Life lesson learned from trip to Laos

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This article was published 25/09/2015 (3678 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sometimes a family vacation is more than lying on a beach or going to an amusement park.

Sometimes it can lead to changing the lives of children in a far-off country.

That’s what the Phanlouvong family has done — along with the father’s high school friends — after vacationing in the country the father escaped from in 1979. And that’s how School for Kids in Laos (SKL) came about.

Thongsay (Ken) Phanlouvong said recently he had no idea how the vacation would affect his son and daughter, aged 16 and 12 at the time, when he took them around some of the places he grew up, including his former schools, in 2003.

“They didn’t seem to have a reaction at the time,” he said.

“I don’t know why I did it, but I wanted to show them where I used to go to school. My high school. My primary schools. But it was a shock to them, the state of the schools.”

Phanlouvong, the vice-president of SKL, said his children didn’t say anything, but a few weeks after they returned to Winnipeg they asked him if they could help the students at the schools they saw in Laos.

“I told them I wasn’t sure what they wanted to do, but if they did do something, it has to be serious. They said yes.”

Phanlouvong said during the next few years he contacted his high school friends, who left the country at the same time as him and lived as far away as the United Kingdom and the United States, to see how they could help.

“I asked them if we wanted to help the children in Laos, because they are going to schools in the same state as the schools they went to 35 years ago,” he said.

The family and friends created SKL in 2007, and it became a registered charity in Canada in 2009. After fundraising, they built their first school in 2008, in the village of Ban Thachampa. Four more schools have followed, and they are busy raising money for their sixth school.

Phanlouvong’s son, Setha Phanlouvong, said because they were raised in Winnipeg and went to school here, it was a shock to see the state of schools in Laos.

“I couldn’t believe the contrast,” he said.

“We just felt very fortunate to have grown up here in Canada. I feel really fortunate to be able to help these children. Even though I was born here, it feels good to give back to the land my ancestors came from.”

Phanlouvong’s daughter, Ari, said she remembers vividly the conditions she saw inside the school.

“Everything we have in the classroom we take for granted,” she said. “I was shocked at the environment they were in and learning in. Initially, we thought we were just going to get them school supplies, but our dad thought, ‘Let’s go bigger and do something that will last.’ ”

François Tremblay, SKL’s president, said before he met Phanlouvong through a friend of a friend in 2008, Laos was little more to him than a place on a map.

“I always wanted to be part of a humanitarian project, so I started with them as a member of the board,” Tremblay said.

“I’m proud of the work we have done. It’s pretty remarkable… we hope we can help as many people as we can. And I’d like to thank all Canadians, because if not for their support and help, as well as people in the United States and Great Britain, we wouldn’t be able to do what we are doing.”

Linda Lindsay, another SKL member, said she has gone from attending the annual fundraising banquet to joining the board, visiting the finished schools in Laos and taking part in planning meetings for another one.

“It impressed me that every penny goes to building schools,” she said. “When I walked on the property where we built a school, I felt tears. It is so amazing, the difference we are making.

“It’s one thing to write a cheque. It’s another to see the kids and the school.”

SKL has criteria before it chooses where to build a new school, including whether there has been a school of some kind there already, if there are full-time teachers there, whether the community’s population could grow and if there is responsible governance in place.

The organization provides the building itself, plus the classroom furniture, a well and water supply, electricity and sanitary washrooms. They hire the builder and make sure the community can continue to look after the school in future years.

Phanlouvong said the schools they haven’t replaced are the schools he and his friends went to and the ones he first showed his children.

“Our high school is in bad shape, but there are others that are worse,” he said.

“We’d rather do something for rural kids rather than for ones in the city.”

While some of the supporters of the charity live in other countries, the head office and most of the fundraising is here. The charity’s biggest fundraiser is its annual Taste of Laos banquet, but they accept donations throughout the year.

“It’s the collective efforts by people living in Winnipeg and Manitoba with the help of friends, families and my colleagues,” Phanlouvong said. “It’s not just me alone and my family.”

The next school they plan to build, a five-classroom one for Donesok village, is budgeted at $55,000, and they have more than $29,000 in the bank at this point. But Phanlouvong said with the fluctuating Canadian dollar, they might need to raise more.

Phanlouvong said 100 per cent of every dollar that is donated goes to build schools, because the charity has no office and no salaries, and even the trips they take to examine the schools in Laos are paid for out of their own pockets.

“Their new schools are a big difference from having a dirt floor and no walls. Now they have sturdily built schools with washrooms and running water and electricity. It’s a big difference.”

Phanlouvong said when they go to scout out a community for a new school, they go as tourists.

“We don’t say we’ll build a school. It’s simpler if we go there and see the needs. We don’t want to create false expectations.”

Phanlouvong said he never thought he’d be buildings schools in the country he left when he was 20 because of the political situation. He later was sponsored to come to Canada as a refugee through parishioners with the Archdiocese of St. Boniface.

“It never crossed my mind,” he said.

“I’m glad my kids raised the idea and challenged me. And it’s all teamwork. We have an excellent team.

“I can’t thank them enough.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca