I was blown away when we walked through this Hmong village in Xieng Khuang about four years ago and came across this mother and daughter washing clothes. I don't think I've ever seen a younger girl washing clothes, and with such determination and commitment to the task at hand! The reality is that this really is not that unusual and that because 70-80% of Lao (including ALL ethnic groups) families are living at a subsistence level, children begin working and helping out at a very young age. Growing, finding and eating just enough food to get by is the main task at hand. Hopefully in the next month or so I'm going to post an interview we did of the three young girls singing kwv txhiaj and they talk about only eating meat a couple of times a month.
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