Ban Xai

Lao Culture- A Divorce Celebration.

Lao Culture- A Divorce Celebration. We, the volunteers at Ban Xai were invited to Yang’s sisters divorce celebration not knowing what to expect. The men and women are separated as the women prepare the meal and the men gather as the celebrant waves a handful of cotton threads over the

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Hmong New Year at Ban Xai

The weekend of 15/16th December is the Hmong New year.  No work is done in the Hmong Community from Thursday evening to Monday morning. They celebrate! Hugh, our site Supervisor, says “it was great to witness the Hmong community celebrating, with the girls of all ages wearing their colourful and

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Tasks for Group Volunteers

Tasks for Group Volunteers Since MiVAC has been at Ban Xai several humanitarian tasks have been identified that are not in the MiVAC MOU and therefore not in MiVAC’s Project Budget. The tasks still need being done to assist the people.  To facilitate this MiVAC can identify tasks and give

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The Lions Club of Terranora Lakes

  The Lions Club of Terranora Lakes   PRESS  RELEASE    Lion Peter Maroney from the Lions Club of Terranora Lakes is currently in Lao PDR assisting the MiVAC Trust in their efforts to improve the lives of the impoverished Hmong people of the village of Ban Xai, approximately 30 Klm

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German “TAFE” College in Phonsavan

German “TAFE” College in Phonsavan John Salter introduced me to this College – the “Integrated Vocational Education and Training School of Xieng Khouang” which is funded by  a German NGO and it is headed by a lady called Ingrid. The College teaches the following trades: Cooking, Carpentry, Electrical, Mechanical, Animal

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Briefing on Progress at Ban Xai

Briefing on Progress at Ban Xai Peder Pedersen from The Charitable Fund suggested that we start now in briefing the Villagers on what we are doing at the Model Farm at Ban Xai.  On Thursday 8th November Michael and Yang briefed a group of Local Villagers, Foreign Affairs and Phoukood District

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MOU Signing by Phoukood District

MOU Signing by Phoukood District The saga of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) commenced back in April 2012.  MiVAC thought that when the MOU was signed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in the Vientiane Government, that it was all finalised.  But … oh no ! This was when

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Donation of Educational Supplies

We (Sandy McGregor, Peter Maroney, Yang and I) arrived at the Ban Xai School (which can be easily seen from the Mivac site as it is “next door”) at 8am, only to be told by Yang that 8 am could really be 8.30am!  The School Director, Boar Hon arrived and

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School Desks and Chairs from Michael at HMP

School Desks and Chairs from Michael at HMP As you may know, Steve Carroll, when he was the Site Supervisor, built the new 2-room school at Hinmou Peung (HMP).  The purpose of this was so that the school could teach Years 1, 2, 3 and 4, so that 8 and

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