Church World Service

In Laos, Global Ministries partners closely with ecumenical partner Church World Service. The CWS-Laos Office is based in Vientiane, the capital city. It has worked for over eight years in a fruitful relationship with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Laotian local provincial and central government departments in order to bring resources and programs to Laotian elementary schools.

The CWS program concentrates on aid to schools in remote, rural, mountain communities made up of ethnic minority populations. Global Ministries missionary, Xuyen Dangers, works actively with this program, organizing aid that allows elementary students to have access to story and text books; Lao musical instruments, such as drums for music classes; crayons, paints, and paper for art activities.

Local schools are also supplied with blackboards, chalk, waste paper baskets, gardening tools for vegetable-raising projects, tools for carpenter classes, materials to make looms for weaving classes, and sports equipment. For $300 a new elementary school library can be established, with bookshelves and books - over 80 such libraries have been set up. Some classrooms have been provided with a map of Laos for the first time. Other schools are served by 150 mobile libraries, which visit schools with 120 books to reinforce the children's reading and studying opportunities.

Some schools require more substantial aid in order to house their students during the week. Many students must come from great distances to school, and many students are orphans and have no homes to which they may return. Some schools have special after-school programs in skills training and child development activities. Church World Service also supports teacher-training institutes, which are situated locally, in order to train new teachers from the local communities who will return to those communities to fill the many positions open due to a lack of teachers. These programs also introduce creative teaching methods and include basic human rights education content and workshops.

Some 15,00 to 20,000 elementary school students have benefited by improved schools in Laos, thanks to Church World Service. However, there still are many needs and new communities to be helped. Global Ministries accepts special gifts, large and small, in order to expand this important work in Laos.