Laos: The Kengthan Incomplete Primary School

Just a few hours after our visit with the Vientiane office, Alexis and I were off on an epic quest to visit the school Breadpig helped build in Kengthan.

(Dude you write too much, just show me all the pics!)

The village of Kengthan is located in the southern province of Saravan, consistently ranked one of the poorest and least educated provinces in Laos. Exactly the type of place, in other words, where our money could really do some good. Getting to Kengthan from Vientiane was, uh, complicated, so it was good that we had Viengkeo Norasingh, program director for Room to Read's School Rooms program, to help us through it all.

Viengkeo reading XKCD

First, we took a tuk-tuk from our hotel to the southern bus station at the edge of the city. Then, we climbed into the wonderfully comfortable sleeper bus Viengkeo had booked for us and settled in for what was supposed to be a 10 hour ride to Pakse. I'll tell the longer version of this story later, but it was 12 hours before we could refresh ourselves with a wonder-feu breakfast. After breakfast, we got into a minivan to head towards Saravan province. This is when Viengkeo informed us that there was a complication with the last leg of our trip. The minivan could get us to Lakphonpheng District, but the dirt roads leading up to Kengthan village proper had become impassable for cars. After a very bumpy hour in the minivan, we changed vehicles. Our new ride?

This.

It was like a bizarre video game. Lurching through the rain, Alexis and I ducked low-hanging mango branches, creatively shifted our weight to prevent the cart from tipping over, and watched worriedly (through our cameras) as our tractor totally forded a river. Viengkeo told us that we were the first donors to undertake this type of journey in Saravan. We were feeling pretty impressive until he then told us that his work requires him to make trips like this throughout 11 different provinces in Laos. Wow.

In front of the plaque!

With our oxen barely intact, we finally pulled into the muddy yard of the Kengthan Incomplete Primary School (a muddy KIPS, if you will). All of the students and about 30 villagers had gathered outside the school to greet us with flowers and applause. We were led inside for a presentation from the head of the village about the school. We learned that the villagers present were members of the construction committee--impressive since the population of the village was just over 400! The school took over a year to construct, with delays due to the required inspection for UXOs (more about this in the next blog post) and the difficulty of hauling construction supplies down the roads during rainy season.

Accidental photo op

This new school replaced a much smaller building that leaked when it rained. It was only the second week of the new school year so numbers were still fluctuating, but last year the school had 61 students--24 of whom were female--and 3 grades, 2 classrooms, 1 teacher, and a brightly decorated reading room with a librarian and a check-out system for the books. Kids got to school either on a communal tractor, by bike, or on foot.

The school tractor leaves after school

After we attempted to explain Breadpig and encouraged the kids to have fun with learning, we were taken into the library for a baci ceremony. The baci ceremony is usually performed to bestow blessings during special events such as births, weddings, or festivals. This one was the school's way of saying thanks, and to make us honorary members of their community.

Getting baci'd.

At the end of the ceremony, villagers and students came up to us and tied white strings around our wrists to embody their well wishes. Our translators were busy getting honored as well so I couldn't understand the nice things people were saying to me, but it was a great opportunity to meet the kids individually even if we could only smile at each other. What was even more heartwarming, though, was that some of the kids couldn't sit still during the ceremony and surreptitiously started to read a book in the corner!

Misbehavior we can get behind.

Following this, we ran into some shenanigans trying to talk with the kids. We wanted to play with them, ask them strange questions, and get a sense of a typical school day. However, since the understanding was that we were Very Important People that demanded respect and propriety, our silly American behavior just met with confusion from the adults and shyness from the kids. I found myself wishing that I spoke enough Lao to put everyone at ease, but pantomime was certainly insufficient for explaining that we were just simple geeks who didn't require any fussing over. Alas, the giving of money, even with the best of intentions, imposes an awkward social imbalance. Luckily, we soon shared a meal and drank too much lao-lao with the adults, which certainly helped to relax things!

We finally got our chance to goof off after classes ended, when Alexis and I spent some quality time with the kids who lingered behind at the library. They showed off their sweet dinosaur popup books, and we let them play with our cameras.

The subject becomes the filmmaker.

I'm still curious to see a normal day at the school, to better understand the dynamic between teacher and student, or to know more about their curriculum, but all of those things require a level of familiarity that we did not have time (or the language skills) to develop. But ultimately, it was very reassuring to see that the kids enjoyed spending time in the library, that attendance was high even when travel was difficult, that the field coordinator overseeing the school was a spunky young woman with a big smile who was well-respected by the community, and that the village obviously now saw the school as an important institution. These kids are definitely getting a better foundational education, and it's all been made possible by XKCD and you, our loyal legion. Not too bad for a few clicks of a mouse, huh?