Nahay Community Center

Nahay Community Center is the third children's development center that Madame Xuyen showed me and Hoa. We went on Friday, January 21st to the center. It was a longer drive out to the center and after we left Vientiane, the road went from paved to dirt and the traffic cleared out. The center is set up like Dongsavat and Donkoi with a dream garden and other projects. On the day we visited the center, the 4th and 5th graders at the school were doing a Child's Rights workshop. The children were learning what rights they have, and how to protect themselves from being abused and used by adults and the system. In Laos, as in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia there is problem with human trafficking. Women, and children (mostly) are being sold into slavery and transported all around the world and forced to work for little to no wages. The workshop that these 4th and 5th graders participated in is trying to teach the kids how to protect themselves from traffickers.

The kids had to make posters and give presentations about what they learned. I did not understand what the kids were saying but was impressed by both their drawing ability and that they were able to come up with poems and entire presentations within one morning.

After listening to presentations Hoa, and I got to learn how to make Tammakhung, the traditional Lao dish. It is called green papaya salad in English and consists of green papaya, chilies, lemon juice, tomatoes, and a little bit of fish paste. The kids were in a competition to see who could make the best Tammakhung and Hoa, Madame Xuyen, and I were three of the judges. The salad was very spicy for me, but very good. While we did go around grading each dish, the competition did not really matter, the kids did not care who won or lost, they just had fun making the salad!

Me trying and failing to hulu hoop in front of the
Nahay Center

The children eating a traditional Lao
lunch at the Nahay Center.

Kids doing a presentation on Child's rights.

The kids working on their posters for Child's rights presentations.

More kids working on posters.

Hoa with kids working on their posters.

The sign about the workshop and who founded the
workshop. 

Me on the stage in the Nahay School library.

Kids doing a presentation on Child Rights.

Another group of kids doing presentation.

 

Me and Hoa in front of the sign welcoming us to Nahay Center.

The kids sitting in front of the stage listening to the presentations.

Girls showing off their hula hooping skills.

Boy hula hooping

In the afternoon we did a few activities and I taught the kids to play the Hokey Pokey. I have sung in front of a crowd more times in Laos then I have ever done in the US. My first contribution to Laos children was the Hokey Pokey. Hopefully it won't be my last!

Visit to the hospital and COPE

On January 22nd Hoa, Madame Xuyen and I went to the hospital. Every Saturday a group of kids from Dongsavat or Donkoi go to the hospital for one hour. They perform shows, entertaining the patients, many of whom are children. The hospital is never a fun place to be but on every Saturday, the children of Dongsavat and Donkoi come and make the patients laugh. Hoa and I went and while the whole thing is completely disorganized...in America we would probably have a schedule down to the last minute of time, here in Laos the kids each have skits prepared and have to be reminded after each one what is happening next. Still all the patients really appreciate the effort the kids put in and I am looking forward to going back and being able to see the kids perform their skits and make this group of people laugh!

After visiting the hospital, Hoa, Madame Xuyen and I went to visit COPE. COPE stands for Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise. The visitor's center has a lot of information on America's 'secret war' in Laos. During what we call the Vietnam War and here in Southeast Asia they call the American war, the American military heavily bombed Laos because the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the main supply route for the North Vietnamese southern allied military group, the Viet Cong, was mostly in Laos. While attempting to bomb the trail into smithereens, the American military dropped millions of bombs onto Laos, making it the most bombed country in the world. One of the legacies of this secret war is that many of these bombs, around 30%, did not explode and are still sitting in Laos waiting to be disarmed. According to COPE over 300 people per year are injured because of UXO (unexploded ordinances) leftover from the war. COPE helps with victims of UXO explosions who have lost limbs or have other disabilities by providing prosthetic limbs, wheelchairs, and training to survive and support oneself while disabled.

COPE's Visitor Center also has information on the ban cluster bomb treaty. Read more about what the treaty is doing at http://www.copelaos.org/ban_cluster_bombs.php.

COPE also helps other disabled people in Laos. COPE helps children and adults who are handicapped for other reasons such as mental disability, club foot and polio.

Kids at the hospital volunteering their time!

Kids performing a traditional Lao dance at the hospital

Kids singing a traditional Lao song.

One of the law students who volunteers at Dongsavat
reading a story at the hospital.

A map of Laos, each red dot represents one American bombing mission.

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Behind the center is a deaf school and a blind school. We visited and I learned how to sign I love you in Lao.

First Visit to Dongsavat School and Donkoi School!

On January 20th Hoa, Madame Xuyen and I went to Dongsavat school. The school is around a 15-20 minute drive from Madame Xuyen's house. It has a beautiful garden that we toured.  We then visited the school and the center. The Dongsavat Children's Development Center was founded several years ago and is much newer than the Donkoi Children's Development Center. It was great to see the students who were all very kind and taught me how to write my name in Lao! The center's director was nice and very welcoming. They have a dream garden, toilet, recycling center and library. For a public school having a usable toilet and library is not common here in Laos. It is just one of the many differences between the USA and here. One of the reasons the literacy rate in Laos is so low is that kids do not have any books to read besides the ones they have to buy for school because books are a luxury and too expensive to buy. One of Madame Xuyen's projects is to put books in schools and public locations like hospitals so kids will read more! 

Madame Xuyen in front of the Organic Garden sign that the Dongsavat school painted.

Dongsavat's principal giving us a tour of the garden

Dongsavat school

The Traditional Herb Garden at Dongsavat

Hoa and I at the sign in front of the herb garden. Signs labeling locations are very important to Madame Xuyen.

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The donated water system at Dongsavat school. Allows
students to wash their hands.

Students in a classroom

Another student in a classroom surprised by a foreign visitor with a camera.

More students smiling at a new visitor to their school!

Students studying for exams!

More students studying for exams! I'm glad that I went to an
elementary school without final exams. It was stressful enough
in high school and college!

Hoa and I with students at the sign welcoming us to the center and the school

 After visiting Dongsavat School and Children's Development Center, Hoa and I went with Madame Xuyen to Donkoi Children's Development Center and School. The center is similar to Dongsavat, offering the same activities, weaving, dancing, making rock animals and offering music and theater clubs. The students also get to listen to storytellers and sometimes get to learn other schools depending on what the volunteers have to offer. I may teach some cooking lessons, swimming lessons (if we can find a pool), and computer lessons! The center also has a dream garden, toilet, recycling center, indoor and outdoor stage for performances and library. The recycling center teaches the kids about healthier environmental practices then dumping their garbage on the dusty dirt fields in front of their school and the school earns money for all the material they gather. It's a win-win situation that is at all the Children's Development Centers. Mr. Kahmvahn, the director of Donkoi, came out to meet us and give Hoa and I a tour of the center. We got to see the children participate in their activities!

Mr. Kahmvahn

Students busily preparing for exams in the next week.

More students studying for exams!

The Donkoi stage for performances. The painting was
done by one of the volunteers at Donkoi. 

One of the beautiful signs at Donkoi.

Hoa and me trying to follow a traditional Lao dance.
It is much harder than it looks to do!

CWS office and a New Library Opening!

January 19th, 2011

Today Hoa, Xuyen and I went to the Christian World Service's office, where Skip works. From there we also went to me Xuyen's piano teacher. He is blind but still teaches piano and speaks English, Lao and Vietnamese. He asks if I play the piano, I answer a little tiny bit. As I slowly bang out the notes to playing Row, Row, Row your Boat and Jingle Bells on the piano, Xuyen and Hoa talk to his wife. His wife is lovely and does not speak English but she speaks a little French. I get to practice a little French with her while Xuyen takes her lesson. I also speak on the phone with their daughter Bouumy who is the first social worker in Laos!

In the afternoon the three of us go out to a village by the Thai-Lao Friendship bridge. We go because Xuyen is being honored by a school there for helping facilitate the building a library. At the ceremony we also meet the director from the Center for Disabled Women. The library opening is very nice, there are lots of kids from the school who attend and get to read the books! It's very exciting because there are almost no libraries in Laos, so students do not do much reading. After the library opening we go to the women's center and see the projects they are working on. The center is designed to teach vocational skill for disabled women, and they do amazing things like make paper, sew, weave and make frames and other things with old recycled newspapers. 

Me, Xuyen and Hoa at the CWS office

Me with Xuyen at her desk.

Me at Xuyen's desk pretending to answer the phone

Hoa and I at Xuyen's desk

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Kids at the Library opening reading!

Kids at the library opening

More kids at the library opening

The school where the library was built

The principal at the school

Kids outside the school

Kids with a sign thanking the donor of the library

The kids posing before playing "football" after school.

After the center for disabled women we go to Xuyen's friend's house. Her friend is from Bangladesh and has a beautiful home with an amazing garden. We see her flowers, and fruit trees then she invites us inside her amazing home. She serves us Bangladesh food and we get to see her daughter's school work portfolio. After the visit is done we get home and have our dinner!