THE FAMINE: 2007

Laos - 2007 Famine focus country

The 2008 Famine will continue to fund projects in Laos - one of the world's poorest countries. How your support has helped so far:

October 2008 update

Food for Work program unites community
Mr Kieng’s expecting a great harvest
Beating hunger and improving village life

Food for Work program unites community

World Vision’s Food for Work program, supported by 40 Hour Famine funds, is uniting people and bringing hope to communities in Laos’ Khammouan Province.

Mr Bung, a father of four, said he started to have hope for his children the day he received the first bag of rice from World Vision.

It’s much easier for Bounta and her brothers to get to and from school using the new bridge and roads built through the Food for Work program.

“I was hopeless and did not know where to find food for my children. I have a small rice farm and I produce barely enough to help us pass this time of year,” said Mr Bung, referring to the annual planting season, when rice supplies run out.

Through the Food for Work program local families work together on projects that benefit the entire community. In return, each worker receives 6.5 kilograms of sticky rice per day for their family.

In total, Mr Bung received 110 kilograms of sticky rice for his work and this has made a huge difference to his family. Before, during the planting season, his children would become so weak from hunger that they often didn’t have the energy to go to school.

As most families here rely on farming, they do not have money to buy food from the market when supplies run low.

“We really appreciate the program,” added Mr Khampy, the village chief. “Normally, during this time of year I don’t see much happiness in the people in my village. I used to see only hunger everywhere.

“Things have changed since we started the Food for Work program in our village. People in the community are happy and enjoy working together. It not only brings food to us but it brings hope and sustainable development to our community.”

In the district where Mr Bung and his family live, four bridges have been built, 11 kilometres of road constructed around eight villages and many rice fields have been expanded.

“The Food for Work program helps us develop our community with our own hands and build unity in the community as well,” Mr Bung explained.

Mr Bung worked on the roads and helped build the new bridge across the local river. His daughter Bounta, 8, said that it’s now much easier for children to get to school and for people to travel in and out of the village.

“Now I have time to eat a meal at home and walk to school across new roads and my friends are talking about the new bridge in our village too,” said Bounta, a grade 2 student.

Mr Kieng’s expecting a great harvest

Mr Kieng’s sons are surrounded by the rice their family has received through the Food for Work program in Laos’ Khammouanne Province.

Funds raised through the 40 Hour Famine are helping farmers in Laos’ Khammouane Province to expand their rice paddies so that they can produce enough rice to feed their families all year round.

Through World Vision’s Food for Work program Mr Kieng, a father of three, has been able to plant extra rice seed this season and he is hoping for a bumper harvest of 900 kilograms.

Before, he struggled to produce just a small amount of rice that barely lasted his family until the following planting season. “My children were so hungry and it made me feel pain inside to see them that way,” Mr Kieng explained.

Mr Kieng and his family stand in the rice paddy fields which he hopes will yield a bumper harvest this season.

When he first heard about the Food for Work program, he said he thought it was a “gift from God”. Mr Kieng received 110 kilograms of sticky rice through the program in exchange for work to expand his rice paddy fields.

Now, Mr Kieng’s son Tar no longer misses out on school because of hunger. “I am so happy that I can go to school properly,” said Tar, who is in grade seven and wants to become a policeman when he finishes school. “My stomach is full and I can pay attention to my study.”

The entire community is involved in the program and there are plans to build new school buildings and hygienic toilets and to install water pumps in the coming months.

Beating hunger and improving village life

Mrs Thongmy’s son, Khamphun, eats rice for lunch after coming home from school.

As well as meeting food needs in poor farming communities, World Vision’s Food for Work program in Laos’ Khammouane Province is helping to improve everyday life through the construction of roads, bridges and other vital infrastructure.

Supported by funds raised in the 40 Hour Famine, this ongoing program is reaching out to families like Mrs Thongmy’s.

Mrs Thongmy, who has seven children, says the rice she is receiving as part of the Food for Work program is keeping her family going.

In the rainy season, from June to September, many families in her community run out of rice and don’t have money to buy food because farming in their only source of income.

During these months, Mrs Thongmy and her husband used to gather bamboo shoots in the forest that they can sell in the market. “We can buy four kilograms of rice with the money we earn, but the bamboo shoots are not always available,” she said.

“Fortunately, through the Food for Work program, I received 110 kilograms of sticky rice for my work on a bridge building project. I am so happy and the rice we received means so much to our life. We are able to feed our children,” adds Mrs. Thongmy.

Before the bridge was built, it was hard for people to travel in and out of the village, especially during the rainy season.

“We always wanted a bridge and new access roads but we had no ability to build them until the World Vision Food for Work program came to help empower us,” says the village chief, Mr Khampy.

Now, not only has travel gotten easier, but people have enough rice to feed their families during the rainy season.

“I am so glad that my family received rice through the Food for Work program,” said Viengsay, Mrs Thongmy’s son, who is in grade 2. “I know the rice helps me to have energy for school.”

Laos: The Situation

Children play outside their tiny home in a Lao village.

Home to 6 million people, it's one the world's few remaining communist states. People mainly live in rural villages, without access to basic facilities like clean water, healthcare, education and electricity.

Most families try to make a living from farming, but struggle to feed their kids. The land is rugged and the soil is littered with landmines and unexploded bombs left over from the war in neighbouring Vietnam.

Forty percent of all Lao kids under five are malnourished and half the population doesn't have access to safe drinking water. One in three people in Laos lives on less than $2.50 a day and education levels are among the lowest in East Asia. Only five percent of Lao children complete high school.

Famine funds are helping World Vision:

• Give children their rights by providing loans for income-generating opportunities like small-scale businesses and animal breeding programs so children can go to school (and not work in the fields) and have an improved standard of living
• Teach communities new farming methods to make the land more productive and viable in the long term
• Introduce modern tools and develop new varieties of seeds and animal breeding techniques that will mean families can have a balanced diet all year round
• Build dams to channel clean water through canals and pumps for irrigation, and dig wells to provide access to clean drinking water
• Teach families how to prepare nutritious and hygienic foods so that children are protected from disease.

The 40 Hour Famine is a community education and fundraising initiative of World Vision Australia.