American bombs redesigned by enterprising Lao tribals !!

Laos – American Bombing – most bombed country – Spoon Village – these are four words / phrases which hit you when you arrive into Luang Prabang and then into Phonsovan, the primary town in eastern Laos where the bombing occurred. These are headlined everywhere – in each tourist leaflet, in the hotel brochure etc. So, if you are travelling , as I did , to Phonsovan, the area with the most mines in the world, it is but axiomatic that one must visit the Spoon Village where enterprising  villagers have created a new business concept.  

According to the Cooperative Orthotic & Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE), Lao PDR is the most heavily bombed country per capita in the world. From 1963-1973, Laos became an unwitting pawn during the Second Indochinese War. During this time, the US Air Force dropped a planeload of cluster bombs every eight minutes for nine consecutive years. 

The Spoon Village’s actual name is Ban Naphia. It is quite far from Phonsovan and the village itself is L shaped. It is a distant spot on the horizon as you try to get to it – the final approach can be across one of two stretches: our chap took the longer route as he felt the road was a better mud track!  

As I was at the end of the tourist season, there were only three houses where they were still working their kilns. During the aftermath of the war, villagers began to collect, sell, or use scrap metal from the bombs as a means to generate income. Ban Naphia is a traditional Lao Pouan village of some 50 - 60 households. Right after the war, villagers began gathering aluminium from exploded bombs and made it into spoons 

The villagers were taught this skill by a family that relocated to Ban Naphia from Houaphan Province, further north. In the early days, five families produced the recycled bomb spoons. Today, there are approximately 12 - 15 families producing more that 150,000 spoons per year from war and non-war scrap aluminium. Production has expanded to include bracelets, earrings, pendants and souvenir items, such as key chains.

It is important to note that of all the bombs dropped in Laos, 30% did not explode. Unexploded ordnance (UXO) continues to pose a significant threat to the safety of villagers in rural Lao. In their search for scrap metal, many villagers encounter UXO and suffer catastrophic injuries.

It is totally unsafe to go and collect these unexploded objects which can be as small as a finger and as large as a 6ft+ bomb. In the fields, its where the most accidents take place. Large areas which have been cleared are demarcated as such by the de-Mining Commission. Most of these are what locals call “bombies” - anything the size of one’s palm or slightly larger mortars. Frankly, the metal is worth a few cents only but Laos is such a poor country that even that minimal amount is of value to the individual. 

The mortality rate, and especially the injuries caused rate, is well documented. Every villager knows the risk. But they have lived through this danger for two generations now. You will find these bombs, large and small, displayed outside restaurants, hotels, in homes, everywhere as a reminder as well as a decoration. I found a huge stack of bombs right behind the Tourist Office building in Phonsovan. At the Jars site, there is large 8 – 10 ft receptacle full of cluster bombs. 

At each home we visited, they showed us spoons, bracelets, bottle openers and key chains in different shapes. The local builds a kiln. The metal block is put inside to melt. Then using a long ladle to dip into the pool of liquid metal, it is poured into a mould of whatever is to be made.  If you are wondering who buys, it’s simple – most of the items are bulk purchases by Lao traders who resell these across the country or if lucky, to contacts abroad as unique souvenirs. 

As the USA had just inaugurated Donald Trump as President for the next four years, I suggested to two of the locals that they should make key chains with Trump’s face on one side and an image of a turtle (considered lucky amongst locals + Chinese) or any other visual. One of them seemed excited as he has an American buyer.

Our visit to the village lasted all of 30 – 45 minutes as it does not take time to see the collection of items and the process of manufacture. The houses are set apart from the work area and they are typical of the local architectural style. 

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