Review

■Purpose: Monitoring WECA overseas education support campaign for poor children
 

■Schedule: Thursday, October 30, 2014 - Saturday, November 1, 2014
 

■Place visited: Ban Pham Muang School, Laos

 

Do you know the story of the Hmong people with their sad past? The Hmong are a minority people who live scattered throughout the world, including southern China, northern Vietnam, and northern Laos. The Hmong people, who were prosperous enough to form a kingdom in the 11th century, were strategically positioned as a people who lost their country starting with the Vietnam War. In 2009, the Thai government forcibly repatriated 4,000 Hmong refugees to Laos, but Laos' communist government does not officially recognize the Hmong people.
 

Decades later, the Hmong people still live by frequently moving their residence to avoid being pursued by the governments of Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. Because of this, the Hmong do not have a clear living environment and live a life where they cannot know when they will leave. The environment is difficult to find food, drink, hospitals, and farming. WECA, the World Educational Cultural Aid, is delivering hope to children at Hmong schools and Ban Pham Muang schools in Laos so that Hmong children with a sad past can dream of a bright future.
 

▶ Hmong people living in remote, remote mountainous areas with few people

Laos is currently the only country on the Indochina Peninsula where official NGO activities and group relief activities are restricted by the government. Despite the difficulties, WECA, the World Educational Cultural Aid, is promoting an education support campaign centered on Ban Pham Muang School located in central Laos.
 

▶ Ban Pham Muang School, Pak San City, Bolikham Xai Province, located in central Laos

Ban Pham Muang School is comprised of School 1 (elementary school), School 2 (middle school), and School 3 (middle school), with approximately 500 students studying in each school. Although the largest number of children attend school, it receives very little government support because it is a minority school.
 

▶ Temporary classrooms built to accommodate the increasing number of students.
 

Most of the Hmong live scattered in mountainous areas. Children walk long distances from mountainous areas to their schools. Children who walk for as little as 1 to 2 hours or as long as 3 to 4 hours. Why do children walk this far? Maybe it's my thirst for learning.
 

▶ Children writing down the teacher’s words, letter by letter

They must be tired because they woke up early in the morning and walked a long way to school, but none of the children dozed off and were studying hard. No one envied my passion for education. 
 

▶ A female teacher who teaches classes while taking care of children
 

Ban Pham Muang School was unable to cope with the rapidly increasing number of children compared to the number of classrooms. So the children were studying in makeshift classrooms. It wasn't just classrooms that were lacking. There was a lack of educational equipment such as desks, chairs, blackboards, and school supplies needed for children to study, and what was lacking most of all were teachers. A female teacher went to work carrying a child and was teaching students.
 

▶ Children say they enjoy studying because they have books, pens, and notebooks.

I heard that at the beginning of the semester, most children studied at empty desks because they did not have books, pens, or notebooks. The provision of school supplies such as books, pens, and notebooks, which started at that time, has now enabled many children to study with books, pens, and notebooks. I quietly took out my camera and pressed the shutter button for fear of disrupting class, but the children who saw the WECA uniform welcomed me with bright smiles.
 

▶ The Hmong people have a sad past, but the faces of the children receiving education were full of hope.
 

I continued to film the children wearing white school uniforms and smiling brightly. It was so pretty that I couldn't stop. School uniforms are very important clothes to ensure that children attend school without fail. Children who receive school uniforms tend to have higher attendance rates and higher academic grades than students who do not receive school uniforms. The reason is because it creates a passion for studying. WECA provides school uniforms to children who do not have school uniforms. Now most children wear school uniforms. We will continue to pay attention to ensuring that school uniforms are provided at an early age to children who have not yet worn them.
 

▶ Meeting with children from Ban Pham Muang 1 (elementary school)
 

After class, we had a meeting with the children of Ban Pham Muang 1 (elementary school). When I said the Laotian greeting I briefly learned, “Sabai di,” he responded, “Sabai di.” We prepared small gifts for the children. It's a pencil and a notebook.
 

▶ Children express their joy by raising the notebooks and pencils they received as gifts high in the sky.
 

For children, a notebook and a pen are very precious gifts. This is because there is a pencil and notebook where you can draw hopeful dreams.
 

▶ One book and one pen change the world!
 

Education, the weapon that changes the world! 

Laos was selected as the number one country to visit by the New York Times. Despite being a top travel destination in the world and one of the countries you must visit before you die, more than 30% of Laos' population lives on less than $1.25 a day. It is a sad country where one in three people do not have the opportunity to learn, even through compulsory elementary education.
 

▶ A picture of the poor classroom that the children left
 

Laos, where 70% of the territory is mountainous and has an underdeveloped industry, relies on foreign imports for most manufactured products. In particular, even school supplies such as pencils and notebooks are mostly imported and expensive. For children from poor families who cannot even afford to go to school, buying school supplies is almost impossible. I don't know if they will be able to go to elementary school because education is compulsory, but there are many restrictions on their continued education. 
 

▶ If you don’t have a whiteboard with an open space in the middle, where should you write?
 

WECA, the World Educational Cultural Aid, will continue to promote education campaigns so that children in Laos, a sad country, can continue to have opportunities to learn. Because education is the best way to eradicate poverty and poverty.
 

We will help children achieve their dreams through continuous education support campaigns so that more children can have educational opportunities. We need the interest and support of our sponsors along the way. Please join WECA!