4. The love of the hill tribe girl

The love of the hill tribe girl

The monkeys were singing from afar. The insects also sang songs. Every day, a girl by the name of Kaleu carries a bag to pick mushroom. Many kinds of were available. Mushroom soup is the best dish for the villagers.
The rain came on time, and while it was raining, the folk songs of Laven ethnic group could be heard. People did not care about mosquitoes. They searched for and picked mushroom
Kaleu looked for mushroom like any other villagers. She was the eldest daughter in the family. Most of the girls of her age were already married, but she was still single.
She did not care or paid any attention to the people's jokes. She respected her fiancé and maintained a monogamic relationship with him, which is hard for others to understand.
The government's implementation of its stop-the-slash-and-burn and environment sustainability policy led to a gradual improvement in the villagers' living conditions. Previously, her boy friend and her had grown rice, maize, cassava and other root crops in this same area for her family. In addition, she also owned a two-acre, just cleared, farmland. Her fiancé often came to help because there was nobody else in her family. Her old age parents could not work, leaving the bulk of the rice farming hard work in her and her fiancé's hands.  The two made a firm commitment before they temporarily separated,
 “ Kaleu! I have to go and look for work. If I stay here, nothing will improve.”
“ What are you going to do? You only have a secondary school diploma. Today, they only need educated people.”
“ I am not going to die. I am going to be a soldier or work on another job.”
“ It's up to you, if you really want to go. But how about us?”
“ That's no problem. Please wait two to three more years”
Since that day, three years and two months have already gone by, but she didn't feel bad, because she realized that nothing is 100 percent certain, everything lives and dies, you win some and you loose some. There are always two sides to a story, e.g., love and hate, rewards and penalties, union and separation.
After they made that promise, her fiancé left. In the beginning of the second year he was gone, Kaleu heard some bad news. Apparently, her fiancé and a few of his friends spent a couple of nights hunting in the forest, which was illegal. They were caught, received counseling, and were later put on probation.
To date, her fiancé was still not back home yet. Was she waiting for her fiancé or what, nobody knew for sure? She herself might have hard time answering that question. She was intent on building an income so she could support her family and send all of her brothers and sisters to school.
When she thought about herself and her fiancé, she sometimes felt anxious and lonely, but when she thought about the future of her brothers and sisters she knew she could not afford to be weak because she was the only one the future of her siblings depended on.
Being used to working in this area for some time, she felt very close to its natural environment. She remembered all the spots; including the running streams that have always been part of people's life from past generations up to now. This was the reason why the villagers took good care of and put the well being of this forest above their own. Each week, young villagers routinely went into the forest to look for illegal loggers that came in and cut trees. Kaleu, a Laven girl, was one of those village's youth that the local authorities trusted, because of their tireless dedication to the public cause. In addition to her personal activities, she also carried out special official assignments. Not only was she trusted by the authorities, she also well respected by the village's elders.
After the forest inspection with the rest of her group, she stopped by at a river spot where she and her fiancé used to relax and do some fishing, perched on top of a rock. What happened over three years ago came back to her.   
“ Kaleu, do you know what the forest and streams in this area provide us?"
“ A lot of things. They provide humidity; especially this particular stream that brings drinking water to the villagers, and provides fishing areas. They also sustain the environment."
 “ And what else?”
“ A lot of other things, but I don’t know how to explain any further. How about you?”
Tom smiled and continued:
“ There are so many good things, what can I say?”
" What's the best answer?” asked Kaleu.
Tom looked at her and smiled happily:
“ All what you said was correct, and another thing was the fact that they made our love possible".
They both bursted in happy laughter. Kaleu used her shoulders to push Tom into the river, where he got all wet. The two youngsters frolicked and forgot they were fishing.
Calls from friends brought her back from her dream to reality. She felt cold as a result of being exposed to water moisture during sunset. The cold wind in the Boleven plateau also accentuated that emotional and physical feeling. Actually, being cold physically is nothing compared to feeling lonely. She had to endure all the internal pain that came with it and left unforgettable traces.
The croon of wild fowl and other animals living near the stream reminded her that the sun was about to set behind the hills. Kaleu turned her back to the past and loneliness to head back home with her friends. The voices of the youngsters who did the inspection blended in with the continuing sounds of the waterfalls.  Birds were singing to lure their mates back to their love nests. As darkness settled in, it got colder and quieter. Everything seemed particularly empty. The only noise left was that of insects singing in rhythm with the waterfalls. Once in a while, you heard the sporadic complaints of the wild monkeys turning up big and small rocks along the stream. Water drops could be heard falling down tree leaves. In the end, the cold air prevailed all over the area. That night, Kaleu waked up many times, turned her body left and right many times, before falling asleep.  
When spring came, this whole forest area was full of scented flowers of different kinds. Insects and bees swirled around from flower to flower, sucking pollen and nectar from each of them. Animals of all species gave birth to their offsprings and enjoyed the season. Wild plants blossomed all over and contributed to the ageless beauty of the ecosystem fed by abundant stream flows. Snakes and wild animals came out of their hiding places early in the morning to expose themselves to the warm sunlight life along the streams and nearby rocks. Freshwater fish of various species swam gracefully in the river pools.
After she was done preparing food, Kaleu went out carrying a bag on her shoulder.  She left a little later than usual, because last night she went to sleep late, and walked along singing a song to herself. When she reached the creek, she picked up the bamboo trunk she cut earlier for use as water container and took it to the rice field service hut to prepare lunch. There were many types of butterflies of different colors flying along both sides of the creek. As she went by, the fleet of butterflies that landed on her path swiftly flew off together and created a colorful and animated air environment akin to a flower garden.
That day, it seemed like she arrived at the rice field service hut faster than usual. And, as a result, she also returned home early, at around six o'clock in the evening. After she pulled down her bag, Xom , the village youth secretary, told her:
“ Please come to a meeting at my house tonight!”
“ You have something urgent to deal with?”
“ No, just something important. We have a visitor from the provincial staff!"
 After she took a bath and ate her dinner, she went to Xom’s house.
That night, forestry officials, the village chief, and the members of the village organizations were all in attendance at Xom's house. After greeting each other, discussions began with activities reports, followed by forestry officer Soukanh's talk about the relationship between trees conservation and wildlife. The discussions extended to the Central Party's directives to grant an increasing role to ethnic people in the planned development of the country. After some discussions, Kaleu was elected leader of the village youngsters' team assigned to work closely with forestry officials operating in the area for the conservation of fish, wild animals, and aquatic life.
Soukanh looked at Kaleu discreetly and asked, “ Kaleu, are you going to go to bed early tonight? If it's not too much of a nuisance to you, may I visit with you at your house?”
 Even though she was a girl who had lived away from urban centers, she was still relatively beautiful compared with women wearing powder and other cosmetics.  She looked like a wild flower that ornaments the village.
Kaleu smiled back for a reply.  Working closely together on the same assignments enhanced their personal relationships. Both were still young, and singles, and in the end, felt in love with each other. A parallel achievement was the successful implementation of the national policy of fish and wildlife protection and environmental sustainability as a cooperative program between the central government and the citizens. This success was the result of true and responsible cooperation, and physical efforts of all those involved.
The news of this successful program quickly spread to nearby villages, followed shortly by the news of the marriage forestry officer Soukanh with wild beauty Kaleu.  When their hearts were ready, the two were wed in a traditional ceremony, including vows of reciprocal love and mutual commitment to start and cultivate a happy family.