The Other Side of the Mekong River

So many times this past year I woke up thinking "one of these mornings I'm going to wake up in my own bed in Canada and my time in Laos will be reduced to memories". At the time those thoughts drove me to live fully in the present moment and appreciate the gift that was each now day in Laos. Last Sunday, however, I woke up to the sound of silence. No chickens, no dogs, no crying babies, no gongs calling the monks to rise and go about their morning collection of offerings. I knew then that I was no longer in Laos. I am no longer in Laos. Not only am I beyond the Mekong River, I'm beyond the Pacific ocean too, with a continent or two in between me and the place I called home for one short year.

I've been in Canada for four days now and while so much of what I experienced in this year will always be a part of me, already Laos is beginning to feel as hazy in my mind as the mist that seeped through my window on cool mornings. Will my adventures continue? Most definitely. Particularly the kind of adventures that include trudging through knee deep snow on the way to classes at the University of Waterloo. Will this blog continue? Stay tuned to find out.

Empowering Lao Peacebuilders

MCC Laos' young peacebuilding team is excited to learn about the world of social justice and conflict transformation and to share their knowledge with their communities, but first they've got to get out of this knot!

Lately I’ve tried to take a supporting role wherever possible with our peace group, rather than being a leader or trainer, but with my sister Leah visiting as a new graduate in Peace and Conflict Studies and with a free afternoon on our group’s schedule, I agreed to help lead another peace training. We were given no direction as far as a topic was concerned and so as we sat in the shade of a mango tree on the pleasant grounds of a city temple, we wracked our brains for inspiration. What was the most important peace message we could portray to a group of Lao young adults in the span of a three hour workshop? The answer, we both agreed, was not to lecture as experts (which we aren’t), but rather to give the group some basic tools that could empower them to learn from each other. If we wanted to effectively encourage this energy of positive change, then we must give empower our Lao peacebuilding friends. And so, on the given Sunday afternoon, we briefly explained the difference between direct, structural, cultural and environmental violence and then handed the floor over to the participants with the question “how do you see each of these types of violence in Laos?”

A small group at the training prepares to make a presentation about where they see direct violence in Laos

I came to Laos on a field studies placement for my Peace and Conflict Studies degree, but when it comes down to it, I thought I was taking a year off from the world of PACS. It turns out I was wrong as wrong could be. As soon as I arrived in Laos and the MCC staff hear learned that I had a background in teaching peace to children and a degree in progress in PACS, I was put to work helping MCC’s fledgling peace group, and now, as my time in Laos wraps up, a Lao translation of the peace curriculum that I helped to develop for the Ontarion Mennonite Camping Association is underway. As I was writing that curriculum over a year ago, I could not begin to predict that it would someday be used to teach Lao children and youth, let alone novice monks. Now, our peace group has been asked to lead a training for 300 novice monks at a monastery next week, based on my curriculum. It looks as though I ran towards the world of PACS, not away from it. It may be cheesy to say this, but for me this has been much more of a "year on" than it has been a "year off", and I've learned every bit as much about peace from spending time with MCC's young Lao peacebuilders than I did sitting in a classroom back in Canada.

What would a gathering of young peacebuilders be without a little music? We begin and end each peace training with a song or two.