Hilltop 'Hippy' Garms...
When I went to Vietnam, I visited Sa Pa. I heard stories of the beautiful mountains, the inspiring craftworks, and the colourful local people. Many people go to SaPa to go trekking, and to meet the Minority Tribes from the Northen hills, who have such interesting cultures. A girl told me before I went, that I shouldn't book a pre arranged tour and that I should go it alone and organise one myself. And that I did. When you arrive in SaPa, hordes of local ladies run up to you and they want you to come trekking with them. Me and my travel buddy Liah decided we would choose a younger, fatter lady, because she probably makes nice food! We ended up with two ladies, they were best friends, their names were Mimi and Ya.
The first night we stayed with MiMi, we trekked down the side of the hill into the valley, through their village, then back up the other side to her house. She had 5 children, and 2 nieces at the house. The house was like a large wooden barn, with a pointy thatched roof. Inside, the ceilings were high, there was a ladder in the corner which lead to a mezzanine level where some of the kids slept. The floors were raw clay mud, which had been smoothed over. The kitchen was a tiny annex off the side of the house, the stove was a pit in the middle of the room with a log fire. The toilet was non existant, so you have to do your business in the bamboo forrest across the road. In the garden, there was a water buffalow and a few chickens, surrounded by the family's rice terraces. All this overlooked the beautiful valley of rice terraces and villages.
The kids were all carrying a cold, snotty little noses and sneezing every couple of minutes. Their clothes were very dirty, the wrong size and some were ripped and old. The kids were super excited when I got out my bright pink nail varnish, they all lined up and i painted their nails, It made me appreciate how lucky I was as a child growing up in western society. MiMi said the kids were excited when westerners came to stay as they were able to afford meat for dinner. However, MiMi didn't buy meat for me and Liah as we are both veggo which made us feel bad. The kids got a few packs of super noodles to share between all of them, that was their dinner. We then came to learn that in their culture, the son and his family look after his parents when they are old. MiMi only had girls, 5 of them. She was pregnant and trying to have a son, otherwise what would happen to her when her girls all marry off to different families, who would look after her and her husband? Her husband's mother lived with them, her husband had died years ago. So there was one man to support 5 girls and 3 adults, there was not enough money or resources to do this. In the evening, I sat with the grandmother and the eldest child. The Granny was sewing some traditional Black H'Mong clothing, which they would sell at the markets. Her sewing machine was mechanical and didn't use electricity.
The stark contrast that I encountered when I went to Ya's family home after the second day of trekking through the hills really hit home how unfortunate MiMi really was. Ya had two kids, one son who was 14 and one daughter who was 9. She was one of the lucky ones. She and her husbands brother and family all lived in a small holdings.
They had a communal 'toilet' in a little long drop hut made from wood, with a real toilet basin inside. They had pigs, chickens and water buffalow. They had rice paddies all around. They had a small stream by their houses. Their houses were a lot smarter than MiMi's. They had cemented floor, proper electricity and a gas hob cooker. The area was super clean and everyone was so happy, and healthy. The kids seemed so happy, their clothes were smart and clean, and they had toys to play with. They all went to school because the families could afford it.For dinner the children ate what the adults were eating.
One thing that shocked me however, was when we were at the dinner table, Ya produced a small bag full of white crystal like powder. We asked what it was, and she said 'It makes the food taste good'. We were shocked, it was a bag of MSG! As the evening progressed (5pm) the dad got out a plastic bottle of water...it was a well used bottle and it had twigs in it, then they said 'would you like some rice spirit?' . It was the most foul tasting happy water I have ever tried.
After staying with these ladies, me and Liah headed back into the town of SaPa. And we saw it through different eyes than we had seen before we stayed in the hills. We saw the guided paid tours at their starting points, these tours cost somewhere in the region of 100USD. The money goes to the tour companies, and probably only a fraction to the local minority people. They are guided by an educated tour leader, not the local ladies. DO NOT BOOK TOURS OF SAPA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then that night was what we thought was a cool crafts market, but after a local guy who was trying to learn english told us, it was a homeless market. There was honestly around a hundred stalls, each stall was one or two ladies with one or two young kids. They were from all the different minorities around SaPa.
The amount of tourists walking around plush mountain village SaPa, with absolutely no idea about the struggles the locals are faced on a daily basis, who are wearing their expensive jackets with expensive cameras.We tried to buy things from as many people as possible.
You will probably recognise their work in your local craft market, hippie shop, bohemian boutique. These items are being sold at extortionate prices in the Western world, at the expense of these minority peoples, they are the ones that should be making a decent profit from selling these crafts, not overseas merchants !!!
THIS IS CULTURAL APPROPRIATION, NOT APPRECIATION. see the difference? Buy the garments from the people who made them from their culture, or buy them from a fashion store, sold as a trend? DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW?!!
Trying to spot appreciation as opposed to appropriation :
1. Does the seller draw reference to the culture in which they came from?
2. Does the retailer advertise this item as a trend?
3. Does the retailer guarantee ethical trading standards?
4. If your'e at a market, ask the stall holder where they got the items from. Do they have an interesting story, or they just purchased them from some place?
I'm not asking everyone to be a critisizing cinic, but we need to be more intelligent with our purchases! The 'hippy' fashion has created this want for these exotic pieces, so we as the consumer need to be wise with where and how we spend our money.
Research fashion companies which are involved in helping local communities such as Tree Of Life and Gypsy East.
But anyway, travelling to this remote community in Vietnam taught be a lot about humility. We have to be so greatful for what we have, in this comfortable western society. If you are reading this, you are priveleged enough to have access to the internet. You have the power to make a change in the world. Boycott exploitation of minority peoples, do not buy their crafts from overseas merchants unless you can confirm these people have been set a fair price (highly unlikely.) We can vote everyday with what we consume, so please make the right choice when purchasing your new cool hippy festival outfit.
Peace and love x
