A Lesson From My Grandfather

by SINSAVANH SONEPASEUTH (Hungary)

Making a local connection Laos

“Grandpa! I am afraid to fall! I cannot ride.” “Take a deep breath and be calm, he is kind and friendly!” “Grandpa! The buffalo is moving…I am afraid of the height. No! I cannot make it!” An old conversation popped up in her head. It was snowing outside. A young lady was reading an aged, daily book near the windows and smiling. Have you ever wanted to explore the world? How can you imagine that if you live in a small town and have fewer chances to go out? If you love travelling, you are not alone. There is a Laotian girl from downtown Savannakhet. Her name is Maybe. Ever since she was young, she has loved going on adventures. Every summer she visited her grandparents, who lived in a small village. She was very close to her grandfather. He woke her up at 5.00 am every morning to take the buffalo and cows to the rice fields together. He taught her how to fish and transplant rice seeds. He also usually took her to his friends’ houses to visit them around the village. “You have to know how to greet people, you will know how important it is when you grow up. Be nice and be kind to everyone,” her grandfather said to her. Several years later, her grandfather passed away and she rarely visited the village. She missed it sometimes but she was busy with her volunteer work in the downtown. One of her good memories was she met a volunteer from France named Johanna. She came to Laos, a small country in Southeast Asia because she fell in love with Asian cultures. She taught some French to Lao people, while they taught her some Lao. Instead of staying at a guesthouse or renting her own apartment, Johanna preferred to stay with a Lao host family. They worked together on the weekdays, and on the weekends, travelled together. Johanna really loved Lao street food and sticky rice. Before she returned to France, she thanked Maybe and Maybe replied: “You flew across the seas and many countries to Laos, I see a good heart in you. When I was young I thought that languages would be the main obstacle, but no, we became friends and had lots of memories together. One thing I want you to remember is to be kind to everyone you meet, I will remember the good friendship between us, I will not cry now but I will say, see you again in France one day.” Three years after Johanna left Laos, Maybe studied harder and finally got a scholarship to study in Europe. She went to see Johanna as they promised. Johanna cooked her French foods and showed her around the city to see some traditional sites. She fell in love with French culture. She felt so real. Before, she only heard about it from Johanna but she could not imagine how beautiful it was. Johanna wanted to treat Maybe the way Maybe treated her. “When I first went to Laos, it was so challenging for me, totally different from where I lived, but longer I lived there, I fell in love with how they lived, then I lived like a local and that was one of my best memories. I want you to feel the same way how you treated me in Laos, so I hope you enjoy as much as possible here.” A young lady picked up her scarf because it was getting colder outside. She turned to the last page and smiled. Yes, it was me. I never expected that I could travel the world. If you are living your dream you have to go out. Deeply, I can feel that my grandfather would be happy if he were here with me, I wanted to tell him that “Grandpa! I am not afraid of the height anymore. The moment when I was riding the buffalo when I was young reminds me when I am sitting in a plane, back then if I was afraid, I would not have been anywhere. And thank you for the precious lesson, kindness is a key to happiness. I love you, grandpa!”