My bestfriend in Lao

Just got an update from my friend, just want to share this with everyone. Don't take what you have for granted!

Hi ya I just want to thank you all once again for your donated money.

I had such an amazing experience. I just wished you guys were there to experience it with me, Nikki and my other friend Phorn. The photos here are taken form my phone so they are not good qaulity. Nikki will send me the proper pics so I will send it to you once I get this. She has the photos of the donation run and the students.

I just don't know where to start. The experience the feelings, the people, the location. But please do read this entire letter as I really want to take you there one day to experience such an amazing feeling and perhaps you can also pass this on so people are aware of it.

As you know last year Carsten and I went to a small village on the outskirts of LuangPrabang, Lao. This year we Nikki and I decided to go to an orphanage school, 25km from downtown LuangPrabang. We thought this was such a great idea.

Some background information about the orphanage school:
Student's age ranges between 10 to 18 years old. Both male and female.

Some of the kids we heard have no parents (called Gumpoi kids) and some of the other kids only have a father or a mother (called Gumpaa kids). Some of the students still have relatives who can't support them. It is located 25km from downtown LuangPrabang.

Most of these kids are there basically because

1) There is no one to look after them. A lot of them are form broken families. Ie when the widowed parent (mainly mother) enters a new marriage mainly for survival. Unfortunately kids from previous marriages brought into new families are not welcome and is seem as a disgrace no matter what the circumstances. So therefore the mother doesn't have choice and so leaves them at these schools.

2) The kid's parents have died and that there are no family members to support them. Normally with Lao families their relatives will be able to look after them but a lot of times they can't even support themselves so they have no choice.

Support:
At the moment there is some government assistance and donation given to these gifts but as you know it's never enough. For example these kids get 90,000kip per month. Sounds like a lot doesn't it?. But 90,000 kip equals $9 US a month…. That less than 30cents a day for their survival. This 30c goes towards the cost of accommodation/shelter, food, clothing and miscellaneous things like soaps, detergents not to mention medical supplies for the day.

Food
I was asking them one time about what time they wake up for breakfast I was shocked when one of the boys named Dee (17 years old) embarrassingly said that "they don't have breakfast as the doesn't get enough funds for them to have three meals a day so they need to skip out on breakfast" instead they have lunch at 11am and dinner at 5pm instead. Imagine that, 10c or less will enable a student to have breakfast for a day. For the times I went to see them and from what the head master (Mr Uthokorn) told me is that what they have for lunch and dinner is a large ball of sticky rice given to them on the hand and a small bowl of vegetable soup to go with it. This accounts for 95% of their standard meals.

Shelter:
Some of the fortunate kids live in concrete shelters (funded by the Japanese) but since more and more kids arrived the newer kids have to live in Bamboo houses (bearing in mind that LuangPrabang is up in the mountains and it's really cold there at night a lot of the times and the wind comes straight through). When I was in side one of there shelters I ask one of the students why is there only one homemade bamboo bed and the others have to sleep on the floor. One of the students named Tai (18 years old) replied "that is my bed; I managed to collect old nails from the village and streets day by day and cut bamboo myself and build the bed myself". The kids would be lucky to find a nail a day.

Our Donation
We asked around before we went and people told us that there were around 100 kids there. So with the money we went on a 4WD ute to the local outdoor market and did our budgeting for 100 kids.

What we bought with the money from Aus ($185):

200 writing books

200 red pens

200 blue pens

200 pencils

200 rulers

96 (4 box x 24) instant noodles

40 (10 packets x 4) soaps

10 Rattan balls (similar to volley balls but smaller and made of bamboo like material)

When we arrived at the school
When we got there, we were amazed how big the school was. We located the headmaster and found out that there weren't 100 kids but 600 kids altogether.

So Nikki and I just started to get in there and do our best. The headmaster gathered the poorer of the poor first in a line and the other poorer students continued after that. Initially I was nervous and scared and embarrassed about the little amount we had. But we just concentrated and sorted out individual packs that had books, pens, pencils, rulers, noodles and soaps. The line was very long but we still managed to hand out things even after 30 mins. But as supplies diminished so did the hopes of the students in the lines.

I had only 10 pairs of things left that I bought in Bangkok. The headmaster called out those who had no parents to come forward and one at a time we gave the thongs to them. We had two left and the headmaster called out again "who has no father or mother" then a boy (named Tai, same boy as the above) gently and embarrassingly and quietly whispered out "I don't…. I don't have a father". I really felt for him because he missed out on the books and pens as he came late and he only ended up with these thongs. We also gave the rattan balls away to each grade but we missed out on 4 grades who didn't receive them. But I guess they can share it around.

We ended up getting a tour of the place and I was touched as did Nikki. Not only the kids were poor but they all seem to be level minded and slightly more happy than we expected.

We said our good byes and left back to LuangPrabang. In which Nikki left for Bangkok the following day to head down south to continue her volunteer for the Tsunami.

I stayed in Luangprabang and mentioned about that day to a friend (Phorn) whom wanted to go there.

So I suggested we should do that, as I really felt for Tai as he missed out on a lot of things and we can get more rattan balls for the other grades.

Second day at the school
This time I went with my friend Phorn on a motorcycle…… I drove..(yes me, driving a motorcycle on a dirt road ) to the local markets, Phorn got some more soaps and Rattan balls, nets whilst I got some clothes, shoes and soccer balls, soccer uniforms for Tai. (I couldn't leave LuangPrabang not doing something little for him). So we got to the school in the afternoon and yes they were having sticky rice and vegetable soup. I discreetly gave the things to Tai who was extremely shy and Phorn gave the rest to the school. We hung around a bit. The kids started to get use to me and started talking to us. Initially they were all shy as we passed them they kept of giggly and whispering to each other "look look falangs" (foreigners)…. But I giggled with them as said "Bo Man, Kon Lao" which means that's not right…we are Lao…and they were shocked to hear we can speak Lao. So we got speaking to some kids who have told us about what happens there on a day to day basis. They seem to be content and very friendly. Some even spoke better English than some Thai people I have met. English is taught now and then by a Lao teacher. Anyway, I am glad they were talking to us and that we were able to joke around together. They showed us the beautiful river down from their school which next to it had their vegetable garden. Each grade had to water and be responsible for their patch of garden near the river so that they grow their own vegetables. It was such a beautiful setting.

We had to get going as the sun was about to go down. Going though the mountains on a motorcycle is very cold, but managed to get back to town before pitch darkness. I jumped right into bed and had a big rest as I was worried about catching a cold anf flue…. Which I surprisingly didn't.

Third day at the school
I was totally drawn to going back to the school and the river, so Phorn and I went back there but this time with our board shorts. We planned to swim across the river to the little village beside it. We stopped to say hi to the students and some of them came along and joined us. They were so nice to show us the river. The river was initially very cold. (A lot of the students choose to bath here as oppose to the running taps at the school) The water ended up being nice. It was funny as when we were swimming, they become friends just like any other friends, no barriers no differences just simple fun. One we got out of the water then I and them instantly noticed the change. Ie when I was putting on my sneakers and change of clothes and they were just wearing the same clothes they had and some didn't even have towels. It was weird because once we put on our clothes there seem to silence and shyness again because they can see such a big difference with the have and have nots.

We went back to say goodbyes and this is when I found out about the bed situation. So we decided to get some nails for them. We went to get a kilo of big nails and a kilo of smalls nails. We went back their and gave it to the students in Tai's room. I asked him if that was enough for this particular dorm. Tai said "its more than enough, I will show the others how to cut the bamboo and we can borrow the cutting knives from our friends and we can make the bed for everybody in this room".

It's amazing what a little nail does. Even though one little nail may seem to be useless, invaluable, rusty and old, it too can give comfort, bring people together, it not only builds structures but also builds relationships and can also increase standards of living. We often take too many things for granted. Thank you once again for allowing me to pass on your generosity. Hoping the next time you see a nail you will think of the students.

If you happen to go to LuangPrabang, make sure you stop over to visit these lovely students. My friend Phorn (the owner and manager of LaoLao beer garden and Khob Chai Bar…. On Chao Siphoupan and Phousi street/road) will able to direct you there.

Please feel free to pass on this to all you know and for them to contact me of they are interested in donating or if you missed out on this one as I will try my best to see them again this year. Also I talked to lots of tourist about this school and they all wanted to go visit it. So I am also trying to organize a donation run for tourist in LuangPrabang.

Ps if anyone is willing to also donate some money so I can developed a website for this school please feel free to chip in and tell me. I have already asked some volunteers to design it for me I just need help with the cost of hosting and registering it i.e. around 6,000 Baht (200 Aus)


Email: dannymanichanh@gmail.com

Take care , all the best and hope to hear from ALL of you soon.
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Danny Manichanh