All Posts by Editor

“SING FOR KIDS”

  All children are precious in this life but as a Vietnam veterans disabled Agent Orange children have a special place in all our hearts. Many Children in Vietnam are at a loss of many support networks that are available in Australia and New Zealand. Some months ago Sydney based Agent Orange Justice members

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MiVac Fundraising Concert

Children, grandchildren and friends of Vietnam Veterans are performing at a  concert in Hobart on Saturday, 30/11/13 which will raise funds for a project in Vietnam. Kate Mulvany is MC for the evening.  The daughter of a Vietnam Veteran, Kate has written over 20 plays including her award-winning autobiographical piece

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CELEBRATIONS IN BAN XAI, LAO PDR – Hugh Hamlyn-Harris

  We have had some celebrations in Ban Xai over the last week. On Friday 8th November, we were pleased to sign the certificate of Practical Completion for Phase two of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Lao government (Reduction of Poverty). The formalities of signing over, it was time

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Report from Terry Chang

Sorry this is late, I have been dealing with a good mate who has not long to live. He got sick with Cancer while I was away in Laos and the Docs have given him less than 2 weeks from today. I had the pleasure of working with John Salter

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A Sewing Venture in Ban Xai, Lao PDR

Last year I was fortunate to be able to represent MiVAC on a remote village site in Lao People’s Democratic Republic.  MiVAC’s mission in the region is to reduce poverty by establishing better water supply, toilets and hygiene practices. MiVAC also is promoting economic development by introducing villagers to new

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Wet and Shivering Children and Incinerator

It was the wet season in Xiengkhouang Province – raining almost daily and some days we couldn’t work. From Matt “Whilst building the toilets at Phoung Hor school one rainy day I noticed that all of the students were soaking wet and shivering. I asked why this was the case

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The Much Maligned Biodigester

  The purpose of the Biodigester is multidimensional. The one at Ban Xai was conceived before electricity was in the village so the main reasons were to provide methane gas for cooking and heating, to save firewood, to provide an alternative to having unhealthy smoke filled houses and to provide

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Changes in Staffing at Ban Xai

      There has been a number of changes in staffing at MiVAC’s Ban Xai project. Steve Carroll who was Projects Director and Projects Manager has been replaced by Rob Woolley as Projects Director (Rob is MiVAC’s Founding Director or Trustee) and by Michael Weibler as Projects Manager. You

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More input from Matt Pittendreigh

Fish Security MiVAC is experimenting with the density of fish that can be grown in an artificial environment – a concrete tank. We have a long way to go before we can pass on to the locals of how they can make money growing and selling fish. The fish that

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Matt Pittendreigh – A Ban Xai Volunteer.

     Water and Toilets for Pong Hor School   Matt Pittendreigh is a Military Engineer – a Sapper is a better name. He met Sandy MacGregor in his Combat Engineer Regiment just before his deployment to Afghanistan. Over a few beers in the canteen Sandy talked about MiVAC. When

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