Asian Week
Scratch beneath the surface of Laos’ burgeoning tourist scene, and you will see a country suffering with poverty and inequality. Charlotte Halligan discovers how Micro-credit is changing lives for poor women across Laos.I find myself in a rural Lao village surrounded by 15 women. They are all different ages; mothers, daughters, grandmothers, even babies. Their language is completely alien to me; I strain to understand but I only grasp a few numbers in their exotic tonal tongues. But I don’t need to understand what they’re saying to understand that they’re excited. The women hold up and pass round different cottons, fabrics and intricately embroidered silk. Their sing-song voices clamber over each other, reaching a deafening crescendo which descends into near hysterical laughter. Notable is the complete absence of any men.
This is my first trip to the Ban Hai village in central Laos, and I am witnessing something truly special - micro-credit in action.
A forgotten land
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