People of the World : Khu

24 years old, mother of two, Hmong tribe, close to Lau Chai village, Northwest Vietnam

Khu speaks a stunningly good english, and as most of the Hmong people in Sapa learned it from the tourists. Her good english allowed us to go a little bit further in the conversation than the usual "where are you from? what's your name? how old are you?". Many of the traditions of the Hmongs became clear after a conversation with her. Happily married and mother of two, she says to be done with kids and spends most of her days in Sapa trying to sell handcrafts to tourists when she doesn't stay in the village to take care of the rice fields and her kids.

* I did not have the questionnaire on me when asking the questions so I forgot some that remain without answer.

1 - What is the most important thing you learned at school?

I only learned to read and write vietnamese.

2 - What is the most important thing your parents taught you?

I didn't learn much from my parents.

3 - What has the world done for you?

--

4 - What would you like to do for the world?

--

5 - If you found 10€, what would you do with them ?

If I knew the person who lost them I would give them back. Otherwise I would share with the people that were with me at that moment.

6 - Where would you like to live ?

I like to live in my village but I wish I could travel to all the countries.

7 - Who is your idol ?

My family

8 - If you could make a wish, what would it be ?

That Hmong people were recognised equal to other Vietnamese

9 - What do you fear?

The small kind of worms that get into the smallest stones... don't know how you call these in english

10 - What would you ask your president?

I would like to ask him not to despise Hmong people and preserve our traditions and customs

11- What would you like to ask me ?

What do you think about your visit to Vietnam ?

Our answer : Huge contrast between the cities and the coutryside where people are extremely welcoming and we were moved by it but it is, from our point of view, sometimes oppressing due to their tourist-business-oriented minds.

12- What do you think about people who come to visit your country ?

I think that tourism has both good and bad impact in Sapa : they bring money but probably in 15years it will not be like that anymore. I have friends that do not wear our traditional dresses anymore when it is hot and dress like europeans. What will you do then?