“Happier, healthy people are my greatest reward”
Aunty Perp is determined that her village in Laos will leave malnutrition behind
The boat landing in Pakbeng,Oudomxay Province, is buzzing with life. We get on board, and as we settle down under the roof, bags of vegetables, chicken baskets and cardboard boxes are handed down into the boat, weighing it down gradually. Shouts and laughter fill the air. Then, suddenly, the engine revs up and we are off.
Up the Mekong River, the water highway takes us through stunning landscapes of lush green mountains on both sides of the riverbed. Two hours and countless sightings of water buffalos, cows and goats later, we arrive at Louangtong village.
As we scramble out of the boat onto the sandy bank, we are greeted by sternly knotted eyebrows. They belong to Bouakham Santisouk, aka Aunty Perp, who has been acting as a Village Health Volunteer for the best part of ten years. During this time, with supported from the World Food Programme (WFP)she has been distributing nutrition supplements and sharing information on hygiene practices and reproductive health with her fellow villagers.
She sizes us up as if to find out whether we are worth her valuable time. We pass the test and sit down to chat.
‘The first two years were very difficult for me. I struggled with motivating villagers. How to make people who have never heard such things before understand about the importance of taking food supplements for stronger health, boiling water to get rid of contamination, sleeping under mosquito nets to avoid insect-borne diseases, and using toilets in order to avert stomach conditions?” Aunty Perp explains.
“People were worried about their daily meals, and stuck in their customary lifestyles and ancestral belief systems. Pregnant women, for example, did not like to use the health center services before and during birth. Once their child was born, they had no time to dedicate to their own or their baby’s health. I couldn’t blame them, because if they didn’t get back to work as early as possible, they would go hungry. Young mothers didn’t have the time or energy to breastfeed, and so many babies were malnourished, with some never living to see their first birthday,” she recalls.
Her strict expression betrays a big heart. Aunty Perp is passionate about changing the lives of her community for the better. Old habits die hard, and it takes dedication, good training and continued effort — including sweat and tears, at timesm — to gradually chip away at them. Perp is proud of the training she received through WFP’s support.
‘’I won’t lie, I do feel down sometimes, like nothing works,” Perp reveals with a glimmer of uncertainty in her eyes. “For example, when I have to run after people who can’t come to take their nutrition supplements on time because they have to work in the field. What keeps me going is the belief that I am doing the right thing. I want to help my people leave malnutrition and infant mortality behind them.”
Things do change, if slowly. In the whole of Laos, half as many young mothers die today as only a decade ago, whereas mortality rates of children under age 5 have declined by 60 percent compared to 20 years ago.
So, too, in Louangtong village. Villagers today understand more about how their actions influence their health. They are more cooperative in getting their children immunized and take regular nutrition supplements to keep them healthy. As a result, infant mortality in the community has gradually declined.
Perp gives us another one of her famous stern looks as she watches us board our boat back to Pakbeng. “Happier, healthier people are my greatest reward,” she says — and we could swear there was a hint of a smile playing around her lips.
Read more about WFP’s work in Laos.
