B History, Culture & Life
The B people live in Southeast Asia and migrated from an unknown location further north many centuries ago. According to their stories, they lived in the valleys until the more-numerous Dai people came into the valleys and pushed them up onto the mountaintops. Since then, the B people have struggled to eke out a living as subsistence farmers. Their main crops are tea, rice, banana and rubber trees. They sell their tea, bananas and rubber tree crops but generally grow rice for personal consumption. They often raise chickens, pigs, and water buffalo. This provides occasional meat in their usual diet of vegetables and rice. In the past, B families often had many children. However, due to government child planning initiatives, B families may now only have two children without penalty. Parents usually work in the fields all day while children stay with their grandparents. When children are 6-8 years old they begin school. Larger villages have government-built elementary schools. In order to attend high school, B children must move to a larger city. Since school is expensive and extra hands are always needed in the fields, most B children only go to school until about the sixth grade, although the education level is rising with each new generation. The B people follow Theravada Buddhism, which they learned from their Dai neighbors. Larger villages have their own temples and monks. Boys often spend time as monks at some point in their upbringing. They study Dai translations of the Buddhist scriptures. Before the B people adopted Buddhism, they were animists. Strong vestiges of animism permeate their practice of Buddhism. This mingling of Animism and Buddhism is often referred to as Folk Buddhism. For example, animal sacrifices are often part of their religious festivals. Besides Buddhism, a handful of B people have recently adopted Christianity. There is only one B church with only 4 members. This church struggles to meet together regularly and they rarely share their faith. They have no written language and therefore no Bible in their language. There have been funds available to translate oral Bible stories and record them onto DVDs but the B church at this time does not have the vision, energy or maturity to invest in such a project. The greatest need for the B church at this time is maturity in Christ.The B Church