A Day to Remember in Sim Sam Village

photo by Zoom

We were on our way driving to Sim Sam village which is about 13km away from Y Ty. The road was in very bad condition with big rocks and chicken holes. It was obvious why we hardly saw people traveling on the way. On our way to the village, the roads continually twisted and turned languidly along the mountains. Clouds hung over our head coming and going constantly. Colors of the sky and the clouds, yellow ripened paddy fields, and young green trees – the stunning landscape painted with youthful abandon.

While driving and taking in the incredibly scenery, I saw two Red Dao women walking on the road. I passed by them, but I stopped and offered them a ride. Hannah and Seb my friends were driving behind. I could see the women were very happy and wanted to hop on my bike but they made sure to ask whether I really would charge them any money and said if I wanted the money, they didn’t have any. At the end, my friend, Sed took another woman and I took So. So and her friend are very short women. So’s Vietnamese wasn’t too good and her friend didn’t speak the language at all. Our conversation went slowly from the beginning of our ride. The road got harder and harder when we drove further. So told me that her friend and she walked to A Lù outside of Y Tý to visit her friend’s daughter’s family the day before.

Photo by Zoom

A Lù is about 20km away from Sim Sam. The daughter gave the mother a small bag of raw peanuts as a gift. I asked So many questions. I learned that So is a widow. She lives further up the top of the mountain in Sim Sam village. She has a daughter who is 16 years old and will get married early next year. She also adopted a boy who is 14 years old who lives in the same village.

We finally arrived at So’s house on the top of the mountain after one hour driving in an extremely hard condition road. So invited us to go inside her house. Did not wait any second, we felt honored to go inside. So’s house is about 20 square meters. The house is made out of mud and dried rice trunks. The mud is daubed directly onto the plaited bamboo to form the walls. At the entrance door, there was a mother pig nursing her 6 babies. When I stepped inside the house, it was so empty from my first impression. There was absolutely no electricity in the part of the village. We stepped out to the front yard and sat on the ground looking at the incredible terrace rice fields and massive mountains view in front of us. I met her adopted son there.

So and Her Son - Photo by Zoom

I asked him why he was not at school. He said there was no man in the house so he wanted to stay home to help his mother to harvest the rice. I also learned he has to walk 14km to school in Y Ty and another 14km back home in that kind of horrible road condition every Monday – Saturday.

So apologized she didn’t have anything to offer us. They just had their old huge yellow cucumber they save the seeds for the next crop to offer us. So cut the cucumber to few different slices and offered 3 of us. They ate as well. It was so simple but so special and meaningful moment. I had the slice of cucumber in my hand, got silence. Looking at the incredible view in front of me, many thoughts were running through my mind. My throat felt choked. The tears just came out naturally that I couldn’t help it. I thought of myself that how lucky I am to be in a better position than a lot of people to have opportunities to go to places, to live a life that I have. I thought how spoil I am. A lot of times I complain on small things without thinking how hard so many other people like So and her son have to live in this world. I did not know how I could help them. I mean I barely take care of myself. Normally, I do not give money to people when I travel because I don’t think it would be a good way of helping. But again, these people were suffering. it seems like this was meant to be, that I met So and I was at her house. In this case, money may help. Hannah had the same thought. We each put 300,000 dong in. It was hard to hand the money to them. I told them we were just travelers and we felt really special visiting their home and we do not have much to give but we hope this tiny amount of money would help them tiny bit to buy something necessary for the daily living.

Photo by Zoom

Time to say good bye. We left the house in a mixed feeling. The sky for some reason was so deeply blue that day. Driving my bike, I felt the cool blue sky breeze stirring my hair. I could smell the scent of the young rice filling the air. The image of the boy and the sadness in So’s eyes stayed in my mind , more than anything I just wish them the best harvest season this year.

Wednesday, August 28th, 2013

H'mong Hemp vs. Marijuana

A H'mong woman holding a Hemp leave

All H'mong clothes are made from hemp.  The H'mong are proud of their handmade clothes. The most beautiful clothes are worn for the new year, festivals, weddings or weekly markets. Beautiful clothing shows a woman's good skill and hard work.

Hemp is one of several varieties of cannabis sativa plants. Most people are familiar with the rasta and indica varieties which are known universally as marijuana, derived from the Mexican slang. Both these varieties are high in THC Tetrahydrocannabinol), the active ingredient needed to get high in marijuana. Cannabis varieties that contain THC are illegal in Vietnam and many other countries.

Hemp does not contain THC. It has been cultivated the world over for more than 12,000 years. The latin name for hemp, sativa, means useful. Hemp can be used as fuel, cloth, paper, food, oil, rope, sail canvas and many other useful things. It is widely regarded as the crop for the future as it has such a low environmental impact. It can be grown and processed without the chemical treatments needed for other plant materials and gives three times as much raw fibre as cotton. Oil made from the hemp’s seeds can be burned as fuel and has fewer emissions than petroleum. 

For H’mong people, making hemp cloth requires about 7 months (from raising the hemp crop to weaving the cloth) and a lot of manual labor. Often in late March and early April when it is the rainy season, the Hmong began sowing hemp.  A piece of fertile land is kept free for growing hemp. Hemp seeds are usually saved from the last crop. The best seeds are beaten and husked. They are sown close together, so that the hemp plants will grow straight and thin with no branches. Thin plants produce a better quality of hemp cloth.

According to H'mong farmers, when sowing seeds, one should not respond to any passerby, or else the seed's soul will travel away with the passerby and the plant will be unable to grow.  Two and a half months after sowing, the hemp reaches about two meters and is ready to be harvested. After harvesting, all leaves and small branches are removed, and the hemp stalk is dried in sunlight from 10 to 14 days until it is completed dry. Then it is separated into bunches according to length. Each stalk is broken at the middle and the bark peeled away from the core. One hemp plant produces 8-12 strips of fiber, and the longest strips can be about 1.6 meters. Hemp strips are tied in a bunch and pounded to remove the hard part of the bark.

Connecting hemp fiber is a long process. A hemp strip is split 10cm from one end and another strip is inserted into the split. The two ends are twisted together tightly so that the knot is not visible. Hmong women often have hemp fiber wound around their waits and hands, and use any spare time to connect strips.  To make the fiber stronger, it is spun on a wooden spinning wheel with a 70cm diameter frame. The wheel (che tu) which is turned by pedaling, draws and twist the fiber from four balls of wet hemp onto four wooden chopsticks which serve as spools. The thread of one spool is attached to one arm of a four-armed horizontal bamboo frame (khau ly). The thread winds around the four arms as the khau ly is rotated, and then the next spool is attached. Next the thread is put in a hole in the ground with cooking ash for one night, and then boiled three times until the fiber turns white. In the final boiling, beeswax is added to make hemp smooth. The khau ly is used once more to stretch the hemp fiber and organize it into skeins.

Finally, the hemp fiber is wound onto a short bamboo stick and then a warp is strung. Traditionally the H'mong weave on a back strap loom and use only one foot to pull a single heddle. The width of the cloth is about 30 to 35cm, which is the length from a skirt waistband to the hem. When taken off the loom, hemp cloth must be washed repeatedly for one month until it becomes as white as possible. Finally, hemp cloth is pressed between a stone and a log to make the cloth smooth and flat.