A second, rather more complex example is provided
by Mr. Seng’s 18-year-old daughter from Ban Lathahair
in Luang Prabang who works in the Phonepapow garment
factory in Vientiane. His daughter heard on the
radio that the garment factory required workers and,
coincidentally, a monk living in Vientiane with relatives
in Ban Lathahair also sent word that work was available.
Her motivation for leaving home was a combination
of a desire to escape the hard work of upland
farming and the recognition that agricultural work in
such a marginal area would not, in the long run, deliver
a sustainable livelihood. Like other women in the village
she also had a skill to sell: her aptitude for weaving. On
her recruitment in 2000, Mr. Seng’s daughter was provided
with a bed in a dormitory and her initial salary
was about 200,000 kip per month (US$20). In the first
year she was able to remit to her parents 300,000 kip
(US$30). Mr. Seng worried about his daughter, concerned
that she might be lured into prostitution or drugtaking.
When she returned to the village from Vientiane
for a short visit it was evident that the girl who left had
become a new woman. Her behaviour had changed. She
feared the poverty of her former life and wished to work
hard to escape from it. It was also apparent that she had
money to spend and that her diet and fashion sense had
changed. She preferred to eat city food and to wear
modern clothes. She did not stay long in the village and
made it clear that she had no wish to marry someone
from Ban Lathahair. This, she feared, would only lead
her back, as she saw it, into (village) penury. Mr. Seng
did not want his daughter to work in the city but he
admitted that he could not control her. He also recognised
that while the amount of money remitted by his
daughter during normal times was not essential to
family survival, in years of dearth it might be.