Lao Khang comes from a small village in Nonghet District in the rural north of Laos.
Like many of her classmates, she helped on the family farm, in addition to keeping up with her schoolwork as she was growing up.
At 13 years old, Lao Khang stopped going to school so that she could take care of her family as her father had fallen ill. “I couldn’t talk about what I wanted at that time,” she says.
In 2012, at age 20, Lao Khang was introduced to the world of sport through ChildFund Laos’ sport for development activities in Nonghet, taking part in the first pilot of what was to eventually become ChildFund Pass It Back.
Lao Khang learned about the sport of rugby, and seized the opportunity to be a part of something new that was engaging young boys and girls in her community. She began participating in rugby for leadership sessions held in the village, eventually becoming a Coach, which led to an internship with the Lao Rugby Federation (LRF).
For Lao Khang, one of the earliest participants in ChildFund Pass It Back, the experience has been life-changing.
A native Hmong speaker, she worked hard to improve her Lao language skills while also supporting LRF and ChildFund with coaching work in Vientiane, as well as organising rugby events and activities in Nonghet District.
As her rugby skills improved Lao Khang was also selected for the Lao Women’s National Team. Since 2014, she has represented her country at international tournaments in Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore including the 2014 Asian Games and the 2015 Southeast Asian Games.
In 2014, Lao Khang was awarded a Global Sports Development’s Athletes in Excellence Award. She is also the first person from Xieng Khouang Province to earn a World Rugby Coach Educator qualification and now helps lead World Rugby courses in Laos as well as helping with coaching courses in Vietnam.
Lao Khang says: “As a girl I was always very shy. Now I am a brave and confident young woman.
“Before I began playing rugby I only knew people in my small village. Now I have friends all around the world.
In 2018, Lao Khang was named by the BBC as one of its 100 most influential and inspirational women from around the world, chosen for their impact on their communities, while in 2019 , Lao was listed in Forbes 30 under 30 Asia Entertainment and Sports.
She remains a firm believer in the power of sport to change lives, especially children in developing communities Lao Khang says: “Rugby is an exciting way to educate children. When we play games, we teach children about things such as the importance of hand-washing, manners and respect for elders and friendship.”
And she is determined to see others benefit in the same way she has: “I want to help involve as many Lao girls and women from rural and remote communities as possible in rugby so they too can feel brave and strong.”
My father and mother are rice and groundnut (peanut) farmers. Neither one of them went to school. My mother got married around 18 years old and had six children, five girls and one boy, but one girl passed away. I am the youngest.
My two oldest sisters got married at 16 years old, and my brother was sent to live with a relative in Senegal to become a baker. My other sister was in school but dropped out when she got pregnant in grade nine because the school wouldn`t accept her anymore.
Until I was 12 years old, I stayed home all day and took care of my eldest sister`s baby. I wasn`t happy, since all the kids around me were going to school. I wanted to go to school because I could not speak English, so my mother finally allowed me to go to school. She advised me to do well in school. Sometimes she would cry in telling me this.
I was very focused on education because I kept hearing that education was the key to success.
Our school was lucky because ChildFund brought the Aflatoun (Children`s Club) program to us, which is a club where we get to together after to school to learn and play games. At our club I learnt about my rights. I liked going to Aflatoun, and I worked really hard and eventually was chosen as vice president by the teachers and students. In grade six, I was voted to become president, out of the 120 students in the group.
One day my father told me there was a man who wanted to marry me. He was much older, about 30 or more years older and already had a wife and a child. He was from another country and wasn`t educated. I did not want this. My father said the man would take care of me and pay for my school, and if I said no, I would no longer be his daughter, and he would take everything away.
He gave me three days to change my mind. The man tried to give me money to convince me, but I gave the money directly to my father and said I didn`t want it. I refused to take anything from that man. My mother couldn`t do anything to help me.
I continued going to school, and I was very sad. My teacher saw something was wrong with me, and eventually three teachers came to my house to see what had happened. They spoke to my father and learned that he was going to make me marry. They tried to convince him not to marry me off because I was doing so well in school. My father said he didn`t have any money to pay for school. The teachers and the local community organisation said they would support me. My father said that from now onward the teachers and God would be responsible for me.
With the support of my teachers, I stayed at home and finished sixth grade. ChildFund sponsored me to go into upper primary school by paying my school fees, and I went to live with another family.
I am in a good school, and I will be in eighth grade this coming year. My father is happy because he couldn`t pay school fees for me. He is a poor man, not a bad man, and he thought marrying me off was the only way that I could be taken care of.
My advice for other girls is that education is the key to success in life, and they should focus on education. Girls should be aware that many problems are caused by boys and sometimes even teachers, like sexual harassment. Girls should speak out to people and tell a teacher they can really trust.
Earlier this year, I was chosen to represent The Gambia at the Day of the African Child conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The sky really is the limit!
