OK Amphone, I had promised that I will contribute to Sajatham on an 
irregular basis.  I had a little time to find my old article that I wrote 
for Lao kids in San Diego area.

I cannot post on SCL because I don't have a news server(only e-mail). 
Please post this wherever you like under Sajatham program. 

			==========================

			SALUTATION TO THE LAO YOUTHS 

By: Sak Khammungkhune as a guest contributor to Sajatham.

Note: This article is based partly on personal encounter with Lao youths 
that came to study KungFu with me. All the jives and jabs are from the 
bottom of my heart.

				+++++++++++

	Most of us that grow up in the United States, have had to go 
through painful period of growing up.  

	Things like using Lao language with mom and dad, uncles and aunts 
and their circle of freinds( old folkies ) . Using English with our brothers 
and sisteres and our peers.  We tend to understand more English than Lao...
prefer to eat hamburgers, pizza , and noodles than eating "sticky rice", 
"Padek" , "Lap" , "koy" and "Ponh Pa"....Too spicy or too hot or just plain 
unpalatable for these Lao dishes.

	In some households, the grown ups have been trying to insist the 
Lao ways upon us....Learn how to "Nang Phab Phieb"(sitting certain way of 
cross legs)...."Kom Long" (gently stoop or lower your body) when passing 
through the house guests, "Nop or Kap" (pay respect with two joining 
palms in the middle of your chest slight"Kom Long".)  in greeting the 
elders or when introduced to new Lao person, also when parting(good bye)....
Saying "Doy Kha Noi" for yes or affirmation...... just to name a few Lao 
rules of conducts.

	Other family activities are : going to the Buddhist Temple on 
certain occasion like "Het Boon"; here you have to sit still and trying 
or pretending to "Nang Phab Phiab" listening to the monk's sermons in 
language other than Lao, driving your level of boredom to the point that 
you become jittery because you don't understand a word of it....Helping 
mom in household chores like cooking, doing dishes, cleaning and doing 
laundry..(such a never ending chores) ...You are also responsible for the 
order in your bedroom....Taking care of younger siblings...keeping up 
with the school works....Lastly, competing for attention from mom and dad 
as a lot of times they are occupied with the new born or entertaining 
their friends....You only want some answers to your homework problems or 
to tell them of your problems with neighbor's kids that you've been 
playing with. 

	On the school ground, you have to keep up with you school mates 
who come from different cultures and values.  You want to be accepted in 
the main stream of culture.  You want to look good among your circle of 
friends.  You want to hang out with popular crowd of your choice.  You 
want to be liked by your teachers and teaching assistants.  

	On the other side of school life, you don't speak English the way 
other kids do.  You don't laugh at the same jokes from other kid's 
culture. A lot of us are intimidated by the Whites, the Blacks and the 
Mexican kids.  Sometimes we really get bullied from them...They hit you 
from the backs...they say bad and insulting words right to your face in 
the locker's room or in the gym when you are alone. This is such a 
devastating psychological effect....Crying home to beds or crying to your 
close friend's shoulders or to your older siblings....

	The next thing you want to do in school yards, is to band 
with your own kind (GANG UP) in order to protect yourselves from 
harm....the school principles don't really show they care.....nor you can 
find protection from the attendant office. Generally, your insensitive 
parents will say " You have to be pretty bad to get hit like that in school."
No matter how hard to try to be quiet and proper, those kids just don't 
leave you alone...Schools sucks, man....Then you get more involved with 
your gang. Sooner or later your gang activities get out of 
control....your interest in school is gone....just trying to survive and 
enjoy life while you can.

			+++++++++++++++++++++

	On the other side of the young Lao activities, right in the place where 
our parents and ancesters came from,life is different from here.  Kids 
over there,Laos, don't grow up in the comforts of diapers...no Johnson & 
Johnson Baby Shampoo...no baby powder and baby oil....no heated house 
with thick carpets where toddlers can crawl safely any time....no 
milk...no vitamine suppliments...no daycare center....schools don't 
provide lunch....no clean runnig water...no grassy lawns, clean floor in 
the school ground.

	When you talk about an average schools in Laos, it means some 
kind of basic enclosure such as thatched roof, bamboo walls, compacted 
dirt floor and small primitive school yard...just to protect its 
occupants from rain and shine. You will also find basic crude tables and 
chairs(long stools), one blackboard with chalks and one lonely teacher.
This is a typical village school...no book selection...no bright colors 
walls with posters...no nearby library...no bus service...no fieldtrip.

	Kids over there pay a lot of attention in school because there is 
nothing else to do. If you don't go to school, you have to tend the 
water buffalos in the field or work in the rice paddies.  So kids prefer 
school than working on the land.  Besides, schooling will bring them out 
of poverty. But when they are at the higher grade, they discover that 
jobs are very scarce in Laos. Their hopes disintegrate when they finally 
graduated from high school.  This happens to most poor Lao.  

	People there always dream of prosperous lands like Japan, France,
Australia and the United States where they know they can find Lao people 
living there.  They want to live and enjoy life like us to the point that 
they are envious of the "Lao Tang Dao" (Lao overseas). 
	
	THIS IS THE BASIC RIALITY. SO WE SHOULDN'T FEEL TOO BAD ABOUT
	OUR SITUATION AT ALL. THOUGH THIS STATEMENT MAY FALL INTO 
	THE REALM OF RELATIVITY, IT OFFERS ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE IN LIFE
	NEVERTHELESS.

	Our parents and elders are our roots that we can always be safe with.
They are the link to our history.  History is the mirror to our past.  
History tells us where we come from and who we really are.  History is 
the solid physical record that shows how our true culture and system of 
value withstands throght the test of time. 

	It has shown that the Lao race thrives and survives anywhere we 
go.  Our parents have to be pretty smart to make it here.  They can tell 
us some of the Lao history as they have experienced it first hands.  We 
should be proud of them. We should love and cherish what they wish of us 
to become...(that feeling is from the bottom of their hearts folks and it 
is very true.)...Most of all, we should be proud to be born a Lao because 
we can become as smart as anybody else, yet we are unique.  But being a Lao 
means we have responsibility to guard our culture, language and system of 
value and belief.  The dignity and the pride of being a Lao can neither be 
sold nor negotiated.  It is expensive to keep but that's the only way we can 
survive...Just like banding into a "Gang" to stay safe in school ground 
and on the streets of America.  La Gone Deu Phi Nong!

Hug Pheng
Ai Sak