Child Right in Action!

Xuyen Dangers – Laos

The big camp out for 5 centers supported by CWS on the weekend of 7, 8 May 2005 at Nahay was most memorable!  It was initiated, organized and facilitated by two youth of Donkoi after they returned from one year training from Mekong Youth Net program at DEPDC in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

Suny and Sengehanh, the two youth from Donkoi, returned to Laos on 29 March and immediately thought of this educational camp out for the youth of 5 centers: Donkoi, Nahay, Udomphone, Somsanga, and Tamamkhung.  Their plan was attended by 43 youth at Nahay forest on Saturday and Sunday 7 and 8 May 2005.

The most memorable event was the downpour rain on Saturday afternoon from 3 to 4 p.m.!  That did not prevent them from deciding to stay on for the real wet night.  They could have returned to Nahay Children Development Center, but they would not have had so much fun, because that evening the rain continued to pour down and it made it impossible for them to use their 7 homes made of leaves and branches.

The whole area only has a small shack and only the top floor was livable for cow tenders to nap.  But, 43 youth plus several adults squeezed into get some dry spaces.  They did not mind as 15 boys and 28 girls had a chance to stay up late and sing songs, chant poems, tell stories, and talk away until 2 a.m.  They apparently drifted off until 5 a.m. and were up ready for the nature walk!  They expressed that they had learned so much in such a short time:  house building competition, meditation lesson with a Buddhist monk, took a nature walk and learned about nature and its relationship with man, and shared experiences from each other and each center.

The rain seemed to never give up as on the way back to Nahay center around 3 p.m. on Sunday, it rained again.  It seemed that the nature made sure that we wouldn’t forget that we camped out to live with NATURE!

Xuyen Dangers
Social work supervisor
Donkoi Children Development Center
CWS Laos

Xuyen Dangers is a social worker in Laos/Vietnam.  She serves as a Social work supervisor of Donkoi child center and 5 other centers, Social work advisor, Faculty of Social Sciences, and the National University of Laos.