there is so much more for me to learn and write and share with you about the Lahu and our short but impactful experience with them, and I will try to do that more vigilantly. Next, I will write about two sacred and amazing gifts of nature to the Lahu: bamboo and rice, and the amazing stories they created for us.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Hilltribes Part I
Sorry it's been so long since we last posted.
We've been in Norway for the past two weeks, and have been busy painting (Luke) and writing (me.) It is just beginning to be summertime here, and we are living on a small farm right next to the sea, so the weather and landscape are ravishingly beautiful!
There is still a lot to tell about Thailand. I am missing it already, and of course, it didn't feel like we had enough time there or were able to accomplish enough. There's so much need and so much beauty. I feel drawn to live there for a longer amount of time, and hope that that can happen at some point.
We spent our last week with an NGO called the Mirror Foundation where I drafted up some grant proposals and we did home-stays in hilltribe villages, and I have come away from the experience with hopefulness and energy. I really believe in the work Mirror is doing and its effectiveness. They are a small, grassroots, very organic non-profit started by a group of Thai students, artists, and political activists. I was initially drawn to Mirror because it was started and is run by native Thais (not European/American transplants) who live among the people they are trying to help. Mirror's focus is on the hilltribe people of the Mae Yao sub-district of N Thailand.
For those of you who aren't aware, there are many tribes living in the "golden triangle" region of N Thailand, Burma, and Laos- unique ethnic groups with their own individual cultures and languages. These peoples immigrated to Thailand (etc.) throughout the 19th and 20th centuries from Tibet and China, have been traditionally nomadic and are therefore not Thai citizens. The term "hilltribe" includes the tribes of Akha, Lahu, Lisu, Karen, Mien and Hmong; also Paduang (Kaya- the "long neck women") I think, but I'm not positive. There is some fantastic artistry, craftsmanship and beauty within these cultures, which I hope to help expose you all to, and I will write and post more about them over time, but first I will tell you about the 2 groups whose villages we stayed in during our time with Mirror.
Traditionally, these tribes have based their livelihood on farming in the slash and burn technique, opium poppies being their main source of income, until recently when the Thai government cracked down hard on the drug trade and on slash and burn farming (in this case viewed as environmentally harmful.) The government has forced many of the hilltribe villages to relocate out of the mountains down to the foothills and closer to the cities. This forced relocation and change in traditional farming, in addition to the fact that statelessness means they don't qualify for the benefits of state education and healthcare, have created a huge problem of poverty for the hilltribe people. Their young women and children are extremely vulnerable to being trafficked into the bigger cities for prostitution.
The Not for Sale campaign states "the hill tribe people are the most trafficked native population in Thailand."
Mirror foundation has a lot of great initiatives to prevent trafficking and to encourage sustainable income and agriculture in their surrounding hilltribe villages of the Mae Yao area. Mirror is doing work on the preventative end of the sex-trade issue; the kind of work whose success is the least visible/measurable, but is the most important aspect of the fight to end trafficking. I just found out the other day that the Not for Sale Campaign, which is one of the most notable forces in the abolitionist movement, has decided to partner with Mirror. This is so exciting!!! I am really excited about the possibility of Solomon's Porch partnering with Mirror too, and maybe doing yearly trips to volunteer there, like with Guatemala.
alright. that's all for now, but soon I'll post photos and stories from the hilltribe villages, as well as more info about the individual tribes.
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