Opportunity For All

Huaymouane Village is located in the eastern section of Khoua District. It is approximately 697 km north of the Room to Read Country Office in Vientiane, a 16.5 h drive from the capital.

Huaymouane Village is located in the mountainous areas in northern Laos and has 103 households representing a population of 845. The main ethnic group living here is the Lao Thung. The principal economic activity is farming, especially the planting of sugar cane and rice. The weather is generally mild all year round, with a cold w inter from December to March (low est temperatures are near zero degrees Celsius) followed by a dry season from April to May. The rainy season lasts from June to October. Houses are built primarily in the Lao Thung style and are made of wood, bamboo, and concrete. The village has a gravity feed water system but lacks toilets and electricity.

The Ho Chi Minh trail, part of which runs through Laos, was a major target for American bombs during the Vietnam War. As a result, many provinces in Laos were heavily bombed and/or covered with landmines. Phongsaly Province was less affected by the Vietnam War than some other provinces in Laos, but a certificate from the government certifying that all unexploded ordnance has been removed from the area is still required for all construction sites.

Huaymouane Village has a complete primary school. This means that it offers grades one through five as well as a kindergarten. The existing school serves pupils from two villages and has two buildings, one of which was sponsored by the Asian Development Bank and has two classrooms. The other building, made of wood and bamboo, with a grass roof, is poorly constructed. Funding for the latter building was provided by the villagers themselves. During the rainy season, the classrooms in this building cannot be used as they are soaked with rain and cannot protect the students from the severe cold.

The villagers are committed to doing everything they can to make sure that their children receive a good education and have a better future. They would like to partner with Room to Read and the local education authorities in the construction of a new school. This will be done by contributing labor and some construction materials. The villagers, teachers and pupils are very enthusiastic about having this new school and they have expressed their gratitude to Room to Read for the visit. They are looking forward to supporting this new school. The community is ready to meet the challenge grant and local government authorities have agreed to provide teachers for the new classrooms.

Construction of the Huaymouane Complete Primary School was started on December 4, 2011. It was co-funded by Room to Read Laos and the community of Huaymouane Village, with strong support from the Phongsaly Provincial Education Service, the Khoua District Education Bureau and government authorities. The building took eight months to complete with labor provided by volunteers from the community and the school was ready for use on September 1, 2012. The completed school, covering an area 8m wide x 28m long, is a sturdy brick structure erected on a concrete foundation, with steel-reinforced ground and roof beams and a green sheet metal roof supported on a hardwood frame. The building exterior has been painted a light yellow . Each of the four rooms is 6m x 7m in size and has a painted white interior, a wood ceiling, and windows with hardwood shutters. Three of the rooms are used as classrooms and the fourth room serves as the school library.