Laos parks & museums visit - travel journal
Every time a customer books one of our vacations and opts in to our Trip for a Trip scheme, we organise a day trip for a disadvantaged young person somewhere around the world to see their local tourist sites, often for the first time.
Responsible Travel customers are helping disadvantaged children who attend an outreach and prevention team called Peuan Mit to visit parks and museums in Laos, often for the first time in their lives.
Our latest trip in Laos - 24th December 2019
Peuan Mit took a group of 40 children (22 girls) aged 7-13 on an excursion to Kaysone Phomvihane museum and Xiengkhouane Buddha Park. They were from Phone Tong Primary School. The children were accompanied by 3 Peuan Mit social workers and 4 public school teachers and led by a driver from Buffalo tours. One child said this about their day: "It was so much fun today with my friends and Peuan Mit social workers! Thank you for this New Year gift!" We have worked with our partner Friends International to devise this trip for children who attend disadvantaged communities in the Laos area. These communities include: Phonthong, Maisaysomboun, Ladkhuay, Chansawang, Ban None Sahad and Ban Khok Noy.
The children from these communities study in grade 4 and 5. Peuan Mit outreach and prevention team has worked with these children and their families directly in their communities since 2010 and 2014, to prevent more children from resorting to street work. The outreach and prevention activities consist of advocacy against neglect and abuse, information dissemination about safe behaviour and support in access to education, vocational training, and other services to build their futures, like life skills. Some of the communities are located around 20-30km from the city and close to the dump site. Some of the families engage in working on the dump site.
SAMPLE ITINERARY OF LAOS PARKS & MUSEUMS VISIT:
What the children do:
8-9am: The Buffalo Tours bus arrives at the village to pick up the children and teachers at the school and then start the tour at around 9:20am. During the bus trip our social workers introduced themselves and so did the children and teachers. They also entertained children by organising games, telling stories, asking questions, singing songs and provided information about each site they are going to visit. They are also provided some snacks.
10:20am: The bus arrives at the Buddha Park, Dinosaur Park or Kaysone Phomvihane Museum.
Buddha Park itinerary: The children spend around an hour looking around all the huge statues. The children always look excited and happy to see so many different types of statue. After visiting the Buddha Park, the group move to Inpeng Ethnic Cultural Park to enjoy lunch in a nice setting surrounded by trees. Sometimes the children may visit Buddha Park in the afternoon rather than the morning.
Dinosaur Park itinerary: Alternatively, we sometimes visit Dinosaur Park where the children learn about the different kinds of dinosaur and the discovery of dinosaurs in Savannakhet, in Laos. Everyone is always very excited to see and learn about the dinosaurs and can't believe that they existed in Laos.
Kaysone Phomvihane Museum itinerary: The staff at the museum are very welcoming and supportive. The children stay there for around an hour and discover the history of former president Kaysone Phomvihane who led the fight for Lao revolution. After visiting Kaysone Museum, the group usually has lunch at “Let’s Eat”, Peuan Mit’s training restaurant. After lunch and some guessing games, the group sometimes visit Vat Sisaket which has impressive architecture from 1800s. It is also well known for its walls housing thousands of tiny Buddha stupas, more than 6,000 in total made from wood, stone and bronze. The children also usually visit Wat Phakeo, another emblematic pagoda in Vientiane. It was once the royal temple when Laos was still a monarchy. After visiting and learning about Lao’s architecture and culture they go on to visit Souphanouvong Museum.
1:30-2:15pm: The bus arrives at Souphanouvong Museum. The group will receive an introduction from one of the museum’s staff, and spend one hour on a tour, learning about the history of Prince Souphanouvong who was the figurehead President of Laos from December 1975 to August 1991.
2:30pm: If not visited earlier on in the day, the group moves forward to Kaysone Phomvihane museum. The staff at this museum are very welcoming and supportive. They stay there for one hour and discover the history of former president Kaysone Phomvihane who led the fight for Lao revolution.
3:40 - 4pm: After visiting the museum, the group heads back to their communities and the Peuan Mit social workers continue their activities in the bus with a singing competition and Q&A on life skills. The winner receives hygiene materials, such as a toothbrush, soap or shampoo. The hygiene materials are part of the contribution from other Peuan Mit donors to the mobile school.
Impact:
This excursion has been very successful. Not everyone has visited these locations before, especially Kaysonphomvihan Museum and Kayson Phomvihan Museum, both important historical places. The children understand the difficulties our leaders and ancestors had to go through to build a better future for new generations. They also learn and acknowledge the history by experiencing and discovering new places. Being in a different environment to their classrooms has facilitated their understanding.
Quotes from the children
"Even though former president Kaysone Phomvihane has passed away, when I hear his story it makes me want to be a good example by trying my best at school and being a good child to my parents"
"This is my first time to enter a museum, there are so many things to discover inside! Learning about the history of our country was also very interesting and makes me proud of my country."
"I am really happy to have been to the park and take pictures with my friends, we are going to show the pictures to our school".
"I want to thank my teachers and Peuan Mit staff for making me discover so many new places. I hope we can do this more often and discover more other nice places in Laos."
"I have never seen as many huge statues as at the Buddha park, and I have learned more about history of both former presidents."
"I am so happy and proud to be able to learn more about the history, we visited the most beautiful images."
"It was very fun today as I could play some games, sing songs and other activities. I want to attend this kind of activity again."
"We made a plan to wear school uniform which felt more polite and smart, and is better clothes for us to visit the museum in."
"I climbed up to the cave, it was quite high so I was a bit worried before but the view was so beautiful after I reached the top."
"I am very proud of myself that I can have a chance to visit many interesting places during my school vacation.”
“The Buddha park is a new place for me, I have never been because it’s far from my village and normally I would have to pay the entrance fee which I can’t afford. It was very interesting.”
“I entered the huge pumpkin statue and climbed to the very top. The view over the Buddha park was amazing, but it was really high so I was also a bit afraid. Thankfully I was not alone, and got support from PM social worker and my friends”
"I had a great day today, my friends encouraged me to participate in singing songs in the bus. It was my first time singing in front of so many people, I was shy and proud at the same time."
Other trips that we have run in Laos:
20th November 2019
On this trip a group of 40 children (28 girls) aged 7-12 were taken on an excursion to Kaysone Phomvihane museum and Xiengkhouane Buddha Park with Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos). They were from Saysomboun Primary School. The children were accompanied by 2 Peuan Mit social workers and 4 public school teachers and led by a driver from Buffalo tours. One child said this about their day: "I took plenty of pictures that I will show my parents when I get back home. It was such a fun day!"
6th November 2019
Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos) took a group of 40 children (25 girls) aged 7-12 from Ladkhouay Primary School on an excursion to visit Kaysone Phomvihane museum and Xiengkhouane Buddha Park. The children were accompanied by 2 Peuan Mit social workers and 5 public school teachers and led by a driver from Buffalo tours. One child said this about their day: "I learned today that Kaysone Phomvihan used to work in a cave, he is really courageous!"
23rd October 2019
On this trip a group of 40 children (25 girls) aged 7-12 were taken on an excursion to Kaysone Phomvihane museum and Xiengkhouane Buddha Park with Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos). They were from Ban Phoukham Primary School. The children were accompanied by 2 Peuan Mit social workers and 5 public school teachers and led by a driver from Buffalo tours. One child said this about their day: "This is my first time visiting Xiengkhouane Buddha Park, I have only seen pictures of this park and today my dream came true! It is even more beautiful than I imagined."
11th September 2019
Today a group of 40 children (23 girls) aged 7-12 were taken on an excursion with Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos). They were from Ban Phoukham Primary School. The children visited Kaysone Phomvihane museum and Xiengkhouane Buddha Park. The children were accompanied by 3 Peuan Mit social workers and 2 public school teachers and led by a driver from Buffalo tours. One child said this about their day: "Today was such a fun day with all my class mates. We played many games and learned about the history of Laos. I hope Peuan Mit will organize more outings like this in the future."
25th August 2019
Today a group of 40 children (14 girls) aged 7-18 were taken on an excursion with Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos). They were from Peuan Mit’s Transitional Home. The children visited Souphanouvong museum, Kaysone Phomvihane museum and Xiengkhouane Buddha Park were accompanied by 2 Peuan Mit social workers and led by a driver from Buffalo tours. One child said this about their day: "I had so much fun today! Especially at the Buddha park with the huge statues! The fun part was climbing on top of the enormous giant face statue."
20th December 2018
Today a group of 40 children (19 girls) aged 7-16 were taken on an excursion with Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos). They were from Ban Oudom Phon Primary School. The children visited Vat Sisaket, Vat Phakeo, Souphanouvong Museum and Kaysone Phomvihane Museum. The children were accompanied by 2 Peuan Mit social workers and 4 public school teachers and led by a driver from Buffalo tours. One child said this about their day: "The pagodas we visited today were built many years ago, before my grandmother was born! And they are still very beautiful."
20th November 2018
Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos) took a group of 40 children (25 girls) aged 7-15 from Ban Khok Noy Primary School on an excursion to visit Vat Sisaket, Vat Phakeo, Souphanouvong Museum and Kaysone Phomvihane Museum. The children were accompanied by 2 Peuan Mit social workers and 4 public school teachers and led by a driver from Buffalo tours. One child said this about their day: "I finally saw Vat Sisaket and Vat Pra Keow in real life! It is stunning! I only used to see them in pictures and TV. I know that most couples like to take their wedding pictures there"
16th October 2018
Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos) took a group of 40 children (21 girls) aged 7-12 from Ban None Sahad School on an excursion to visit Vat Sisaket, Vat Phakeo, Souphanouvong Museum and Kaysone Phomvihane Museum. The trip was led by a driver from Buffalo Tours, our social workers and school teacher and was funded by Responsible Travel. One child said this about their day: “Today I learned a lot about the bravery and leadership of two historic figureheads of Laos.”
26th September 2018:
Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos) took a group of 40 children (17 girls) aged between 7 and 12 from Ban Doung Gnay Primary School on an excursion to visit Vat Sisaket, Vat Phakeo, Souphanouvong Museum and Kaysone Phomvihane Museum. The children were accompanied by 2 social workers and 4 public school teachers. One child said this about their day: “My favorite part today was visiting Vat Sisaket, it is impressive to see all the tiny Buddhas everywhere on the wall. I tried to count them all but it was impossible!”
24th August 2018:
Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos) took a group of 40 children (23 girls) aged between 7 and 18 from Ban Naphasouk Primary School on an excursion to visit the Dinosaur Park, Souphanouvong museum and Kaysone Phomvihane museum. The children were accompanied by 3 social workers and 1 public school teacher. The trip was led by a driver from Buffalo tours, our social workers and school teacher and was funded by Responsible Travel. One child said this about their day: “My favourite part was listening to the scream of the dinosaurs, it’s really impressive! I was scared and thrilled at the same time!”
26th July 2018:
On this trip 40 children and youth attended the Buddha park and museums. The children were from the Peuan Mit Transitional Home and the youth from the Mechanics Vocational Training program. One child said this about their day: “I entered the huge pumpkin statue and climbed to the very top. The view over the Buddha park was amazing, but it was really high so I was also a bit afraid. Thankfully I was not alone, and got support from PM social worker and my friends”
11th January 2018:
Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos) took a group of 37 children (including 20 girls) aged between 10 and 14 from Phonthong Primary School on an excursion to visit the Buddha Park (Wat Xieng Khuan), Inpeng Ethnic Cultural Park, Souphanouvong Museum and Kaysone Phomvihane Museum. The trip was led by a driver from our tour operator Buffalo Tours, our social workers and school teachers. One child said this about their day: "Today I was so excited to visit many beautiful places! My favourite part was the big dinosaurs at Inpeng Park."
24th November 2017:
In total, 37 children from the Maisaysomboun community aged 10-14 visited Kaysone Phomvihane museum, Buddha Park (Wat Xieng Khuan) and the Souphanouvong Museum. One of the children said this about their day: "I went into the cave and climbed on to the top, seeing the beautiful Buddha images and view - but I was also scared!"
22nd August 2017:
On this trip, 39 children from Ladkhuay community aged 10-14 visited Kaysone Phomvihane museum, Buddha Park (Wat Xieng Khuan), Inpeng Ethnic Cultural Park and Souphanouvong museum. One of the children said this about their day: "I’m happy to spend time with my friends during school vacations, otherwise we hardly get to see each other."
28th July 2017:
This trip took 39 children from Chansawang community aged 10-14 to Kaysone Phomvihane museum, the Buddha Park (Wat Xieng Khuan) and Inpeng Ethnic Cultural Park. One of the children said this about their day: "I just found out that the President Kaysone Phomvihane worked in a cave - he was so talented."
29th June 2017:
On this occasion, 42 children and young people aged 10-21 from a transitional home in Sisaket village and nearby communities visited Kaysone Phomvihane museum, Buddha Park (Wat Xieng Khuan), Inpeng Ethnic Cultural Park, Thaddluang stupa, and Thadluang Lake Special Economic Zone. One of the children said this about their day: "I like the Kaysone Phomvihane museum because I can learn the history of the former president and how he lived his life." About our partner organisation: Friends International is an award winning social enterprise founded in 1994 that saves lives and builds futures of the most marginalized children, youth, families and communities in Southeast Asia and around the world. It works to create a future where all children are safe from all forms of abuse, and become functional, productive citizens who contribute to a more peaceful, equitable and sustainable world. Friends works in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos and Thailand, and with 45 partners around the world, to provide comprehensive services to marginalized urban children, youth and their families. Since its inception, Friends has supported the education, well-being, and sustainable reintegration of more than 300,000 vulnerable children, youth and their families.
Responsible Travel customers are helping disadvantaged children who attend an outreach and prevention team called Peuan Mit to visit parks and museums in Laos, often for the first time in their lives.
Peuan Mit took a group of 40 children (22 girls) aged 7-13 on an excursion to Kaysone Phomvihane museum and Xiengkhouane Buddha Park. They were from Phone Tong Primary School. The children were accompanied by 3 Peuan Mit social workers and 4 public school teachers and led by a driver from Buffalo tours. One child said this about their day: "It was so much fun today with my friends and Peuan Mit social workers! Thank you for this New Year gift!" We have worked with our partner Friends International to devise this trip for children who attend disadvantaged communities in the Laos area. These communities include: Phonthong, Maisaysomboun, Ladkhuay, Chansawang, Ban None Sahad and Ban Khok Noy.
The children from these communities study in grade 4 and 5. Peuan Mit outreach and prevention team has worked with these children and their families directly in their communities since 2010 and 2014, to prevent more children from resorting to street work. The outreach and prevention activities consist of advocacy against neglect and abuse, information dissemination about safe behaviour and support in access to education, vocational training, and other services to build their futures, like life skills. Some of the communities are located around 20-30km from the city and close to the dump site. Some of the families engage in working on the dump site.
What the children do:
8-9am: The Buffalo Tours bus arrives at the village to pick up the children and teachers at the school and then start the tour at around 9:20am. During the bus trip our social workers introduced themselves and so did the children and teachers. They also entertained children by organising games, telling stories, asking questions, singing songs and provided information about each site they are going to visit. They are also provided some snacks.
10:20am: The bus arrives at the Buddha Park, Dinosaur Park or Kaysone Phomvihane Museum.
Buddha Park itinerary: The children spend around an hour looking around all the huge statues. The children always look excited and happy to see so many different types of statue. After visiting the Buddha Park, the group move to Inpeng Ethnic Cultural Park to enjoy lunch in a nice setting surrounded by trees. Sometimes the children may visit Buddha Park in the afternoon rather than the morning.
Dinosaur Park itinerary: Alternatively, we sometimes visit Dinosaur Park where the children learn about the different kinds of dinosaur and the discovery of dinosaurs in Savannakhet, in Laos. Everyone is always very excited to see and learn about the dinosaurs and can't believe that they existed in Laos.
Kaysone Phomvihane Museum itinerary: The staff at the museum are very welcoming and supportive. The children stay there for around an hour and discover the history of former president Kaysone Phomvihane who led the fight for Lao revolution. After visiting Kaysone Museum, the group usually has lunch at “Let’s Eat”, Peuan Mit’s training restaurant. After lunch and some guessing games, the group sometimes visit Vat Sisaket which has impressive architecture from 1800s. It is also well known for its walls housing thousands of tiny Buddha stupas, more than 6,000 in total made from wood, stone and bronze. The children also usually visit Wat Phakeo, another emblematic pagoda in Vientiane. It was once the royal temple when Laos was still a monarchy. After visiting and learning about Lao’s architecture and culture they go on to visit Souphanouvong Museum.
2:30pm: If not visited earlier on in the day, the group moves forward to Kaysone Phomvihane museum. The staff at this museum are very welcoming and supportive. They stay there for one hour and discover the history of former president Kaysone Phomvihane who led the fight for Lao revolution.
3:40 - 4pm: After visiting the museum, the group heads back to their communities and the Peuan Mit social workers continue their activities in the bus with a singing competition and Q&A on life skills. The winner receives hygiene materials, such as a toothbrush, soap or shampoo. The hygiene materials are part of the contribution from other Peuan Mit donors to the mobile school.
Impact:
This excursion has been very successful. Not everyone has visited these locations before, especially Kaysonphomvihan Museum and Kayson Phomvihan Museum, both important historical places. The children understand the difficulties our leaders and ancestors had to go through to build a better future for new generations. They also learn and acknowledge the history by experiencing and discovering new places. Being in a different environment to their classrooms has facilitated their understanding.
“
"This is my first time to enter a museum, there are so many things to discover inside! Learning about the history of our country was also very interesting and makes me proud of my country."
"I am really happy to have been to the park and take pictures with my friends, we are going to show the pictures to our school".
"I want to thank my teachers and Peuan Mit staff for making me discover so many new places. I hope we can do this more often and discover more other nice places in Laos."
"I have never seen as many huge statues as at the Buddha park, and I have learned more about history of both former presidents."
"I am so happy and proud to be able to learn more about the history, we visited the most beautiful images."
"It was very fun today as I could play some games, sing songs and other activities. I want to attend this kind of activity again."
"We made a plan to wear school uniform which felt more polite and smart, and is better clothes for us to visit the museum in."
"I climbed up to the cave, it was quite high so I was a bit worried before but the view was so beautiful after I reached the top."
"I am very proud of myself that I can have a chance to visit many interesting places during my school vacation.”
“The Buddha park is a new place for me, I have never been because it’s far from my village and normally I would have to pay the entrance fee which I can’t afford. It was very interesting.”
“I entered the huge pumpkin statue and climbed to the very top. The view over the Buddha park was amazing, but it was really high so I was also a bit afraid. Thankfully I was not alone, and got support from PM social worker and my friends”
"I had a great day today, my friends encouraged me to participate in singing songs in the bus. It was my first time singing in front of so many people, I was shy and proud at the same time."
”
On this trip a group of 40 children (28 girls) aged 7-12 were taken on an excursion to Kaysone Phomvihane museum and Xiengkhouane Buddha Park with Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos). They were from Saysomboun Primary School. The children were accompanied by 2 Peuan Mit social workers and 4 public school teachers and led by a driver from Buffalo tours. One child said this about their day: "I took plenty of pictures that I will show my parents when I get back home. It was such a fun day!"
Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos) took a group of 40 children (25 girls) aged 7-12 from Ladkhouay Primary School on an excursion to visit Kaysone Phomvihane museum and Xiengkhouane Buddha Park. The children were accompanied by 2 Peuan Mit social workers and 5 public school teachers and led by a driver from Buffalo tours. One child said this about their day: "I learned today that Kaysone Phomvihan used to work in a cave, he is really courageous!"
On this trip a group of 40 children (25 girls) aged 7-12 were taken on an excursion to Kaysone Phomvihane museum and Xiengkhouane Buddha Park with Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos). They were from Ban Phoukham Primary School. The children were accompanied by 2 Peuan Mit social workers and 5 public school teachers and led by a driver from Buffalo tours. One child said this about their day: "This is my first time visiting Xiengkhouane Buddha Park, I have only seen pictures of this park and today my dream came true! It is even more beautiful than I imagined."
Today a group of 40 children (23 girls) aged 7-12 were taken on an excursion with Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos). They were from Ban Phoukham Primary School. The children visited Kaysone Phomvihane museum and Xiengkhouane Buddha Park. The children were accompanied by 3 Peuan Mit social workers and 2 public school teachers and led by a driver from Buffalo tours. One child said this about their day: "Today was such a fun day with all my class mates. We played many games and learned about the history of Laos. I hope Peuan Mit will organize more outings like this in the future."
Today a group of 40 children (14 girls) aged 7-18 were taken on an excursion with Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos). They were from Peuan Mit’s Transitional Home. The children visited Souphanouvong museum, Kaysone Phomvihane museum and Xiengkhouane Buddha Park were accompanied by 2 Peuan Mit social workers and led by a driver from Buffalo tours. One child said this about their day: "I had so much fun today! Especially at the Buddha park with the huge statues! The fun part was climbing on top of the enormous giant face statue."
Today a group of 40 children (19 girls) aged 7-16 were taken on an excursion with Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos). They were from Ban Oudom Phon Primary School. The children visited Vat Sisaket, Vat Phakeo, Souphanouvong Museum and Kaysone Phomvihane Museum. The children were accompanied by 2 Peuan Mit social workers and 4 public school teachers and led by a driver from Buffalo tours. One child said this about their day: "The pagodas we visited today were built many years ago, before my grandmother was born! And they are still very beautiful."
Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos) took a group of 40 children (25 girls) aged 7-15 from Ban Khok Noy Primary School on an excursion to visit Vat Sisaket, Vat Phakeo, Souphanouvong Museum and Kaysone Phomvihane Museum. The children were accompanied by 2 Peuan Mit social workers and 4 public school teachers and led by a driver from Buffalo tours. One child said this about their day: "I finally saw Vat Sisaket and Vat Pra Keow in real life! It is stunning! I only used to see them in pictures and TV. I know that most couples like to take their wedding pictures there"
Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos) took a group of 40 children (21 girls) aged 7-12 from Ban None Sahad School on an excursion to visit Vat Sisaket, Vat Phakeo, Souphanouvong Museum and Kaysone Phomvihane Museum. The trip was led by a driver from Buffalo Tours, our social workers and school teacher and was funded by Responsible Travel. One child said this about their day: “Today I learned a lot about the bravery and leadership of two historic figureheads of Laos.”
Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos) took a group of 40 children (17 girls) aged between 7 and 12 from Ban Doung Gnay Primary School on an excursion to visit Vat Sisaket, Vat Phakeo, Souphanouvong Museum and Kaysone Phomvihane Museum. The children were accompanied by 2 social workers and 4 public school teachers. One child said this about their day: “My favorite part today was visiting Vat Sisaket, it is impressive to see all the tiny Buddhas everywhere on the wall. I tried to count them all but it was impossible!”
Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos) took a group of 40 children (23 girls) aged between 7 and 18 from Ban Naphasouk Primary School on an excursion to visit the Dinosaur Park, Souphanouvong museum and Kaysone Phomvihane museum. The children were accompanied by 3 social workers and 1 public school teacher. The trip was led by a driver from Buffalo tours, our social workers and school teacher and was funded by Responsible Travel. One child said this about their day: “My favourite part was listening to the scream of the dinosaurs, it’s really impressive! I was scared and thrilled at the same time!”
On this trip 40 children and youth attended the Buddha park and museums. The children were from the Peuan Mit Transitional Home and the youth from the Mechanics Vocational Training program. One child said this about their day: “I entered the huge pumpkin statue and climbed to the very top. The view over the Buddha park was amazing, but it was really high so I was also a bit afraid. Thankfully I was not alone, and got support from PM social worker and my friends”
Peuan Mit (Friends International Laos) took a group of 37 children (including 20 girls) aged between 10 and 14 from Phonthong Primary School on an excursion to visit the Buddha Park (Wat Xieng Khuan), Inpeng Ethnic Cultural Park, Souphanouvong Museum and Kaysone Phomvihane Museum. The trip was led by a driver from our tour operator Buffalo Tours, our social workers and school teachers. One child said this about their day: "Today I was so excited to visit many beautiful places! My favourite part was the big dinosaurs at Inpeng Park."
In total, 37 children from the Maisaysomboun community aged 10-14 visited Kaysone Phomvihane museum, Buddha Park (Wat Xieng Khuan) and the Souphanouvong Museum. One of the children said this about their day: "I went into the cave and climbed on to the top, seeing the beautiful Buddha images and view - but I was also scared!"
On this trip, 39 children from Ladkhuay community aged 10-14 visited Kaysone Phomvihane museum, Buddha Park (Wat Xieng Khuan), Inpeng Ethnic Cultural Park and Souphanouvong museum. One of the children said this about their day: "I’m happy to spend time with my friends during school vacations, otherwise we hardly get to see each other."
This trip took 39 children from Chansawang community aged 10-14 to Kaysone Phomvihane museum, the Buddha Park (Wat Xieng Khuan) and Inpeng Ethnic Cultural Park. One of the children said this about their day: "I just found out that the President Kaysone Phomvihane worked in a cave - he was so talented."
On this occasion, 42 children and young people aged 10-21 from a transitional home in Sisaket village and nearby communities visited Kaysone Phomvihane museum, Buddha Park (Wat Xieng Khuan), Inpeng Ethnic Cultural Park, Thaddluang stupa, and Thadluang Lake Special Economic Zone. One of the children said this about their day: "I like the Kaysone Phomvihane museum because I can learn the history of the former president and how he lived his life." About our partner organisation: Friends International is an award winning social enterprise founded in 1994 that saves lives and builds futures of the most marginalized children, youth, families and communities in Southeast Asia and around the world. It works to create a future where all children are safe from all forms of abuse, and become functional, productive citizens who contribute to a more peaceful, equitable and sustainable world. Friends works in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos and Thailand, and with 45 partners around the world, to provide comprehensive services to marginalized urban children, youth and their families. Since its inception, Friends has supported the education, well-being, and sustainable reintegration of more than 300,000 vulnerable children, youth and their families.
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