A Promise Kept...

Ban Na Village, Laos

July 18, 2007
N 20°41.836
E 102°42.307

We were lured to Northern Laos by Roger Vanderbeek, who we met in Torres del Paine National Park towards the beginning of our trip. Roger told us about the fresh air, the untouched, green countryside and about the beautiful people. We heard stories about the village of Ban Na and how the town had minimal electricity during his first visit, there wasn’t a single TV in the village, no cars, scooters or boats, and it was an area very few tourists had discovered. The picture Roger painted of the remote mountain village, surrounded by lush green rice paddies, sounded like a place we couldn’t miss.

Roger also told us about his adopted family in Ban Na, the owner’s of OBI Guesthouse (Obi is the boy in the picture below). Roger stayed with the family a few years ago and actually transported their son Aku to Luang Prabang for a hernia surgery that instantly relieved years of pain and only cost Roger a few dollars.

Our journey to Ban Na was more than a stay in the countryside, but we were delivering an important package from Roger to his family in Ban Na. The package contained enough money to send at least one of the kids to school for a year. This was at least the third time Roger has provided educational assistance to the family.

We walked to Ban Na yesterday to make sure we could find it and the family. We introduced ourselves to Kim, the mother of the four beautiful children, and told her we were friends of Roger. We let her know we had a package from Roger that we would bring back the following day and stay the night—we promised an early arrival.

We woke up fairly early and headed out with our daypack and slingbags for the overnight trip to Ban Na. We decided to keep our room in Muang Ngoi Neua to store our gear; we figured the extra $1.50 a night wouldn’t break our budget and would lighten our load for the trek.

We hit the slippery, single track, muddy trail at about 9:00 AM. We crossed two streams, checking our legs for leeches after each crossing. In some stretches the red, sticky, mud sucked at our feet. In others the mud was slick as ice, fresh from the overnight rain. We treaded cautiously through the jungle until we reached vast fields of rice paddies with ankle deep water (and more worry of leeches). After about 3 miles we came upon an open rice field with picturesque sandstone mountains covered with green trees and shrubs.

Little ladies worked in the rice fields, pulling out the clover in between the rice stalks. We weaved our way through the rice patties on the little levees, gradually ascending from one plateau to the next, until we reached the gate for Ban Na. We already knew the place we were looking for, OBI Guesthouse, was at the far end of the village.

We met Kim and three of the children—Em, Aku and Tye—under the canopy of the restaurant. The youngest child, Obi, was over at the new school monitoring the progress of the construction. Before delivering the package, we took another look at the sweeping views from the restaurant; the rice fields and mountains in the distance, spotted with little bungalows—used for shelter during the harvest—were breathtaking.

A few minutes later Marc pulled out a Ziploc with the envelope that read “From: Roger Vanderbeek” and handed it to Kim. Em came over to help open the envelope and pulled out the money. Her eyes were as wide as saucers. We could tell she was stunned. She counted it and fell to her knees, almost in disbelief. There was no question among the kids what the money was for—they were able to attend another year of school.

A little later we met Louie and Eve, a young Dutch couple helping with the construction of the school, and they told us about the conversations the family had regarding school the night before. We discovered there was some serious concern about money to pay for school for the older two, Em and Aku. The money from Roger immediately remedied their problem.

We spent the afternoon lounging around the deck of the restaurant, taking a break to check out the construction of the new school, and playing cards with Em and Eve. I learned a new game and tried to teach all of the kids the game of “Go Fish” before dinner.

We were treated to a special family dinner for delivering good news. Everyone gathered around the main course, roasted chicken stuffed with sticky rice, and put one hand on the tray. As we had our hands on the tray, the eldest family member, Kim’s dad, lead us in a type of prayer, Grace for Buddhists.

After the prayer was finished, we cupped our hands and waited for an offering from the eldest. We received a piece of chicken with a chunk of sticky rice. When everyone had a piece we ate it. Next, they normally serve Lao Lao to guests, but we were pleased to find out they didn’t have any in the town. (We didn’t want any part of that stuff after seeing the guys on the boat!) Instead we shared a Lao Beer, wished everyone good luck, and drank the warm beer kind of like a shot. We polished off the beer, grabbed the serving dish for another prayer, and then each family member started tying good luck strings on our wrists. We received an equal number on each arm promising us luck and prosperity in the near future.

Sharing a traditional Lao meal with the family was truly special as we rolled our sticky rice in our hands and picked at the tasty dishes in front of us to go with the rice. There were two types of soup—morning glory and mushroom—chicken in a spicy broth and a side of spicy morning glory. Everything was very tasty and we complimented Kim and Em on their culinary skills.

We felt we did our part in the good deed by delivering the money; however, we got the best end of the deal since we were able to meet the family and enjoy the beautiful countryside. The entire family is anxious for Roger to visit again, but they felt his presence as we passed through—apparently, just in time. Roger is known as PaPa to the family, but this time his kindheartedness came from the Buddha and brought the family the good luck they need to get through another year.