Khamborisouth Sackda is a proud Organic Coffee Plantation owner, who lives every day of her life

preserving the last piece of land she has and reciprocating the knowledge about sustainability to others.  

 

Between Paksé and Tad Yuang waterfall, one can find Khamborisouth Sackda working in her organic coffee plantation. She smiles as soon as one gets near her, and all one can do is simply admire her beautiful freckled face. 

Khamborisouth began to wave her hands around as she welcomed us into her small-scale farming business as the smell of coffee invaded our senses.

 

She explained how her business started. “I farm here with my family.” Pointing towards the direction of the blender crushing ice and coffee.”We also have a coffee shop where people can come in and enjoy coffee or tea.”

 

Walking around her farm was glorious because the place was full of trees, natural sounds, and fresh grown coffee bean trees. “The change in temperature is affecting the coffee bean plantations. I have to plant more trees so the sun does not dry the plants.”

 

Khamborisouth Sackda is a proud Organic Coffee Plantation owner, who lives every day of her life preserving the last piece of land she has and reciprocating the knowledge about sustainability to others.  

 

Global Warming might be decreasing Khamborisouth’s yield, but her love for the environment is increasing.

Khamborisouth is a tree hugger. When asked what she would wish for right now, she said, “I would wish for more trees to be planted all over Laos. Laos keeps cutting down trees and paving highways everywhere. Everything is Money, Money, Money.” One could tell this greatly affected her because of the growing anger on her face. Talking about the development of Laos compared to how she remembers her country when she was young kept fueling that anger, she said that people are becoming more disrespectful; “Nowadays, there is no respect of elders!”

 

Although, it seemed like Khamborisouth was a bit upset about the culture of Laos, she still has hope in the younger children. Khamborisouth does not want to move back to France because she has a lot to do here, like educate children at schools about recycling and Global Warming because they are the future of this country. Her past shows how much she appreciates people and the environment.

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After her mother passed away from Malaria when she was young, Khamborisouth started to move around a lot to find better opportunities for herself and her family. She was born in Thateng, Sekong province, but at the age of six, soon after her mother died, she headed to Paksé to attend Catholic school.

 

Her favorite thing to do in school was to read books specifically French comics. In Paksé she stayed with a family member because her father was at the coffee plantation her brother, sister, and herself own today.

 

After 4 years in Catholic school, she spent 7 years in college. Throughout college Khamborisouth said it was a common thing for students to go to France after graduation, so she was anticipating her big move. At 19 years old, Khamborisouth finished college and went to live with an uncle who resided in the north of Paris.

 

After she spent time in the north of Paris, she enrolled at a private university in the city of Paris and studied accounting because the field was in high demand at the time. Three years later she landed an accounting job with an American boss, and she moved to the suburbs of Paris. Khamborisouth loved her job so much that she worked there for “years and years… 20” Khamborisouth said. However 20 years later, she needed a change in her life, so she began working at a Public Library in France, which she continued for 12 years. Throughout her 32 years in Paris, Khamborisouth visited Laos every 2 years.

 

After ending her job at the Public Library, Khamborisouth moved back to Laos to work on her father’s coffee plantation, which was four years ago. She loves it there. On her free time, she loves to garden and clean, but faces reality when dealing with promoting the Coffee and Tea she produces. Khamborisouth promotes her business by word of mouth and finds it difficult to persuade people to drink her coffee because everyone in Laos prefers Dao coffee. With a bit of sassiness in her voice Khamborisouth said, “They do not drink real coffee they drink Dao coffee.”

 

Her business is hard work. She always has to maintain the coffee plantations, collect coffee and go to headquarters to process the coffee, and look out after the whole area. Khamborisouth sells coffee in France, Swiss, Belgium, Japan, Sweden, and little bit in America. She loves her job, but admits that coffee plantation alone does not provide enough income, so she has to grow other cash crops. Overall, Khamborisouth is very happy with her life and simply wishes for a better world and life for everyone.