Vientiane on fire

I complained before, and I will not rest to rant about these fires in Vientiane. The Lao capital is already a quite dusty and dirty city, but the fires (mainly organic waste like leafs, but always mixed with some plastic parts) make it even worst. Although there is a garbage collection service, people burn like crazy. Why? Because they always did it.

And here comes one of the biggest problems Laos is facing: the refusal of change. People still like to excuse themselfs with referring to Lao tradition, culture and education. Change is only possible if there are huge benefits. Like having a mobile phone - people had no problem at all to switch to a mobile phone from landlines in short time. Or using a motobike instead of a buffalo.
Not burning trash means paying for garbage collection (what in the city they have to do anyway), but also to get rid of it in a different way.

First, for Lao people isn't a different way available. At least in their mind (beside a undeveloped neighboring plot that can be turned instantly into a waste dump site).

Composting? Not known, and more important, not taught. And there again is the education system. In some textbook it is actually taught not to burn your organic waste, but childs cant cope with their parents opinions when it comes to changes.

So change in education doesn't mean writing something nice in the textpooks of primary school students. Education - in particular in developing countries - needs to be done in all segments of society.

A government that is able to give security advice for important events like the ASEM summit down to village level has already the tool and channels for communication.

If for example the village could fine those who start fires and the fine is later used for improvments everyone on the village is benefiting from, there would be an incentive to report violations.

But maybe only when the last Laotion died of cancer or respiratory diseases, people will understand that not every tradition is something you want to keep.

Planting trees, leaving rubbish

Today the community (not sure from the village or somewhere else) went out to do something good. Saving the planet is always good, and one way is planting trees. Unfortunately they (at least the ones planting legt from the Anouvong statue) couldn't get the whole picture about saving the environment. For example, plastic bags are NOT good for mother earth. Due to this lack of education (no NGO responsible?) they just left it next to the tree. May it grow well!

Trash and burn

A picture says more than thousand words. I will try to tell in at least less words. The picture was taken this morning on a busy street. Everyday Lao people, rich and poor, old and young, but also foreigners, diplomats, NGO workers, business people, are passing buy. So they know it, but may not see it. It shows a lot of Lao's problems. First of all young women with kids, often without a husband (he may have gone to Thailand or just left her, sometimes take even the kid). For women it is still hard to find a good job, if they have a kid but not married, it still is a stigma. Then, there is garbage. Vientiane is dirty, very dirty. Even if there is garbage collection, people just put their baskets and bags full of trash in front of their house, so neighbors dogs can play with it (they love to eat diapers they took out and distribute all over the street). So the trash is just out there for days. Rats like it, and other animals. Nobody cares. It seems that as long as the garbage isn't in from of the gate, it isn't bothering anyone. At last, there is the open fire. Lao people love open fire. This one had dark black smoke, indicating that ingredients are not just paper and gardening waste but plastic. So the woman with her baby just inhales this smoke without having any idea about the threats. Everyday government officials, NGO workers, diplomats see this. They don't care. They may discuss campaigns, but even if some were realized, they failed (maybe they wrote brochures in English?). The picture taken in the middle of the capital also shows, that Laos is far from becoming a modern country. It is still developing from a very low level. Education is the biggest issue. Money cannot buy knowledge and, more important, understanding of knowledge. Only if you understand what you learned you can turn this in action. All my Lao friend know about this as well. But one mentioned: "My mother insists on open fire as this is the tradition." Old habbits die hard, is a saying. In Laos, it is also a common excuse.