The collapse of a dam in Attapeu in July 2018 caused flash flooding into Khied’s small village in southern Laos and spread into neighbouring Cambodia.
At least 26 people reportedly died and more than 6,000 children and their families were displaced, seeking refuge in camps.
Khied’s family lost their home and everything they owned.
The ensuing 12 months have brought many challenges, but Khied says she has emerged stronger, thanks to ChildFund supporters and the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) which helped to provide vital relief after the floods.
“Among all the misfortune there have still been some really good things that have made me happy,” Khied says.
“I’ve never felt discouraged or cursed by fate as a result of the disaster. It has made me into a much stronger person in both body and mind.”
After the flooding, Khied was worried she would not return to school. Her family was homeless and her parents had no way to make a living.
The event had been traumatic.
After their home was destroyed, Khied was dragged out with her brother and sister by the force of the water, to the forest.
It was five days before they saw their parents again.
“During the flood, I told my sister and brother to hold onto a tree so we would not float away,” Khied said. “There was so much debris like roofs, and logs and rocks that hit us.
“I had to stay alert and take care of my brother and sister so they wouldn’t be scared.”
The siblings ended up on a mountain in the forest, where they stayed overnight.
The next day, Khied saw the extent of the devastation. Debris was floating everywhere and there wasn’t a house in sight.
“I could only hear the sounds of people, injured and crying,” she says.
“I tried looking for my parents and calling out for them, but I didn’t see them anywhere.”
They spent seven months at a displacement camp supported by ChildFund Laos, where the family received the help it needed to get back on its feet.
Khied was able to return to school and is now excited about finishing her studies next year.
She says the time she spent volunteering at a Child-Friendly Space at the camp has made her more confident about the future.
“I have learned to be more courageous, to participate more, and am better at sharing my thoughts and opinions,” Khied says.
“Part of that is that I’ve been able to attend trainings on how to implement activities through the Child-Friendly Spaces project.
“This has also allowed me to participate better and play a greater role in activities at my own school, especially dancing and playing sports.
“I even play on my school’s volleyball team.”
Khied is back in school and thriving thanks to ChildFund donors who helped her families following floods in Laos.
Around 20kms down a narrow, winding dirt road from the centre of Houameuang District, the village of Homsai is perched on a scenic green mountainside.
The people of this village are Hmong, and speak their own native language, with many people of all ages continuing to wear traditional Hmong-style clothing.
“One, two, three,” comes a small voice counting carefully in Lao from a new building near the village gates.
Here at the Homsai Village Early Childhood Education Centre, the four-year-old students are crouched in a circle, practising their Lao numbers by counting pictures of flowers.
Every day, a group of Homsai children between the ages of four and six come to study Lao language, numbers, and letters with their two dedicated teachers at the pre-primary school ChildFund Laos has helped construct in their village.
Although this is a school, not all of the learning is focused on literacy and numeracy, and much of the teaching occurs outside the classroom.
Making hand-washing fun
Six-year-old Tou eagerly rubs his hands together and watches his other teacher,
Ms Phetpawn, as she begins the demonstration.
She rubs her hands together deliberately, focusing on one surface at a time to ensure cleanliness.
“One, two, three, four,” she says, rubbing the backs of her left-hand fingers.
“One, two three, four,” for her palms, and then the sides of her hands, her fingertips, and every other potentially unclean surface.
The children follow suit, scrubbing their hands clean before finally
rinsing off the suds in the water.
Tou says that after learning this method of thorough hand-washing at
school, he even likes washing his hands in the same way when he is at home.
“Children love playing with water,” Ms Phetpawn says. “So for the kids, this is an activity they have a lot of fun with.”
Children in Laos are embracing good hygiene
Encouraging good dental hygiene
Luckily for these water-loving children, the hygiene training doesn’t
stop at hand washing.
After every child has had the chance to dry their hands on a towel, the
guided toothbrushing begins, and more than a dozen small yellow toothbrushes
start moving back and forth across rows of small pearly-white teeth.
“A lot of the children don’t learn such good hygiene skills at home,” Phetpawn says. “Some of them only get a bath a couple times a week, so we often give them a chance to bathe at school in the afternoons before they go home.”
The teacher’s promotion of good hygiene seems to be working.
Taking lessons from the classroom home
Tou says that he enjoys the opportunity to keep himself clean.
“I like that my hands are nice and clean after I wash them,” he says.
His favourite part, he adds, is getting to wash his face. He says that
doing the hygiene activities makes him happy.
In addition to being enjoyable for the students, Ms Mackee and Ms
Phetpawn believe that the work they do to promote good hygiene is very important
in terms of keeping children healthy.
“Children play in a lot of dirty places and like eating snacks, so their
hands can get pretty messy. We usually take them to wash their hands twice a
day, both in the mornings and in the afternoons,” Ms Phetpawn says.
Tou also makes an effort to keep himself clean when he is home.
The youngest of nine children, he explains that he and his brothers and sisters have soap and toothbrushes at home, and that they make good use of them to ensure they stay clean and healthy.
This project is supported by the Australian Government through the ANCP Program.
