ment. The Lao are not as careful in ul",............. ~u .• .., could be their has remained scrape by with a primitive type of rice They do not compost, weed or garden. They no forests, and the gravity powered irrigation systems they have used forever are unstable. They need to make changes because the world will not stay away from Laos forever. Events since 1986 make this even more clear. If their culture is to survive they need to strengthen what they do well. They must create a natural economy that can deal with encroachment, with the inevitable demand for consumer goods, with the forces of trade, and with other than local issues. A few aid workers from some small Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) are working with the Lao to achieve just this. Literacy must come before, say, an internationalist league to assure common security among self-sufficient village democraCles. Above: Hmong girl foraging for hazelnuts in the mountains. Left: A Lao rice-cookie. Working With Those Who How to Teaching Lao farmers how to farm is like teaching crocodiles how to swim. They might do better, but what they do has worked for a very long time. What they do now is certainly better than what the banks and governments in the Developed World want them to do. The really big aid organizations are part of a system that destroys places like Laos. Most aid organizations and world lending institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, became active in Laos around 1986. Now these groups build oversized roads, bridges, dams and gasoline powered irrigation systems that peasant farmers have no idea how to maintain, and which provide electricity that no one locally can, or may, use. These big projects waste money, foster corruption, and disrupt lifestyles by encouraging consumerism. A more reasonable approach, taken by the NGO's,
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