Report by BHW SE Asia Partnership Facilitator Following Visit February 2015

Recent Events

Lao Vida Cafe

Last year during our visit there were plans underway to open a small café that would later be expanded as time and resources allowed. Over the year, this project has progressed through the initial phase of a small ‘shop window’ sized cafe front to encompass a large room with a bright and welcoming café boasting a cabinet of delicious bakery items and a menu that includes fruit muesli, bagels and other yummy delights. They also make really great coffee!

Currently the café is open during week days, opening at 6.30 am.  During the day in high season there are tourists to serve and also locals who have become regulars. In the evening it is buzzing with English language students who meet before or after class to drink coffee and sample something from the bakery.

Having the café works on several levels to support the other activities at Lao Vida:

• It provides opportunity to train staff for the hospitality industry
• Generates employment for young Lao who have trained at Lao Vida in both streams of the vocational training (bakery and housekeeping)
• Provides a way of selling the bakery items generated by the vocational students
• It helps build the sense of community that the English students enjoy in the evening
• Is an asset to the local community, supporting tourism, and offering locals a special place to meet together.

The team worked really hard to get things up and running last year amid complications and challenges.  The result is a comfortable modern café. There are plans for ongoing improvement and development. They are considering opening on Saturdays with a brunch menu in the near future, and were experimenting with the menu during our visit. 

Staff

There is a strong Lao staff team of 14 who continue to mature and grow in their responsibilities in areas such as the Bakery, Driving, Office Management, Housekeeping/Cooking and Teaching.  It is great to see the growing confidence of these young Lao people, particularly the ones who have now been with Lao Vida for a number of years.  One of the original bakery students (Tai) pictured right, now translates for Paul in the Bakery.  They have a great relationship and it is good to see them working so seamlessly together in training this year’s bakery students.  Pimm, also a vocational student who completed the program several years ago, is responsible for managing the café and is growing in confidence and skill to fulfil this role. 

English Classes

English classes are in full swing with four foreign staff available to teach approximately 250 students in eight classes over four weekday evenings.  There will be more teachers coming to help with the classes midyear, which will lighten the teaching load of those also heavily involved in other aspects of Lao Vida.  The classes are interactive, fun and generally there is a high level of engagement from the students.  Some classes are making use of teaching material that incorporates video clips of dialogue and the students seemed to really enjoy this format.

Vocational Students

There are twelve new vocational students who began with Lao Vida in October last year.  Eight of them are training in the bakery (see photo) including the first girl to join this program and four in the housekeeping training.  The students generally have come from the poorer provinces around Pakse and many of them have not received sufficient education to be literate.  This presents special challenges (particularly in the bakery training which is at level 5) which is why having literacy classes and such a supportive and encouraging environment is an essential component of the Lao Vida model of training.    

Student Profiles

Chanthida is from Salavan Province.  She is 21 years old.  Her father took a new wife when Chanthida was still young, so her mother left town to find work in other provinces and Chanthida went to live with an aunt.  She completed high school, and then stayed on with her aunt to look after her aunt’s three youngest children.

Chanthida struggles with learning, even though she has finished high school, but she completed an extra week of tuition before going on Christmas holiday break.  It is hoped that this will help encourage her to put a greater effort into the training. 

Chanthida has several goals in coming to study at Lao Vida: “I want to develop my family’s life, to gain personal development little by little, to learn to manage my life and develop my thinking; then one day I will be able to teach other people.”

Deh is from the Talieng tribal group. He comes from the capital town of Attapeu Province. He is 18 and comes from a family of 5. He is one of the generation of Talieng whose roots have been broken. His parents knew life in the mountains, but came down to make a new life in the town. When they became parents, they had no village boundaries and norms to help nurture their children. So the children were left to fend for themselves while parents were working hard to make a success of their lives.  As a result, this new generation of teens knows no boundaries, has no discipline, and has no aims or goals in life beyond ‘what pleases me now’.  Deh left high school in Year 4 because, in his words, “I wanted to play.”

Deh has been a drug addict, and when he joined the 2014 summer youth program, he came straight from the rehab centre. It has been a difficult transition for him, however, he is smart, and when his teachers praise him, he really lights up.  The hope is that as he lives and studies with Lao Vida staff, gradually his heart and mind will be opened.

When we asked Deh why he wanted to study this program, he replied, “I want my mother to be proud of me.  I want to change my life and improve myself.  I have been a bad person in the past, and so I want to change.”

It is hoped that Deh will discover real purpose in his life as he lives and studies at Lao Vida.

Sengkham is from the Ta Oy tribal group. He comes from Oudomsuk Village in Champasak Province. He is 19 and comes from a family of 8. Sengkham dropped out of high school at the end of Year 4, and went to cut wood with his father in Attapeu. Realising his mistake, he tried to get back into school but the provincial school wouldn’t accept him. He was too late to continue studying. 

During his interview, Sengkham was quite downcast and full of shame and need. The Lao Vida team all agreed that they should take this young man on.  

One Friday night, about a month into the course, Sengkham asked his cousin (one of the staff) to introduce him to the Father. Sengkham now smiles, laughs, and has grown in confidence and joy. There has been real healing and transformation in his life.  

Phetsamone is from the Ta Oy tribal group. She comes from Km 40 Village on the Bolaven Plateau in Champasak Province. She is 19 and comes from a family of 8. Her parents are coffee farmers on the plateau. 

Phetsamone finished upper secondary school but her parents didn’t have enough money for both her and her brother to continue. One day she would like to be a teacher. 

Phetsamone believes this course will change her life. She is particularly excited to learn English and about teaching children. She says “When I finish this course, I will use what I have learned to have a better life in the future.”

Nikone is part Laven, part Ta Oy. She comes from Lycheuang Village on the Bolaven Plateau in Champasak Province. She is 23 years old. Her parents are coffee farmers on the plateau.  

Nikone finished Year 3 of high school, then her father was arrested and put in jail (for criminal activity) so Nikone couldn’t continue with schooling.

Nikone wants to study “Because I want to know more, to improve myself, and to have a job will be important in the future.” 

Life Change Story

Mai came to Lao Vida with a dream to help young men who were unable to find employment, but the odds were stacked against him. He is an orphan as both his parents died when he was young and he went to live with other family. He was undernourished so even though he is 27, he looks young as he is physically quite small. He didn’t go to school and was illiterate when he came to Lao Vida. This made it very difficult for him to complete the bakery training, which staff prefer to offer only to those who have completed high school because of the level of education it requires to study successfully at level 5.    

He struggled through and managed to grasp basic bread making but Lao Vida was unable to offer him a role on staff at the end of the course due to limited places. However, when another student (Dak) didn’t return on the date expected, Jamie called Mai and he came back to Lao Vida to help in the bakery.  When Dak arrived, Mai was given the job of doing basic maintenance for a year and so managed to stay part of the Lao Vida team.  

In 2015, Dak has begun further training at finance school and only works part time in the bakery in the morning and cafe in the evening, so Mai now works with Jamie in the bakery. He has also begun to fulfil his dream of helping other young men without work.  His uncle was able to buy him a small portable oven and he has taught some of the young men where he used to live how to make a single rise baguette that they can then sell in the market. Mai has a warm smile that lights up his whole face and he continues to serve faithfully as part of the Lao Vida team.