Weekly Newsletter
Greetings from Nong Khiaw,
The last few weeks have been busy here! We have started our water filter replacement program. Laos has a relatively high amount of water resources in country per-capita, but much of it is unsafe. Drinking water can be contaminated with microbiological pathogens from human and animal waste, causing health issues. According to UNICEF diarrheal diseases are responsible for one third of all under-nutrition cases and one tenth of deaths among Lao children under the age of 5.
The original program of water filter installations was undertaken in December 2014. When talking to communities in early 2018 we surveyed 30 people; every person we spoke to believed that water filters worked to filter dirty water and were interested in using filters.
This time, we are using Abundant Water (AW) ceramic filters (www.abundantwater.org/laos), which are made in Vientiane by local people. In addition to this; the filters use components (water buckets, PVC pipes and containers) that can be purchased across Laos, meaning that Bamboo School (BS) can support the local economy by purchasing these components in Nong Khiaw village and people can repair many parts of their own filters if needed.
In addition to this, BS is trialling selling the filters (for a subsided amount) rather than providing them for free. Why??? Because it is a better way to engage with people who want our support. BS wants to support beneficiaries to help solve their own problems rather than creating dependence on BS or other aid programs.
The first village that has asked for replacement filters this time was Phonsana, one of the villages on the Nam Ou river. Representatives from BS and AW gave a presentation at night when the people had returned from the fields. The next morning people who were interested in buying a filter came to the Naiban’s (village chiefs) house; within an hour all of the filters had been sold and the Naiban has requested another 30 and the local teacher wants them installed in the school as well! That is an excellent sign of engagement and interest in health.
This small investment from the communities will be reinvested into our future projects to increase health impacts in Muang Ngoi District.
I would like to say thanks to the amazing AW team for their hard work and support on this project!
Jai yen yen (chill out) from Nong Khiaw,
Mike Stephens ... MehrWeniger
26.03.18 ·
Weekly Newsletter
Greetings from Nong Khiaw & Happy International Women's Day Everybody!
The last few months have been a nerve-wracking wait for everybody at Bamboo School (BS) as we are in the process of renegotiating our Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with relevant authorities in Laos. The MoU is crucial to our work and enables BS to obtain visas and bring volunteers into Laos. Despite difficulties with the paperwork, BS is still supporting the villages of Muang Ngoi Province, we have recently donated 165 metres of fencing to Ban Mok Leap for their school yard.
We have had the good luck to be visited by two previous volunteers, Silke and Klaus, who during their time with BS helped to build the school in Ban Khon Kheun. They have just started their epic journey with their bicycles from Laos all the way to Germany. They make my travels look positively tame by comparison, best of luck to them both!
BS has recently traveled to Ban Mok Leap, Hoay Loar, Phonsana and Phonxai to undertaken baseline monitoring and evaluation surveys for upcoming water filter and soap projects. Phonxai is not a village which we get to travel to often, only accessible by an hour plus hike in dry season; or two-hour boat trip up a tributary river in wet season. This small Khmu village is in dire need of support for their education and healthcare; they are one of the more difficult to reach villages. Despite their lack of many of the basics, the people in Ban Phonxai were welcoming, immediately having a Baci ceremony and asking us when the next time we would visit. They are a village which has tried to deal with their own problems making their own school and water tank in previous years – however in both of these cases resources and knowledge about how to work materials, such as concrete, are low. Their basic infrastructure is slowly falling apart. Let us hope that BS can secure an MoU and move on to spending our energy on the areas it’s needed!
It is my pleasure to finally provide training and the first Abundant Water filter (www.abundantwater.org/laos) to one of our good friends in Nong Khiaw, Mr Sichan. This filter roll-out training will be crucial to the upcoming project out in the wilds. Not just to hand out filters and stickers; but to help support village learning about the positives of clean water. It’s importance to keeping children in schools, adults fit/able to work and most importantly providing clean water to young children who are most at risk of suffering from diseases such a diarrhea, which can be fatal for them in areas where there is limited healthcare support. We hope to start the water filter roll out this month!
Good luck from Laos,
Mike Stephens ... MehrWeniger
08.03.18 ·
