Teaching English by the Mekong
Khamla and his wife, Vieng, have been providing affordable English classes to
the local community since 2012.
Their beautiful home and ‘Sabaidee Restaurant’ overlooks the Mekong River on Don
Khong, one of the 4,000 Islands in Southern Laos.
It doubles up as an English school in the evenings, where over 30 children come
to learn English after school.
Volunteers help to organise fun English classes, aiming to build the children’s
confidence and skills for the future.
“I love studying English and one day I hope to be a lawyer. My English is quite
good and I like meeting teachers from different countries” May, age 12.
Our new Bamboo School Project
Khamla is originally from the nearby island of Don Som, next to the popular
travel destination of Don Det. The island is very rural and
most of the community work in farming, construction or fishing. Although most
children attend school they don’t have the opportunity to learn English, so
Khamla and his family have expanded their project to open up a beautiful new
English school that offers affordable lessons.
Since January 2017 over 50 volunteers have stayed with Khamla and his family,
traveling by traditional fishing boat every day to Don Som to help
construct the new bamboo school.
Although the school wasn’t due to open until
August 2017, it’s already up and running thanks to everyone’s support.
Over 30 students aged between four and fourteen are now attending classes
between Monday and Friday and the local community enjoy meeting volunteers
from around the globe.
Sabaidee Restaurant and Homestay
Alongside teaching English classes, one of the highlights of volunteering with
the project has to be the delicious Laos food and staying with the family!
Khamla originally opened his restaurant to help fund the first English classes –
but the restaurant has earned itself a great reputation on sites such as
Travel Fish and tourists often stop by to try their famous ‘sindad’ (Lao hotpot
and barbecue). You can also stay at the homestay without volunteering if
you would still like to experience Laos family life and try the food.
You can hire motorbikes, scooters, or bicycles and Khamla can arrange boat trips
or onward travel to other destinations in Laos and Cambodia.
Link from Travel Fish
https://www.travelfish.org/location/laos/southern_laos/champasak/don_khong
Cooking classes at the Bamboo School
Soon Khamla hopes to plant a ‘Green Garden’ to grow herbs, rice and vegetables
and build a small kitchen so he can provide cooking classes for the children.
Learning how to cook famous Laos dishes from local fresh ingredients, students
will gain practical skills and be able to access career opportunities working
in tourism.
How you can help
The project is continually growing thanks to our volunteers, but as you know a
little help goes a long way!
If you are able to support us, be it through a donation or even coming to
volunteer – we’d be very grateful.
Read about our volunteer opportunities or you can donate (link) via paypal.
BAMBOO SCHOOL PROJECT 