SEALNet Project Laos

Heyyyy everyone!

K Brad here with a loving message from the wonderful (and rainy!) town of Phonsavanh, Lao PDR.  

An extremely wet tuk tuk ride with Justin and Mak has landed me in an internet cafe, where I’m supposed to be getting work done.
But I’m sitting here eating a beng-beng, which is basically a shockingly delicious kit kat/twix morph candy. It reads “a delicious taste in one bite!” But it’s taken me 3 so far. I’ve also encountered a bunch of other treats, including roti (banana, condensed milk, starch…?), Ellse (of the cake variety), milkshakes, some coconut candy thing, and steamed wasp larvae. All have been unbelievably good, save for the last. We’ve also managed to find a restaurant with a Lao rendition of banana pancakes, but otherwise it’s been pho gai all the way. Can’t complain. Ah, except for the few mild cases of food poisoning and head colds working their way through the team. Don’t eat the eggs. 

So the days definitely blend together. Last week’s focuses were on the Leadership and Education components, which went pretty dang well! The students really seemed to enjoy the activities we had planned, and there was no shortage of picture-taking! Love the falang, I guess. We all feel like rockstars. There has also been a lot of email exchange with the students, none of which have email addresses. Eh, we can change that! I think we’ll be breaking a lot of hearts when we leave, though.

Ohhhh, and then there’s Lucky! Our 9 year old Lao heartbreaker, complete with puppy eyes and full knowledge of what he can get when he uses them. It’s taken a toll on all of us, yet we continue to fight for his attention, convincing ourselves that I’M his favorite, not YOU.

So now it’s up to the Financial team to take over the project! The team has brainstormed some great ideas to keep Manophet’s school sustainable, including brochures, postcards, and crafts. But wait! With the superb computer skillz of our magnificent Mak, we’ll be launching a………drumroll please……………WEBSITE!!!! Everyone is bubbling with excitement and can’t wait to get this thing off the ground. Design is going well, and writing this update is actually taking away from my time helping out. Oh well, c’est la vie!

Tomorrow, we’ll be going with Manophet to find and detonate bombs. It’s his job. Crazy, right? Not to worry, though. We’ll be safe. Promise.

Alright, everyone! Keep the good times rolling.

Peace, love, and pho,

SEALNet Project Laossssss!!!

Today we visited the old capital of Xieng Khouang. It’s a town nestled in between three mountains and is one of the old capitols of the three kingdoms that used to comprise Laos. The scenery is breathtaking but kind of sad: this was one of the most heavily bombed areas during the Vietnam War. Manophet told us today about his memories of living there during the war. First, fighter planes doused the sky in high-octane gasoline. The villagers looked up and were confused by the oily rain. Then the napalm came, bathing the town in a fire that destroyed the city. Of the 32 stupas and temples that used to stand in this town, only one remains. There was a significant human toll as well: of the 100,000 people that used to inhabit Xieng Khouang, only 14,000 survived.

It was a sobering story. We passed through the ancient Plain of Jars and stood before the ruins of a 16th century Buddha whose solemn face is still covered in scorch marks that the local government left unrestored as a symbol of the war. Most of us had not thought about the history of this place; few of us knew that Xieng Khouang existed before Project Laos, but now that we know what happened here and what these people have lived through, it makes our work that much more pressing.

Tonight, we have a dinner in Phonsavanh then a night out on the town. It’s a fun day, a celebration of all that we’ve accomplished in the past week. Yet in the back of our minds, we can’t help but remember the story and the scorch marks on the face of the Buddha in Xieng Khouang.

Justin

“If anybody asked you who I am, just stand up tall, look ‘em in the face and say, I am the world’s GREATEST!”

The World’s Greatest, R. Kelly

The most rewarding experience today is probably to see how the different teams in the committee came together to make today a better day, with the Education Team doing their “crazy” activities (Yes, we had ‘Chicken Matrix’ again today) and the Leadership Team introducing different leadership development concepts to the students. Credits also go to the Finance Team which did a very good job sharing fund raising ideas with the students which was done um…in the kitchen.

In general, the students were more responsive and the bond among everyone is definitely getting stronger. We truly enjoyed the singing session at the beginning of the class, where everyone was so enthusiastically singing R. Kelly’s “The World’s Greatest”. From now on, we are pretty sure that if anyone asked the students who they are, they would be able to answer confidently that they are the world’s greatest. The world’s greatest in the sense that they take the initiatives to attend extra classes to improve their English command. The world’s greatest in the sense that they have brilliant ideas and clear visions in their minds. And also the world’s greatest in the sense that they are truly open-minded and willing to grasp new ideas and concepts.

The main focus of today’s activities was more on introducing leadership qualities to the students. Having to prepare an impromptu skit based on the assigned leadership qualities, in my opinion, is never an easy job, especially when the students had to speak in a language which they are not very familiar with (I’ll be scared to death if I had to do a skit in Lao). We were, however, truly impressed by how sporting and outspoken the students were. The creativity among the students could easily be felt in the air when we watched the skits on “Responsible”, “Passion”, “Honesty”, “Perseverance” and “Communicative”. Although there were still some minor language barriers, the ideas were conveyed successfully and the confidence among the students was probably what made the exercise meaningful.

If someone came up to you and asked for a favor or made you an offer, what would you have answered? It will probably take you quite a while to reply to the offer but the students did really well (accepting or rejecting the offers) during our “Yes, BUT…” and “Yes, AND…” exercises. The idea was to let them understand how a simple word could make a difference and as leaders, they must not be afraid to speak up. At the end of the sessions, we hope that the students understood the objectives and will always be ready to lend a helping hand to others. The healthy competition among the students, by trying to score more points and win the challenges has shown how competitive the students are and the (yet to be slowly discovered and developed) potentials the students have.

Thanks to the support from all the different teams for this Project and the enthusiasm of the students, the day went well with all groups of students being taken care of. It was great to work with the world’s greatest and we are definitely looking forward to an even better day tomorrow. And oh yes, we really hope that the student who got ‘rejected’ during the “Yes, BUT…” exercise didn’t take it too hard….

“I love you, can you be my boyfriend?”

“Yes, but I have got a girlfriend”

(Ouch! But I am sure they would understand that it was just an exercise, no hard feelings ya guys!)

Hey everyone!

Welcome to the SEALNet Project Laos blog. We’re currently located in Xieng Khouang, Laos. This is just a short filler post; over the next few days we’ll be putting up photos and entries about our experience here.

Till then!

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Ten new things I experienced today:

1. Having a really big bowl of pho for breakfast and discussing the merits of morning exercise while eating. Most productive breakfast ever.
2. Playing name games in a soccer field under the scorching sun with 32 Laotian students against a beautiful backdrop of hills, blue skies and white fluffy clouds.
3. Watching John explain evolution to the students using the word ‘biped,’ complete with ape-to-human dramatization and lots of good humor.
4. Enjoying a spontaneous talent show by the students who sang and danced for us, and by fellow SEALNet members who gamely provided a rousing rendition of Barbie Girl.
5. Leading a discussion about changing the world! The kids were really earnest about helping other people, and they all seem to have inherited Manophet’s passion for teaching English and spreading knowledge to others. One of them wanted to pass on what he learned from us to the younger kids who didn’t have a chance to attend our workshops.
6. Doing the chicken matrix dance. “Chicken matrix chicken matrix, going to die – piu! Going to die – piu! Bullet on the left, bullet on the right…never die never die never die never die!” My new favorite forfeit for group games.
7. Photo request by a student! He said it was his first time taking a picture with a foreigner and he wanted me to send him a copy of the photo.
8. Several power cuts to Manophet’s school due to a heavy thunderstorm, but luckily none happened when we needed to screen a movie. Very opportune timing.
9. Explaining words and phrases to a group of earnest students who thanked me every time I answered their questions. I was really impressed by their enthusiasm for learning and felt super appreciated.

Really hot chili goes super well with sticky rice, and the killer combination is totally worth the watery eyes and stinging throat.