On October 16, 2008 I went back to Houaylao Elementary School to check out the Book Box Library we sent them last year. I walked through the rice paddies like many of the students in the village. Houaylao Elementary School is has very little funding because the villagers are mostly farmers that can barely support themselves. The only kind of income that the community has is making bricks but due to the expansion of Pakse Airport, many local brick makers are being forced to relocate to another area. While Champasak Province is getting more assistance in education, this no name village is being forgotten by everyone, even the NGOs working in the area.
For those parents that are able to afford a motorbike, they would take their kids to a nearby village that has better school and more funding. The students that are left are from the poor family and don’t have enough resources to even finish building a new school. One building was torn down and a new one was built but it has no window or door yet. There is no electricity even though the electricity is only a few meters away from the school. It costs about $200 to have electricity put in but even that the school can’t even collect the money from the villagers in one year.
I asked about the fees for the school that is collected from the community and the superintendent told me they can’t even collect 1 million Kips per year and he said this year they could only collected about 700,000 Kips. That is less than 70 Euros to buy supply for the school.
Hi Darly,
I just happened to stumble on you post. The name Houaylao Elementary School caught my attention. After reading the location you described, it turns out that this is the very school I attended in 1972-1975. I was in fourth grade when we left the country in 1975. It is sad to see that the school is in such as bad shape. In fact, it seems to be worst than I remembered. Looking at the pictures and seeing all those smiling kids in a school with no windows and doors brings tear to my eyes. Based on your blog, it seemed that you have visited the school several times and have sent gifts (book box library) and donation. As a former student of the school, I thank you. I too, would like to donate to the school. Will you be visiting the school again anytime soon? If not, how can I send my donation, and to whom?
I can be contacted via email that was provided on my reply in the email address field. I can also be reached at 202-631-7183.
Regards,
Paul
Hi Paul,
Thank you for your interest in helping Houaylao Elementary School. The photos above is from the new building. The old building you studied in is still there. It’s the same one that my uncle (not blood related) studied and you can see the photos in the post “A visit to Houaylao Elementary School“.
If you ever get a chance to go back to Pakse, you can see a history of the school written on the board in the superintendent’s office.
The teachers there love their village so much that they refuse to teach elsewhere. The fifth grade teacher standing in the picture above graduated from the same building you did and of all the things that she could do/be, she wanted to be a teacher for her community.
The next time I go to Laos I will visit the school again. You can always help without having me go there in person. I will give you contact info so you can talk to the school officials directly. At the moment the school is on vacation due to Lao National Games in Pakse.