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!
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| Madame Xuyen in front of the Organic Garden sign that the Dongsavat school painted. |
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| Dongsavat's principal giving us a tour of the garden |
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| Dongsavat school |
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| The Traditional Herb Garden at Dongsavat |
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| 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. |
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| Students in a classroom |
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| Another student in a classroom surprised by a foreign visitor with a camera. |
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| More students smiling at a new visitor to their school! |
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| Students studying for exams! |
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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! |
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| 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!
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| Mr. Kahmvahn |
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| Students busily preparing for exams in the next week. |
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| More students studying for exams! |
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The Donkoi stage for performances. The painting was
done by one of the volunteers at Donkoi. |
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| One of the beautiful signs at Donkoi. |
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Hoa and me trying to follow a traditional Lao dance.
It is much harder than it looks to do! |
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