NATION/WORLD

Many American workers are generationally poor, because of their race, gender, immigration status, or choice of occupation. Better policy can create more equitable wages.

It’s another late night. My wife and kids are in bed and I’m back in the Village Ghost Lao Sato (Lao rice wine) brewing room, checking batches of wine. The yeast and microbes are doing their job as I see bubbles dancing on the surface of the sweet liquid made from sticky rice.

The Mekong River deserves protection. The sunset along the Mekong River is the most beautiful I have ever seen.

This saying, etched in my mind. At every meal: “Best you eat quickly – else the war will arrive.”

Returning to Laos has always been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl. I would romanticize wearing school uniforms and eating all the mangoes and coconuts I could ever want. I’d imagine what my life would have been like if I had never moved to the United States.

In Xieng Khouang Province, Laos, I had a conversation with a 72-year-old man named Pa (Father) Bouathong. He shared with me the story of losing his 15 year old son in the exact spot we were sitting.

Two disturbing milestones were passed in 2023. In April, the Cluster Munition Monitor, the research wing of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), identified the first use of cluster munitions in Southeast Asia since the Indochina War ended 48 years ago, in 1975.

This August, ARTICLE22 returned to Laos and embarked on a unique journey with our treasured partner, Legacies of War.

My life’s journey began in Savannakhet, Laos, in the year of 1978. I was born into a diligent family; my father worked at the hospital, and my mother managed a convenience store.

In the vibrant tapestry of life, some threads hold a deeper significance than others. My personal journey, Joy Christine Ngaosivath, or “Miss Joy,” as I’m known in the Las Vegas music scene, is one woven with the melodies of my Lao heritage.