Dorothy
Culloty and husband Kees Sprengers, originally from New Zealand, have spent
several years visiting Northern Laos; Dorothy documenting recipes of
authentic Northern Lao Cuisine and Kees photographing the people and their
lifestyles.
Master of Ceremonies Richard Silverberg welcomed everyone
to the regular Sunday meeting of the Pattaya City Expats Club on February
27, 2011 at Amari Resort’s Tavern by the Sea. After the usual opening
announcements, he called on fellow member Harry “Sig” Sigworth to introduce
Dorothy Culloty and Kees Sprengers. Dorothy and husband Kees, originally
from New Zealand, have spent several years visiting Northern Laos; Dorothy
documenting recipes of authentic Northern Lao Cuisine and Kees photographing
the people and their lifestyles. Dorothy has penned the book Food from
Northern Laos - The Boat Landing Cookbook, which is filled with
photographs taken by Kees.
Former
PCEC Chairman Richard Smith advises members of activities of the cross
culture volunteer group, offering fee classes for ‘English Conversation for
Thais for a Better Life’.
Dorothy’s background is in Human Resources and Kees spent
14 years as the photographer for New Zealand’s Waikato Museum of Art and
History. Since 2002, Dorothy has been documenting recipes of Northern Lao
food preparation while Kees has been photographing the people in their
everyday life and at cultural events. Dorothy and Kees said that this has
mostly taken place in Luang Namtha province, which borders Myanmar (Burma)
and China in the far north of Laos.
Kees said the Province has 39 different ethnic groups;
each with their own culture and language. Initially, they took trips, not
always together, from New Zealand to Luang Namtha. The trips were difficult
because the roads were bad or nonexistent. Because the Lao Government
started constructing a major road across Laos to the Chinese Border that
would reduce the travel time from 12 to 4 hours, they realized that this
would alter the lifestyles of the people residing there. She and Kees both
had a desire to document the lifestyles of the inhabitants before these
changes occurred. When they started, many of the ethnic groups were living
as they always had; basically self contained with limited exposure to
outside influence. Kees mentioned that in his travels, he was often the
first Caucasian the people there had seen.
Dorothy said that around 2004, they moved to the Lao
Peoples Democratic Republic (PDR) as volunteers with New Zealand’s Volunteer
Service Abroad. Dorothy said she enjoyed the three and a half years working
in Lao PDR and making continued trips to Luang Namtha. Dorothy devoted her
time to studying Northern Lao food while Kees photographed the local people
attending religious ceremonies and going about other aspects of their lives.
The place they usually stayed and made their base was the
Boat Landing Restaurant. Dorothy said that about 75% of the recipes in her
cookbook were based on food prepared there with the rest coming from the
surrounding area. She also explained that her cookbook was not only for
others to know how to prepare the food, but also as a record for the Lao
people so they would not lose these traditional recipes with the advent of
change. So, she made sure her cookbook’s recipes were in Lao script as well
as in English.
Showing photographs of the people, food ingredients, and
dishes, Dorothy and Kees took everyone on a culinary and cultural tour of
Northern Laos. Dorothy described many dishes and noted that the ingredients
for a particular locale often depended on what was available in the
surrounding forest.
Dorothy
in the kitchen of the Boat Landing Restaurant,
documenting the many recipes.
Kees explained many aspects of the ethnic cultures as he
showed pictures depicting everyday life, religious ceremonies, and other
celebrations. He and Dorothy also provided some interesting tidbits related
to their travels. Dorothy and Kees also explained that food and local rice
whisky were integral to the lifestyles of the people playing an important
role in many religious ceremonies and celebrations.
More information on the cookbook can be found at their
website http://www.foodfromnorthernlaos.com/about/ which has links to other
websites containing many of Kees’ photographs. In conclusion, they said they
now make their home in Sattahip, but still continue to visit Luang Namtha to
visit with the friends they have made and to document the lifestyles of the
people along with the changes.
After Dorothy and Kees answered many questions from the
audience, Richard Silverberg updated everyone on upcoming events and called
on David Meador to conduct the always informative and sometimes humorous
Open Forum, where questions about living in Thailand and Pattaya in
particular are asked and answered.
The Ajn
Jermjan family’s partially repaired house can now be fully rebuilt,
thanks to Rotary and the YWCA.
Elfi Seitz
On Friday February 18, a company of ladies from the YWCA went
to Baan Klongko with 10,000 baht to surprise a poor family in need. The money
was collected by members of the Rotary Club Jomtien-Pattaya after the president
of Pattaya’s YWCA, Nittaya Patimasongkroh, had told them about a family without
shelter, who lost their house in a fire.
Nittaya and I, who also represented the Pattaya Rotarians,
met with the president of the YWCA Chonburi, Chitra Watanasin and some of their
members who collected the sum of 7320 baht to add to the gift. Together we were
welcomed in front of the half finished house by Mayor Somdetch Wirojwuttikol and
some members of his staff, who also donated money to the family.
The family, Ajn Jermjan, his wife Peang Naksud, their son
Sood and little daughter Pathama, were delighted by the donations that will make
it possible to reconstruct the house almost entirely.
After this good deed the work of the ladies from the YWCA was
not yet finished and so they continued to visit another three schools, all in a
poor condition but each with plenty of children to take care of.
Two of the schools are in urgent need of water filters
because the drinking water for the children comes from muddy ponds. The old
water pumps are partly broken or not suitable. Instant help is needed. Those who
want to help may call Nittaya Patimasongkroh, tel. 081-8170397 or me, Elfi
Seitz, tel. 081-8639014.
Donation
handed over by Chitra Watanasin and Elfi Seitz to mayor Somdetch Wirojwuttikol,
who will use the money to help rebuild the house.
