Tha Thom District Narrative: Background

Tha Thom district is located in the southern mountains of Xieng Khouang Province. The province is one the most heavily bombed during the Indochina war. Similarly in 2007, Tha Thom was listed as one of the 47 poorest districts in the country.

At the beginning of the project most villagers were subsistence farmers growing rice in the mountains and in paddies, typically reaping only one harvest per year following the rainy summer months. During the monsoon pounding rains conditions for growing gardens were difficult. Villagers and farmers resorted to collecting numerous food stuffs from the forest. These products are known as Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs).

In 2007 Tha Thom district had one small clinic located in the district capital, Sibounheurang. The district hospital consisted of fifteen beds, 26 medical staff, 10 of them based in 5 area dispensaries.  Diseases mostly founded were diarrhea, mumps and fever.  Some villages had trained VHWs and TBAs, but not all villages.  Of the 28 recorded villages, 20 villages had access to clean water while 8 villages still used water from rivers or streams.  Only twenty percent of the population used wet latrines.

In 2009, Tha Thom received electricity though access via road continued to be difficult at best and only by army truck in certain times of the year. When Bounchan Khammoungkhoun and the project team first tried to move office supplies to the area in June 2009, it was a three day ordeal. One day trip from Vientiane to Phonsavanh and a two day trip from Phonsavanh to Tha Thom District.

In December 2012 a paved road was completed, along with bridges, over the Nam Xan and Nam Ngieb, linking Tha Thom together and to the outside world. Modern conveniences slowly began to arrive in many of the towns. Electricity, packaged food, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, internet and cell reception were almost available district-wide.

As Tha Thom developed rapidly and the quality of life for many villagers was improving, there were many challenges that targeted peoples’ livelihood, health and food security. At the beginning of the project, prior to the road being built, the district was covered by 75.45% forest. As cutting and transporting the massive jungle hard woods was easier, the virgin forest disappeared. It was feared that bio diversity decline would soon follow, directly impacting the local population who relied so heavily on the jungle for Non Timber Forest Products for food security. As this traditional way of life was being threatened communities set up conservation zones to try and protect swaths of land. However, the systems that were setup to protect these areas were often corrupt or non-functioning.

Another challenge not to be overlooked was the presence of unexploded ordinance (UXO) left by the Secret War. In order to safely work any land it was first cleared by expert teams using high tech equipment. This violent legacy of war hindered development efforts and impacted the food security of many in Tha Thom District and throughout the country.

Since Tha Thom was largely undeveloped during MCC’s first years working in Tha Thom, land was plentiful. This raised another challenging situation for many. As transportation opened up, the Government relocated villages and families into Tha Thom District because of the available land. This moved people closer to services and road access, but also put a strain on the receiving communities’ water supplies, and other resources. Land tensions also arose and deeper issues related to ethnicity caused discrimination to grow in communities that were becoming increasingly ethnically diverse.

Land concessions were also being granted to foreign companies and investors. Concessions allowed outsiders to utilize large tracks of land for minimal fees for a long period of time. Local communities had little say in the matter and did not often benefit, generally loosing land as a result. Land vulnerability would then lead quickly to food and livelihood insecurity.

Sangthong District Narrative: Background

Sangthong District lies 55 km northwest of Vientiane Capital, bordering the Mekong River and stretching northward. A portion of the district is in the lowland flood plain of the Mekong, with northern areas more mountainous.

Although Sangthong district is part of Vientiane Municipality, the characteristics of the district are similar to more remote areas. Pialat, the capital of the district is 65kms from Vientiane, two hours by road.

At the beginning of MCC’s work in Sangthong, many villages within the district could be accessed only by foot and/or by boat; therefore complicating development work in general but particularly related to health care. Outreach activities were often very difficult. At the same time patients who were in need of medical care could not always reach the district hospital.

In 2000 Sangthong district was the poorest district in the Vientiane municipality with poor infrastructure and limited electricity. Of the 22,500 people in the district, most were farmers, planting lowland rice with a significant number involved in shifting cultivation. Farmers were dependent on many variables: sunlight, rainfall, soil fertility and the price of seed; therefore any changes in the environment caused severe hardships often leading to bankruptcy.

Prior to the start of the project, medical care standards in the district hospital and at the dispensaries were very poor and substandard. Infrastructure was also so poor that areas, such as the operating room, could not guarantee a sterile environment even for minor procedures. Staff had not been given any refresher training and lacked essential equipment. As a result, patients had no faith in the services and generally went to Thailand or Vientiane for treatment if they could afford it.

At the village and sub-district level, people had little understanding about the causes of diseases and how they themselves could prevent common diseases. Most people used traditional medicine rather than consulting medical staff, while this could be appropriate in some cases, in other cases it delayed necessary medical treatment while the patient’s condition deteriorated, often becoming serious.

Traditional birth attendants provided a basic level of health care for pregnant women, and a few villages had health workers who could educate on a variety of problems, not just issues related to pregnancy and reproductive health.

The district was the recipient of an influx of ethnic minorities from uplands, mostly from the Northern part of Laos. Upon arrival in a new area, these populations typically lived in marginal locations, geographically and socially removed from village life and those systems which were designed to service of basic needs such as education, village health activities, etc. These relocated communities and households often faced difficulty finding enough land and enough capital to invest in their income generation activities.

In 2000 Sangthong District was primarily comprised of Lowland Lao, with a small minority population of Kh’mu who were generally concentrated in house clusters on the outskirts of Ban Gua, Ban So, Ban Hoi Dtom. There were two exceptions to this: Ban Vangma and Ban Hoi Kham. Ban Vangma was a largely Kh’mu village, who had recently received a large influx of Red Thai from Luang Prabang Province. Ban Hoi Kham was a government-resettled village of Kh’mu, Black Thai and Red Thai.

According to the 2005 census information, the average resident of Sangthong lived on $1.35 per day, with significant disparities between lowland and upland villages. The economic sector was poorly developed, with few cash crops apart from rice. Due to easy access to Thailand, much of the produce sold in Sangthong was imported from Thailand, having a dual negative impact on local economy in terms of removing much needed capital from the areas, and also decreasing the demand for local goods.

Global Family: School Kit Program in Sangthong District 2003 – 2013

2006

This project provided school kits for children so they were able to stay in school for three years and hopefully finish primary school.

Through this project MCC learned how difficult it was for village families to make education a priority. Some families were unable to send their children to school because they could not afford the uniform, shoes, textbooks, notebooks and other supplies. Often children were pulled out to help with family income generation chores such as planting or harvesting rice and herding animals.

2009

This project supported poor students by providing yearly school kits (including school uniforms, school bag, pens, pencils, notebooks), bicycles for students traveling long distances, as well as schools through workshops, sports equipment, and school supplies/desks.

In 2007 many new families moved into the Sangthong area. Some families planned to settle in the district, but others were in transition. It was difficult to know whether supplying a transitory family with school kits would be a factor in encouraging them to settle in the community. MCC was interested in supporting transitory families with school kits if it would help them stay and keep their children in school. Manivone, District Education Office, gathered information from the director of each school and village chiefs and determined which families MCC should help support.

August 2012

While planning for the 2008-09 school kit distribution, staff discussed whether to order uniforms from MCC’s partner Lao Disabled Women’s Development Centre (LDWDC) or to buy them from the local market. LDWDC charged a significant amount more that market prices, but provided business to the women who worked there. In the end a compromise was made. Each child received one uniform from LDWDC and one from the market. This way the Centre was supported and there was enough money in the budget to pay for textbooks, pencils, etc.

MCC Staff member Soy Phommixay receives a duck from a Sangthong student. 2006

Research from MCC’s agriculture and health projects working in the district suggested that there were many poor families who were not receiving support from the GF program. After confirming this by visiting the villages noted, MCC requested and received an additional $1500, which allowed them to support more than 200 children for 2008-09 as opposed to 134 children previously August 2009. Teachers observed that students attended school regularly and payed more attention in studying. They suggested that the project should continue, especially for the poorest.

Manisone and Wendy look into a Sangthong classroom

MCC staff were moved by the response from students and families who were sponsored. The people MCC was helping were poor and while they may have extra produce certain times of the year, much of the year they do not have enough. Yet families and students wanted to show their appreciation by giving pumpkin, coconut or taro root. MCC staff, Manisone Siriphoka and Wendy Martin commented, ‘We have lots to eat and get good salaries. How do we respond to the generosity of our students?’

As MCC staff visited the communities where Global Family students lived, they witnessed just how much difference a package of school supplies with a value of approximately $40 could bring to the life of a child and to their family. It was a reminder that even small and simple projects like this one could have a real impact on the beneficiaries.

Global Family: Phialat After School Program 2002-2007

Paul and Kirsten Baynham, MCC volunteers in Sangthong District, noticed that the children had very few things to do after school and found a way to help children find wholesome, challenging and interesting things to occupy their time. This was an opportunity to build the capacity of both students and teachers in the school.

dancers at Phialat School, 2003

The goal was to have wholesome activities to occupy student’s times after school. At the end of the program 11 teachers had led 227 students participating in after school activities. In joining these activities, the children had fun; but they also increased their skills in storytelling, drawing, traditional dance, weaving and environmental protection. The teachers also gained more experiences in working with children.

The after school program worked with Dong Koi School, inviting trainers to come to Phialat and also planning joint student activities and sharing experiences.

The Phialat After School Program matured into the School Kit Program in Sangthong District.

Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Project

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From the earliest days of MCC’s presence in the Lao PDR, addressing the problem of unexploded ordnance (UXO) left from the more than seven million bombs and anti-personnel “bomblets” dropped by the US during the nine year air war, was of primary concern.  At the time following the bombing it was reported that not a single structure was left standing in Xieng Khouang province.  Due to the heavy burden of war on Xieng Khouang province, it was the target area of the first MCC projects in the Lao PDR and MCC workers felt it necessary to engage in projects to reduce the ongoing damage caused by unexploded bombs and bomblets as much as possible.  Of particular concern were tennis-ball sized anti-personnel cluster bomblets or “bombies” which could explode in a spray of steel pellets when struck by a hoe, when a fire was lit in close vicinity or when played with by unwitting children.  It was discovered that plows drawn by buffalo and shovels were safer ways of working the earth than with the traditional style hoe.  MCC contributed both many buffalo and shovels to farmers in the province over more than a decade as inquiries to the US government about effective “bombie” disposal went unanswered.

Fred Swartzendruber tests the MCC bombie beating tractor in Xieng Khouang Province, Laos. (MCC Photo/Jan Swartzendruber) 1980-1985

In 1979 the Lao government gave MCC permission to obtain a shielded tractor with chain flails on the front to detonate the cluster bombs, the first serious “bombie” removal effort.  Unfortunately, the flail system of the tractor was only able to detonate a third of the “bombies” encountered during initial runs.  Using the tractor to plow the land, bringing the bombies to the surface where they could be disposed of by other means proved more effective, if not efficient or safe.   In 1985, Xieng Khouang provincial authorities announced that they had found a safe and effective method of disposing of the “bombies” and MCC provided a vehicle, metal detectors and other equipment for the project. Finally, in 1986 12 hectares of land were cleared for the site of a UNICEF sponsored school complex.    The progress, however, was slow, even as US trained bomb removal experts were sponsored to give bombie disposal training in the province.  In 1993 MCC made contact with the UK based Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and in May a specialist came to assess the Xieng Khouang UXO removal team.  It was found that the methods being used were neither as efficient or safe as had been touted, and MAG voiced interest in becoming involved in UXO disposal in the province.  The government of the Lao PDR approved a two year project with MCC remaining the “project-holder” for the Xieng Khouang UXO removal efforts while MAG was the implementing partner.  In the first year alone, more than 4,000 ordinance were destroyed.   By May of 1996, however, MCC narrowed its involvement in the unexploded ordinance program with MAG taking over the project and MCC shifting its focus to UXO awareness raising.

a group of bombies

That same year, MCC began supporting the War Victim’s Medical Assistance Fund, started by Consortium.  The fund paid for the medical costs of those people in Xieng Khouang who were injured by bombies and other munitions but who were unable to pay for treatment themselves.

MCC’s UXO education efforts in Vieng Xai also continued as part of the Integrated Rural Development Project.  MCC supported all Vieng Xai District Primary School teachers in a training in effectively using the UXO curriculum (developed by the Xieng Khouang Department of Education and Consortium).  In addition schools were supplied with teacher and student manuals for each class in the district.   MCC further developed materials for bombie awareness education and MCC staff support villagers to recognize UXO and to understand the dangers of tampering or playing with these weapons.  Children were especially targeted by this program as they were so often the victims of bombies.

Integrated Rural Development Project (IRDP) in Phongsaly and Houaphan – 1993 to 2000

In 1992 MCC did an evaluation of its program in the Lao PDR which confirmed what MCC country representatives had long maintained: MCC should be looking at projects that integrated all areas of development in village communities with a focus on the long-term and the sustainable. In 1993 MCC proposed working jointly with local governments to implement such projects in Samphan and Vieng Xai, two districts in which the organization had a long history of working.  The government approved the Vieng Xai site, but Mai district of Phong Saly was chosen over Samphan, as access to the villages in the latter was considered too difficult.  Four villages in each district were selected and initial projects included family gardens, contour hedge farming, clean water systems and teacher upgrading.  By the end, the project was implemented in 16 villages in Mai district and 13 villages in Vieng Xai.

The Integrated Rural Development Project (IRDP) started with the goals of improving the quality of life in the target villages, and developing the capacity of district government counterparts to give them the skills and experience to carry out a planned and systematic integrated development program.  Quality of life issues were broken down into food security, basic health care and accessible basic education.  Since the inception of the IRDP project, MCC staff also undertook projects to improve women’s development.

A variety of activities supported increased food security in villages from family gardens to small animal loans to addressing the problems in insufficient rice production.  MCC applied the experience gleaned from alley cropping projects in Xaignabouli Province to encourage farmers in IRDP villages to use this alternative farming method.   Experimenting with and extending higher yielding upland rice varieties decreased the period of rice shortage for many families in the project areas.  Water availability, another difficulty with highland agriculture, were addressed through irrigation systems in many of the villages.  While not directly improving food security, rice banks established in project villages allowed farmers to focus their attentions on rice production during the planting season.

Women in Vieng Xai, 1999

The IRDP started fruit tree nurseries in both districts which produce and distribute seedlings to farmers.  In 1999 the Vieng Xai nursery produced 5,000 sweet plum, orange, pomello and longan seedlings.  Training in grafting and fruit tree propagation was also made available to interested farmers.

Loans were extended to villagers at every IRDP location to purchase chickens and pigs, and trained village veterinary workers educated loan recipients on caring for their animals.  Animal vaccines were made available to villagers at reasonable prices through revolving funds set up by IRDP.  Loans for fingerlings to stock fish ponds were also given to villagers.

Health and hygiene improved in all of the project villages since the beginning of the program.  Like agriculture, the IRDP health initiatives were multifaceted.  Clean water systems, usually in the form of wells or gravity fed systems which bring water from higher elevations, formed a corner stone of the health project.  Provision of safer water was one of the key elements in the decline of disease in most project villages.  Building proper latrines in project villages also contributed to disease prevention.

At least two village level health workers were trained per village and primary health education and sanitation activities are centered around these workers.  It was the village health workers task to motivate villagers to drink clean water and maintain general cleanliness.  Many of the villages were fenced to prevent animals wandering into residential areas due to awareness raising by village health workers and the practice of medicating mosquito nets has proved effective in reducing the rate of malaria in some villages.  Village health workers also maintained revolving drug funds.  MCC donated chests of medicine that were distributed to villagers at reasonable cost.  The health worker then bought medicines to replace those purchased.  The revolving funds were designed to make reasonably priced drugs locally available.  Supporting the district health team immunization, birth spacing, and malaria programs was another important part of the health program.  In some project villages, immunization coverage of children and women of child bearing age was almost 100%.  Awareness of the importance of vaccination also increased.  District health officials educated villages about birth spacing, but with varied acceptance.

Mai District 1999

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mobile library (2000)

Prior to the IRDP, children, especially girls, in many project villages had little opportunity to study.  Education has been made a project priority with the IRDP providing tin sheeting and concrete flooring while the villagers provided wood and labor to build schools in more than half of the project villages.  In some villages, books were provided for students in the first two grades on the revolving fund model.  Students rented books at half of the purchase price when they begin studying and if the book was damaged by the end of the year they had to pay the other half.  With the money earned from book rental, new books could be purchased after a few years.  Through cooperation with Church World Service, MCC also organized workshops to upgrade teachers skills and initiated creative after-school programs.  Trainers demonstrated the use of local materials and new teaching methods to make learning more interesting for the students.

In several project villages, non-formal education programs were initiated. IRDP provided a training for the instructors as well as books for the classes.  In some villages, kerosene lanterns to accommodate night classes and stipends for the teachers were given as well.  Class subjects ranged from adult literacy to agriculture, animal husbandry and village sanitation, and were very popular among the villagers.  Adult literacy in particular benefited village women who often hadn’t had the same educational opportunities as the men.

In more recent years, IRDP made particular efforts to develop women in the project communities.  Villages were encouraged to include women in the development decision making process, and gender awareness trainings were held in some of the communities. Income generating activities sought to support and strengthen women’s management skills.  The focus of these activities revolved around development of silk production and weaving skills.  Villagers acquired new techniques and higher quality mulberry seedlings to produce improved silk received at the Phonsavanh Sericulture Training Center.  One family from Ban Nasa, the first IRDP family to join such a training, was recognized throughout Houa Phan province as a model family for high quality silk production.   Workshops were also held in natural dyeing, quality control, color matching and other skills important in making weaving more marketable both inside and outside of the Lao PDR.  Development of traditional weaving skills gave women and their families an important source of income.

Training was a central part of the IRDP.  All the sectors of the Integrated Rural Development Program: agriculture, health, education and women’s development, depended on well trained and dedicated village volunteers.  The project dedicated much time to the training of these committed people. Just as important to the projects, however, were well trained district government counterpart staff and MCC staff. District counterpart and MCC staff benefited from study tours to Thailand,  Bangladesh, and Vietnam in order to raise understanding of development processes in the region; and workshops on subjects ranging from upland agriculture, health, education, to project management and gender awareness strengthened their skills and knowledge.  While material aid was an important part of MCC’s work in the Lao PDR, trained development workers was a resource that would provide far greater benefit to the Lao people in the long term.  MCC believed and still believes that this capacity building will be the longest lasting legacy of its work in the Lao PDR.

Narrowing Focus and Building Capacity

During the mid 1980s MCC had projects in 11 of the Lao PDR’s 16 provinces, and it was felt that the material resources were being spread too thinly to be able to see a real difference in individual communities.  By the late 1980s MCC was trying to narrow its focus.  There were two aspects to this shift.   MCC began looking for projects that integrated many aspects of development in fewer locations.  It also began initiating projects involving expatriate volunteers working beside local workers to help the Lao people develop skills in their respective fields.   These projects moved away from material development and focussed on capacity building.

Janette Shellenberger, MCC’s health education expert, demonstrates first aid techniques for teachers during workshops to introduce the health curriculum. (1989-1993)

The Health Education Curriculum Development program, a joint program between MCC, Save the Children Fund UK and the Lao government, combined material assistance with capacity building.  Six educators from the Ministry of Education were selected and participated in a three month training in Solo, Indonesia during 1989.  In June 1990 Janette Shellenberger, a health-education expert, arrived in the Lao PDR and began working with the chosen committee to create a program to teach basic sanitation and healthcare in the national school system.   A pilot was created and tested, the curriculum was revised and books were finally printed by the end of 1992.  Two workshops were held to introduce the new materials to teachers and the curriculum was introduced during the 1993 school year.

A well digging team, started in 1991 as part of a community-based primary health care project in Outhompone district of Savannakhet, has an audience of novices as they work. (1990-1992)

In 1990 MCC also initiated a community-based primary health-care project in the Outhomphone district of Savannakhet.  Jim Kurtz, a public health nurse, arrived in November of that year.  The first phase of the project was a clean water initiative, and a well digging team was trained and started their work during 1991.  By 1992 the well digging team was capable of digging a well a week and by the end of the year phase one was considered a success and a malaria prevention program was begun in 1993.

Highlighted are Xaignabouli Province in green, left red is Samphan district, right red is Vieng Xai district, and in blue is Outhomphone district

A large variety of micro-projects in the same vein as those undertaken during  the early eighties were supported in various provinces across the country into the 1990s.  However, MCC became increasingly concerned with long-term development planning beyond relief initiatives.  This shift was apparent in agriculture projects as MCC looked at sustainable alternatives to “slash and burn” swidden farming in highland villages.  Alley cropping, a method in which narrow hillside plots are bordered by “nitrogen infusing” plants; making growing crops on steep mountainsides sustainable was introduced in Xaignabouli province.  Other agricultural projects and health initiatives were implemented in villages throughout the Lao PDR, but it slowly became clear that Samphan district in Phong Saly Province and Vieng Xai district of Houa Phan were becoming focal points of MCC support.

The Start of an Enterprise

In 1989 Self-Help Crafts (now known as Ten Thousand Villages), MCC’s fair-trade organization, came to look at the purchasing Lao handicrafts to sell at its stores in North America.  Lois Foehringer introduced the Self-Help Crafts representatives to Phon Tong Handicraft Cooperative, headed by Komaly and Nulieme Chanthavong.  This began a long term relationship between the two organizations.  Textile and bamboo craft items have been ordered from Phon Tong and shipped to North America every year since 1990.  Komaly has visited Self Help Craft offices in both Canada and the US and Self Help Crafts personnel have visited Phon Thong on numerous occasions.  Through Phon Tong, Self Help Crafts has been able to provide additional income for rural Lao familes.

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When Komaly and Nulieme started the Phonsevanh Sericulture Training Center in 1995 it was an attempt to breathe new life into the Lao silk production industry. MCC contributed by providing equipment and supplies for the training center and funds to assist in covering the costs of the trainings.  In 1999 MCC also supported their center in expanding trainings to include cattle raising. Since then MCC has continued to support the Phonsavan center training efforts and Komaly and Nulieme have lent their expertise to MCC projects.

Increasing Project Areas

In 1983 MCC started involvement in Pha Tok and Nong Bia handicap villages, working with veterans that had been injured during the war, and Pak Leum leprosy village in Luang Prabang.  For MCC, work in these villages represented a first step towards taking an integrated approach to improving the lives of people in a given village.  Health concerns were addressed through a clean water system and medicines.  Sewing machines and blacksmithing tools were provided for income generation.  The villagers received cattle and other animals to breed and raise for food.  It was hoped this aid would allow the village to become self-supporting.

The Agricultural and Junior High Teacher Training School projects continued to expand and were some of MCC’s primary projects in the late 1980s and into the early 1990s.    MCC added teacher training schools in Vientiane, Champasak and Oudomxay to the list of original facilities and assistance was given to additional agricultural schools in Vientiane, Sayaboualy, Oudomxay, Khammouane and Saravane.  In the first few years, considerable aid was put into the construction of class rooms and dormitories. Other early aid included blankets, mosquito nets, cooking utensils, sports equipment and other basic necessities of a boarding school.  MCC also supported larger projects at these schools, such as clean water systems, rice mills and electrical generators. Equally important were the textbooks and teaching materials that were contributed by MCC.  The Oudomxay Junior High Teacher Training School was an especially important project for MCC as it provided teachers for three of the poorest and most isolated provinces in the Lao PDR, and it became a focal project.

Mill construction in 1987

To further aid the education of children in these impoverished northern provinces MCC distributed 30,000 sets of school supplies, donated by families in North America, to students in Oudomxay, Phong Saly and Luang Namtha provinces in 1985.

As rivers and waterfalls are a plentiful and renewable resource in the Lao PDR, MCC was eager to pursue a micro-hydro power project in the country. Titus Peachey went to Nepal to study the uses of water power there, and returned with a proposal to initiate two micro-hydro-power projects in the Lao PDR.   Allen Inverson, a water resources expert, was invited to do a survey of potential project sites in 1986 and locations in Champasak and Luang Prabang where chosen for two mechanical power plants.  Work started on the Champasak plant in 1987 and in Luang Prabang the following year, with both plants at work milling rice for the local people in 1989.

David Merchant and Lois Foehringer replaced Peacheys as country co-representatives in 1986.  During their first year, MCC started addressing the problem of leprosy in the Lao PDR.  Working closely with the National Dermatology Clinic in Vientiane, MCC assisted in translating and printing two booklets on foot care for leprosy victims.  Support for the Pak Leum leprosy village was extended to include cotton cultivation and weaving as further income generating projects as well as protective footwear and medicines.  However, the country representatives were aware of MCC’s limitations in dealing effectively with the leprosy problems in the Lao PDR.  In 1987 The Leprosy Mission was invited in to assess the problem.  This trip later led to a full time presence in the Lao PDR of personnel of The Leprosy Mission International.

Assisting Lao Efforts

Throughout its history in the Lao PDR, MCC has been concerned with strengthening the abilities of the people so that they can develop their own communities without the involvement of outside organizations.  Titus and Linda Peachey arrived as MCC Laos country co-representatives in 1981, and in their initial years focussed on education.  In 1982 MCC started supporting agricultural schools and Junior High Teacher Training Schools around the country.  Initial support for these schools in Houa Phan, Xieng Khouang, Savannakhet and Luang Prabang provinces included dormitory and kitchen supplies, as well as seeds and garden tools to allow these schools to grow their own food.

Under the Peacheys’ leadership MCC became involved with health projects for the first time.  In 1982 MCC agreed to help develop the health system in Savannakhet province.  The provincial level hospital received medicines, basic equipment and medical books that first year.  In subsequent years MCC helped start small village level health centers and aided district hospitals with medicines and materials.  Xeno District Hospital received a new water system and were able to build a surgical bloc and delivery room with assistance from MCC.

MCC was also instrumental in the translation and printing of the health manual “Where There is No Doctor” in the Lao language.  This book, which gives easy instruction in how to diagnose and treat common ailments for areas without access to the formal healthcare system, was sponsored by UNICEF and Save the Children Fund UK along with MCC.   Printing of this book was completed in 1987 and it was distributed to nine different provinces at that time.