Ban Chane

About the Book

This is a story of a typical family living in a small village in Laos. The children in the family, especially two sisters age ten and eleven, are the primary subjects. There are survival adventures with canoes on the Mekong River. There are learning experiences when the children construct a sand stupa and win the contest, then go to a large city to accept their rewards.

Work is a major activity of many Lao children and this family is no different. The children plant rice. They make pottery which is taken to the market to sell. They fish on the Mekong.

Two Americans visit the village where the children live and observe a small girl with a double cleft lip. They successfully contact a service agency and set the wheels in motion to have surgery for the girl. Subsequently, they assist the village in other ways.

The text includes approximately 30 commonly used words that are always displayed in the Lao language.

About the Author

The author spent his childhood on a cattle, wheat and alfalfa ranch in Washington State. After graduation from college, he traveled extensively during more than 30 years as an officer in the U.S. Army. His duty posts included Germany, Panama, Korea and Vietnam. Upon retirement he has worked at various endeavors and currently travels with his backpack approximately three months each year, primarily to Southeast Asia countries. He has been married more than fifty years to his high school sweetheart and has four children and seven grandchildren and step grandchildren.