Project Kajsiab

I'm falling behind in my posts...so let's go back in time a bit, shall we?

Looking back at Thailand after taking the ferry to Laos.

Climbing the temple stairs on my way to Daauw Home

Crossed the border from Thailand into Laos around February 11th. The border town in Laos is called Huey Xai (Bokeo Province), and is pretty small with not a whole lot to do (besides one thing, but I'll get to that in the next post). I was meandering around the main street thinking about where I might get some dinner my first night there when a nice Scottish girl approached me with a pamphlet for something called the "Daauw Home", which among other things, was a restaurant with food--precisely what I was looking for. I followed her directions (up the temple stairs, down the dirt road, don't step on the chickens) and found the spot. Turns out, Daauw Home is an offshoot of Project Kajsiab (http://www.projectkajsiablaos.org/index.php?p=1_16_Introduction)--a project "dedicated to the improvement of health care and communication for the local women in Bokeo". The project description is a little vague for a variety of reasons, some legal. There is a bit of info here: http://www.projectkajsiablaos.org/index.php?news&nid=9

After having a delicious dinner at the house and chatting with Hannah (the Scottish girl who gave me the pamphlet) and learning more about the project, I decided I would come back the next day to volunteer and help with the construction of their new building. I worked for several hours cutting wood with an axe and a machete (no fingers lost!) to make tables and chairs. I worked with a young guy named Sa--a student from one of the local Hmong tribes who taught me how to say "No problem!" in Lao, which has already proven useful on many occasions. I'm pretty sure he also tried to teach me and the Australian carpenter some dirty phrases...but he wouldn't tell us what they meant. He just laughed when we'd repeat him. Thanks a lot, Sa.

Sunset in Huey Xai

After all the sweaty work, I was pretty hungry and was happy to be invited to dinner with the rest of the family and workers. We were going to have some sort of chicken dish, which sounded great to me. Little did I know that the chicken we would be eating was still running around the yard and had to be slaughtered. So boy oh boy, guess what I got to do?!! That's right, I slaughtered a chicken. It was actually a lot easier than I expected it to be, both morally and logistically. We slit its throat and collected the blood in a little bowl (which we used later). Once it was dead (which happened quickly), we dipped it in boiling water for a second and then pulled all the feathers out (surprisingly easy). Then we cut it open and cleaned all the intestines out and cut out the beak and other non-edible parts. Really, we used almost the entire chicken. The blood, intestines, and neck (maybe more?) were all chopped up and made into a kind of spicy sauce that was really delicious over rice. And I gotta say, it was pretty cool to see the entire process of getting the meat--from chicken running around the yard to seeing it all chopped up and cooked on my plate. I don't think we get to see enough of that in the western world. I think if you're going to eat meat, you don't necessarily have to slaughter the animal yourself (not really that practical), but to at least remember and acknowledge that it was once a living thing that had to be killed for you to enjoy is perhaps something we should do more often.