Education

Students get bicycles fixed

4 Feb , 2021  

Many local Luang Prabang school students had their bikes fixed while being served free lunch at the town library in Luang Prabang, Laos. The Solidarity Food Canteen was started in 2020 during COVID-19. Volunteers prepare food that is donated by local suppliers or purchased with donated funds. They serve 120 meals every weekday. I arranged […]

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Culture

Update: Helping Teenage Girl

11 Jan , 2021  

Today with the kind help of a few people in Luang Prabang we drove 20 minutes outside Luang Prabang and picked up Chansy, the 17 year old girl we have been assisting, with her mother, and we went to the Fred Hollows Foundation center at the Luang Prabang Provincial Hospital. The wonderful doctor at the […]

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Culture, Travel

From Cambodia to Laos: A Journey of Inspiration and Purpose

22 Sep , 2020   Gallery

Over a decade ago, a transformative trip to Cambodia ignited a flame within me, setting me on an unexpected path of discovery. It was a journey that forever altered my perspective and led me to the enchanting country of Laos. here I reflect on the profound impact of my travels, the loss of a dear […]

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Culture

Hardship in Laos: Can you help someone?

10 Aug , 2020  

It’s the time of year when Novice Monks finish school and many leave the temple to become laymen. School exams have finished and many novices decide to leave the temple around this time. They are often ill-prepared with little to no education about living life as a layman and no financial support. Many of these […]

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Helping Lao people with free food who lost income due to covid 19

Culture, Food

Helping the hungry In Luang Prabang

2 Aug , 2020  

A Solidarity Canteen has been setup be people living in Luang Prabang to provide food assistance to people living in Luang Prabang who are finding it difficult to eat =as many have lost their incomes due to COVID-19. Every day, this nonprofit serves lunch for everyone from 11 to 1PM at the Institut Français du […]

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Education

LEOT School opens after Lao COVID lockdown

15 Jun , 2020  

Laos locked down in March and a country-wide lockdown was enforced on 1 April for 6 weeks. The entire country had to stay at home and only go out for food. With only 19 COVID-19 cases in Laos the lockdown was effective with no community transmission for over 100 days. LEOT, the only English and […]

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Education

Chasing Dreams in Laos

13 Feb , 2019  

LEOT School runs a Dreamcatcher programme for students pursuing their goals and dreams. About 30 students who are in their final year of high school or have finished school meet twice a month. Some are unsuccessful at getting one of the limited places at university We aim to help students identify their dreams and provide […]

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Culture, Education

Students painting for exhibition

22 Jan , 2019  

LEOT School students have been learning to paint from a volunteer who has kindly been coming 3 times a week. The French Institute has allowed us to use their building in the heritage area of Luang Prabang to display the artwork. It’s an opportunity for students to publicly showcase their work and artwork sold is […]

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Education

5 computer topics taught in Laos

29 Nov , 2018  

Computer education in Laos is limited. It is not taught in many schools and experienced teachers are unavailable. Students are increasingly needing to have computer skills to compete with others to secure jobs. English and computing and becoming vital skills to gain employment which is why I helped establish computing lessons in 2015 so 16-22 year […]

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Education

Napao Primary School,Laos get painted

31 May , 2018   Gallery

Last month, Jeannette school staff, a Government education official and myself surveyed Napao primary school as we were told it needed supplies and a good paint. Painting a school not only instills pride in teachers and students but makes the rooms lighter as many rooms do not have good lighting. We found donors for the […]

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Education

Making Change in the Mekong

3 Apr , 2018   Video

Film for Change Aotearoa New Zealand produced this short film about my volunteer work in Laos establishing computer education programs to raise awareness of opportunities to support sustainable, grass-roots education efforts in Laos to help improve people’s lives a little. I volunteer with Lao teachers to provide free education, scholarships and hardship support for impoverished […]

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Culture

Special guests in Luang Prabang

2 Apr , 2018  

I was very lucky to recently have my mother and brother travel to Luang Prabang to visit me. The week was wonderful and we saw some of the spectacular sites Luang Prabang has to offer as well as spending time helping at school.   We also visited the famous Pak Ou caves and the Luang […]

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Education

Everyone likes a free lunch in Laos

28 Jan , 2018  

With school opening very soon we have been busy in recent months revising and updating teaching materials and running a host of teacher training. With an increasing number of visitors popping into school, from seeing the small sign on the street, we did a role play one lunch time with each teacher introducing the school […]

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Education

Two bikes donated to school

18 Jan , 2018  

Helen and Dan came to Laos on their bikes from England and didn’t fancy taking them home. They were looking for a good cause and came across our school website so I met them on Saturday afternoon to gladly accept their generous donation on behalf of the school. We have 300 students and nearly 30 […]

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Education

Developing computer lessons in Laos

30 Nov , 2017   Gallery

These past few months the teachers and I have been busy working on refining the lessons and teachers guide for the coming year. The Introduction course is entering its third year of teaching now and the Elementary Computing course its second. It will be the first year it is taught to all students at that […]

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Education

School awards day 2017, Luang Prabang, Laos

1 Oct , 2017   Gallery

On a hot Saturday morning students, teachers, volunteers, and officials flocked to school for the annual awards day where students receive their much-admired certificates for their achievements from the prior year. The school year starts in September each year in Laos. The day started off with some fun games which everyone always enjoys and this […]

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Transferring skills to teachers in Lao schools

Education

Helping English students at a local school – Luang Prabang, Laos

14 Jul , 2017  

I helped out a small class of eager high school students with their English lessons last week.  During the high school break, these students are taking a holiday class to improve their English skills. They go a small school set up in someone’s home in the center of Luang Prabang where two small classes of […]

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laos-blood-donation

Culture

Giving blood – Lao Red Cross

25 Jun , 2017  

Recently I took a morning off work to catch up on a few errands. One of these was to make time to give blood at the Lao Friends Hospital Visitor Centre n Luang Prabang. It was a simple process and everyone was very friendly. I had a finger pricked and tests were taken and a […]

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Travel

Beware the voluntourists intent on doing good

3 Mar , 2017   Video

The term voluntourism refers to the growing phenomenon of individuals travelling to developing countries to carry out volunteer work.  They go for a week or two for a “project” — a temporary medical clinic, an orphanage visit or a school construction. Many go to teach English during high school, college vacations or during an OE/gap year. […]

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