Mrs. Bounmy’s odyssey in Laos

Mrs. Bounmy has never been able to remain a spectator amidst the major political changes in Laos. She committed to and shared the fate of the Hmongs, and the refugees in Laos and Thailand. She is devoted to her family, yet determined to help others who are also in poverty.

Text and photos: Tanguy Vuillier

Along National Route 13, set amongst the rice fields that border the Mekong river, Ban Ponxay nursery school is plunged into silence. It is 1.30pm and it is nap time.  All the children sleep next to each other, and Mrs. Bounmy watches them with a big smile.

Mrs. Bounmy was born in the fifties (she does not know when, exactly).  Her family lived in a little mountain village, Ban Nam Say, in Xieng Khouang province.  The village is made up of the Khamou minority ethnic group, of which she is a member. The villagers speak khamou and the children learn Laotian at school.

Mrs. Bounmy is the fourth of six children.  Her childhood years are marked by the war against the communists and the bombings which make the region very dangerous.  The situation is so dire that her parents are advised to send their daughter to safety with the Sisters of Charity, in the town of Savannakhet.  They agree, and the incredible odyssey begins. First, an American priest arrives in Phonsavan to collect the children in the war zone and take them to Vientiane.  The rest of the journey is made by boat along the Mekong to Savannakhet.

Mrs. Bounmy is just 8 years old when she arrives at the Sisters of Charity.  She stays with them for 10 years and learns Laotian and French. At that time, she had already heard of René Péchard, who was helping street children in Vientiane.

The political situation around them worsens: the war is turning against the royal army.  On December 2^nd 1975, King Savang Vatthana abdicates.  General Tou and his family escape to Bangkok (he will subsequently leave for the U.S.)  He asks Mrs. Bounmy to accompany him, but she is pregnant with her first daughter, and is not willing to leave Bounkheut alone in Laos.

She travels to Paksane to join her husband and lives with her in-laws.  Following the Laotian communist party’s takeover, royal army soldiers are sought after all over the country.  In 1978, Bounkheut escapes to Thailand to avoid being forced into a reeducation camp, and in 1979 he fetches his wife and children to take them to safety.

The couple already has two children when they arrive at Nongkhai refugee camp on the banks of the Mekong opposite Vientiane.  They find life very difficult there.  Bounkheut works in the rice fields all day long for a measly wage (20 bahts a day, which is the equivalent of 50 cents).  The family have very little money to feed their two young children.

Mrs. Bounmy looks for a way to earn a little more money.  She sees other women weaving and selling Sinhs (traditional Laotian skirts) to Thai women.  It is not well paid – 50 bahts per Sinh, but selling 20 Sinhs earns her almost 1000 bahts, which is a fortune to her.

The only problem is that Mrs. Bounmy does not know how to weave.  But not to worry, she is going to learn how.  With the help of a Laotian grandmother who lends her patterns, she weaves her first Sinh, then another.  Looking back, she says that she would not have known what to do if the elderly lady had not been willing to help a mother in difficulty.

In Nongkhai, Mrs. Bounmy finds out about the work undertaken by Bishop Bach and Rene Pechard to help the Laotian refugees.  Every month, funds arrive to help support the poverty-stricken families in the camps.  Since she speaks French, she is able to act as an interpreter between the international charity volunteers and the Laotian and Khamou families.  She starts to help out and becomes more involved.  Back then she had no idea whatsoever that she would still be helping out all these years to the present day.

Mrs. Bounmy kept in contact with Children of the Mekong through the years, and in 1997 she has enough money to open a small village school.  It was something she had thought about for a long time. “If I return to Laos” she had said, “I want to set up a little village school.  Education is what is most lacking here.  Mothers are stuck at home with their children and cannot work to help their families.  The children do not learn anything and have no opportunity to escape their situation.

The village school in Pan Ponxay has been welcoming 65 children a day for 20 years now.  Mrs. Bounmy has suffered many setbacks and challenges, like this year, for example, when a storm blew away the school roof, and Bounhket was laid low with a long illness which was a huge worry.  In spite of everything, though, she returns to work with renewed tenacity.  This is what characterizes her: Behind her discreet smile and her tact hides an iron will, and a dedication of an extraordinary strength.  What an incredible testimony of hope for all the children who go to school every day, thanks to the unwavering perseverance of a young Khamou woman.