Opium

Day 63, Laos, Nam Ha NPA

Second trekking day in the Protected Area of Nam Ha. Several tribes are living here. I was surprised to find two tribe people in the middle of the jungle. I met them after around 4 hours of walking in the nature. They were cooking sticky rice in the bamboo tree. One of them was actually smoking Opium from a bamboo tree. I asked him to take pictures and he agreed (I personally think that he was not at all aware of his talking in that exact moment). Opium is really strong and can be compared to Heroin. The guy was lying on the floor in the baby or fetus position. People use to mix the Opium with Paracetamol (a medicament against headache) to reduce its strength. Finally arrived in the village I walked around and remarked that several people are addicted to Opium. The guide explained us that 25 villagers out of 100 are addicted. The problem is that these people spend 5 times more than they earn on a daily basis. Children of Opium addicted parents have the problem of famine. You can recognise it at the form of the throat and the stomach. It is sad. Tribe people use to live in tree houses and they have the access to water since last year (non profit organisations installed watergates). They continue to use the river to was themselves and wash their clothes.