Youth projects
Since 2016 we have organised four youth projects bringing together French students and young Laotians to renovate elementary schools in the villages where we work. Built out of wood by the local people, some of the schools were built on bare earth, with broken doors, torn shutters and very precarious furniture. Several adjoining classrooms no longer had any internal partitions.
In partnership with the Carabins association in Tours (37), students at the François Rabelais University of Medicine, and the Union des jeunes du Laos (Laos Youth Union), we organised projects in 2016, 2017 and 2019. The programme included the renovation of 5 elementary schools in Phone, Phanob, Thong-Kham, Thad and Na Hom! The Carabins financed their own mission and work by themselves. It was a wonderful moment of sharing with the young Laotians, the villagers and ... the children! No missions were possible during the summers of 2020, 2021 and 2022 due to the global health crisis (international borders were not reopened until May 2022). A new youth work camp organized in October 2023 in partnership with the ESOL (Equality & Solidarity) association has just come to an end in the village of Vang Khon: eight young volunteers have transformed the village school with bright colors and superb wall drawings! A huge thank you to them all for organising so generously the distribution of school supplies, school bags and food before leaving the village!! In July 2025, five scouts from Laon are currently spending 3 weeks in Boualapha, repainting the school and organizing hygiene activities with the pupils! Pictures of their work coming soon!