tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34802782.post2803664911759634507..comments2024-02-28T15:44:36.641-07:00Comments on Lao Bumpkin: So Fa So Goodsomsaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04909697873563962415noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34802782.post-38121121697632102052008-07-27T07:22:00.000-07:002008-07-27T07:22:00.000-07:00Country Midwife thank you for your kind comments r...Country Midwife thank you for your kind comments regarding my blog.<BR/><BR/>In reading the rest of your post I feel as if this dumbly idealistic tourist had visited a parrallel universe to the one you did, while in Laos.<BR/><BR/>Women don't lug water all day as the villages are sited specificaly for water, it is only a few meters away. They do not irrigate thier fields as they grow dry rice using swidden agricultural methods which give them much higher yeilds.<BR/><BR/>Since the time you left Laos it has been broadly recognised that relocation, especially forced relocation has been an unmitigated disaster for the idividuals involved. In many cases mortality rates exceed births.<BR/><BR/>I suggest you read my post <A HREF="http://laobumpkin.blogspot.com/2008/02/dispossessed.html" REL="nofollow">The Disposessed</A> and follow the links to The New Mandella an online forum for people working in the area concerned with development issues. Some suggest that by providing cover for these forced government relocations NGOs are complicit. <BR/><BR/>I'd suggest the villagers themselves know what is in thier best interests.somsaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04909697873563962415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34802782.post-33155041428352408422008-04-28T20:12:00.000-07:002008-04-28T20:12:00.000-07:00Hi Lao Bumpkin and thanks for your blog. I'll per...Hi Lao Bumpkin and thanks for your blog. I'll peruse and enjoy it lots. I am home now in the US for 5 years but spent several years in Lao. I'm about as green as you can get. But please try to remember than not ALL the hydro projects in Lao (disclosure: I have nothing to do with any of them) are bad. I worked in maternal-child heath during my years in Lao. Some of the displaced villages will have MUCH better lives because of the hydro projects. YES there is destruction of habitat, and resettlement of a lot of people. But they'll also get clean water, sanitation, irrigation. and access to such things as health aid (via better roads). We both know how desperate these remote villages can be - women and girls spending their whole days carting water from the river. There is a grief we all feel for the pristine nature, but don't be dumbly idealistic to the importance of some of these projects. Development truly isn't ALL bad, and the people who are affected (as would we) really do want better lives.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34802782.post-70636547030675209042008-03-31T20:02:00.000-07:002008-03-31T20:02:00.000-07:00Beautiful poem and nice storyThank you for sharing...Beautiful poem and nice story<BR/>Thank you for sharing.<BR/><BR/>samakomlao<BR/>http://samakomlao.blogspot.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34802782.post-47117626988875729072008-03-30T00:10:00.000-07:002008-03-30T00:10:00.000-07:00Thanks for this, an important blog and I hope it's...Thanks for this, an important blog and I hope it's read widely.<BR/><BR/>How many rivers must be dammed, how many forests cut?Timhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12346069501972114790noreply@blogger.com