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 Steve Carroll who was Projects Director and Projects Manager has been replaced by Rob Woolley as Projects Director (Rob is MiVAC’s Founding Director or Trustee) and by Michael Weibler as Projects Manager.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
Project News
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
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
The Ban Xai Annual Report – Sandy MacGregor
The Ban Xai Annual Report In June 2013 John Salter delivered MiVAC’s Annual Report to assembled representatives of Phoukood District and Xiengkhouang MoFA. The day started at the MiVAC Farm at Ban Xai where Yang gave a briefing of what had been achieved outside the farm. This was followed by
One Site of Making Jars and the North Vietnamese HQ – Sandy MacGregor
One Site of Making Jars and the North Vietnamese HQ Not far from Phonsavan my brother Chris and I hired Yang on a Sunday to do some site seeing. The first place we went to was one site where the Lao people made the Jars. They hewed them out
Tourism not far from Phonsavan – Sandy MacGregor
On the Sunday afternoon my brother Chris and I were taken past Ban Xai to the old CIA airstrip. During the war the CIA using Hmong and Thai forces operated from three airfields. The one in the town of Phonsavan, the current airstrip called Xiengkhouang and this one which
New Use For Minefield – Sandy MacGregor
New Use For Minefield The month was June – June 2013. It was late in the afternoon and Yang drove me past the Pong Hor school, past the Police Agricultural buildings and then I spied it. New Fences! That’s right the area around the Khangpunghor Minefield had been fenced. I
John Salter – Report on Fish Pond.
We are now dabbling in fish, sooo we dug a big hole! That leaked! Lined it with plastic, annnnd it still leaked!! Soooo we then put in a concrete base and rendered brick walls , annnd now it is ready for fish. So any readers out there who know what to
John Salter on Lao Bunnings and Rice Paddy’s.
BUNNINGS and RICE PADDY’S We call our local hardware shop Bunnings , only because it makes it easier to say than Sopthaineuthang. Now in Phonsavan there must be 50 Bunnings type shops, all selling the same range of goods. At one end, Cement, then reo rod (no mesh here you
Water Testing with IDEXX in Ban Xai
Water Testing with IDEXX in Ban Xai At the recent presentation of the MiVAC Annual Report John Salter – MiVAC’s Operations Manager in Phonsavan – told the gathering about the IDEXX equipment and what it could do. The next step was to tell the audience about the Ceramic Water Filter (CWF).