Sop Oun Village School Playground Project in loas

Sop Oun village headman, Mr Oumphaeng, had this project in mind since 2014. It was becoming too difficult for teachers, mostly women, to make the school playground new after each rainy season. The villagers wanted to have permanent facilities and provide children with activities in the school grounds during free time and at the end of the day. Solidarasia asked different contacts working in the field of education in Laos. Most did not know where to buy this kind of equipment. The director of the youth center of Oudomsay was formal, we had to import them from Thailand and Vietnam. But, in the case of Sop Oun, the amount was too small and it would be too expensive. So we advised the headman to do the equipments on site. The village hired a welder. With pictures of equipment taken in Luang Prabang schools and even in Cambodia and Myanmar have permit the village authorities to give precise instructions to the welder. A project proposal has been sent to our travelers and it is our agent in France, the Association for Solidarity and Tourism “Vision du Monde”, which has enabled the realization of this project with 1490EUR. The village and the school participated with 110 EUR and provided all the labor work to help the welder and for installation. This has been so successful that some families of Sop Oun even ordered from this welder a swing for their home.

Thanks to the Sop Oun village school playground project, children now have permanent, safe, and engaging playground facilities, and the community strengthened its collaborative spirit.