Data Collection in Laos: Ban Nam Khip and Ban Huay Suan

After a big dinner and bonding activity among our team, we still had an early start at 8pm. We left ‘Boun Home guesthouse’ at 8.30 and returned to Ban Nam Khip for more data collection.  Our team decided to conduct a semi-structured group interview with four women from Ban Nam Khip. Two of them work in the mining industry and another two do not engage in any employment.

                                                             My Bru Interpreters 

 From the methodological perspectives, the discussions among these four women can be really interesting since we can expect contrast views from those who have been in the industry and those who are independent from the company.

Interestingly, all  four women raised an important concern that women need to work more and perhaps the company can help women in Ban Nam khip to work . At least, the company should prepare local women with some skills that can promote them to progress s in the future. Issues that mining company or industry can promote women include job security for women, health and well-being, and skills. I feel that issues on gender roles and expectation are quite prominent among the participants in this study. Women who work feel that they do not have to rely on husband and can ‘swap’ roles with the husbands.

                                                            Head of the Village

In Laos, diversity is an important social issue. Since the arrival, I have been working with women and men from Phu Thai, Pa Kok, Bru and Vietnamese backgrounds. It was fascinating to see how people from different ethnic groups connect in one place. Language is one the challenges for me since I need to understand not only the verbal language but also non-verbal context of the participants. I am very fortunate to have ‘Thai’ as my interpreter from Bru to Central dialect. Also, ‘Thalalin’ and a few friends such as ‘Udomxai’ and ‘Ajarn Noi’ always helped me with issues of language and translation.

                                                           House of the Bru

In the evening, I followed my team to Ban Huay suan, a Bru-speaking community. We conducted five semi-structured personal interview with men and women and observed the whole village. Ban Huay Suan is quite an open community where most people gather around one shop in the centre of the village. I observed kids and men gather together and enjoy each other’s company. Most women tend to stay in the house and prepare dinner and clean the house.

The interview with Laos and Bru languages was somewhat difficult because I need to build trust among all participants in this study. Fortunately, most people I interviewed seem to understand central Laos accent well enough. The key issues from this village include job sustainability, women’s employment, women’s skills and ability to work in the non-mining industry in the future.  After the interview, we collected different feelings about the village and how they interact with the company. I still think that we need to re-visit Ban Huay Suan to understand how to prepare the community for the future.