Die Bambusschule e.V.
Kopfbild - lernender Junge und lächelndes Mädchen
Bildung ist nicht alles - aber ohne Bildung ist alles nichts!


Ohne Ehrenamt geht es auch in Laos nicht - Volontären haben wir viel zu verdanken!

Unser Verein hat sehr gute Erfahrungen mit dem Einsatz von Volontären gemacht und möchte diesen Bereich weiter ausbauen.

Wir bieten interessierten und geeigneten Personen Arbeitsmöglichkeiten auf verschiedenen Gebieten, vorzugsweise im Bereich Unterricht und Handwerk.

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Hier einige Erfahrungsberichte über bisherige Einsätze:

Die Erfolgsgeschichte der Arbeit mit Freiwilligen (Volontäre) begann mit dem jungen australischen Wissenschaftler Christopher Cooper. Als Partner unserer damaligen und unvergessenen Geschäftsführerin Anja Weichert fand Chris schnell zu einem eigenen Arbeitsgebiet: Um die Auswirkungen des im Entstehen begriffenen Trekkingtourismus auf die Dörfer Ban Houay Lor und Ban Kong Muan zu untersuchen, führte er eine entsprechende Felduntersuchung durch. Hier die Ergebnisse:

Hier seine Untersuchungen
Field Survey Chris


Dan und Clancy aus Australien, ebenfalls von Anja Weichert vermittelt, starteten einen Englischkurs im Bergdorf Ban Houay Lor.
Nachdem ihr Unternehmen sowohl bei den Kindern als auch bei Erwachsenen dort großen Anklang gefunden hatte, sahen wir uns weiter nach interessierten Lehrern um.
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Bald meldete sich Editha Lührs, eine pensionierte Lehrerin aus Bremen.
Weitgereist und unerschrocken zog Editha Ende 2009 bei ihrern "Gasteltern"  Peng und Thi in Ban Hatsa ein - völlig ungewiss dessen, was sie erwarten würde. Am Ende zweier intensiver Monate verabschiedete sie sich als Freundin der Familie - alle erkundigen sich regelmäßig noch heute nach ihr.

Dies ist ihr Bericht:

"Hier ein paar Zeilen zu meinem Einsatz in Ban Hatsa, Laos.
Es war eine sehr interessante, kurzweilige Zeit, die ich in dem kleinen Dorf am Nam Ou verbrachte. Vor allem das Dorfleben „original" zu erleben (ohne TV, Telefon, Radio, Handy) war für mich sehr eindrucksvoll. Insgesamt arbeiten die Menschen dort sehr schwer, sind dabei aber fröhlich, trinken auch gerne mal „Lao Lao" bei Gelegenheit etc.

Meine Schüler, 96 an der Zahl und zwischen 8 und 15 Jahren alt, waren zunächst ziemlich scheu, aber begeistert und voller Elan beim Nachsprechen und Üben von Englischen Vokabeln, bzw. Sätzen (der Sinn war ihnen bestimmt nicht immer klar, zumal meine Laotisch-Sprachkenntnisse auch rudimentär waren).

In den ersten beiden Wochen versuchte ich nur mündliche Übungen, Aussprachen (z. B. das Rollen von „r", etc.) und Wiederholungen in Variationen, um Langeweile zu vermeiden!

Dann erst begann ich an die Tafeln zu schreiben und die Schüler kopierten es fleißig. Größenverhältnisse und Zeilen einzuhalten war z. T. oft ein Problem, deshalb musste ich oft jedem einzeln ins Heft schreiben, kontrollieren, und loben. Die Kleinsten, besonders auch die Mädchen, waren am ausdauerndsten! Das machte viele Freude, wir lachten auch viel, gaben Applaus für richtige bis halbwegs richtige Antworten.

Außerdem sangen wir die passenden Lieder dazu („Good morning...", „January, Febr...", „A, B, C .....the alphabet", „head and shoulders..." und „If you are happy ...", was für die pubertierenden Jungen nicht immer „lustig" war.

Überall im Dorf hörte ich später das Singen, bzw. fröhliche Begrüßung. „Good morning, ..."! Selbst die Erwachsenen lernten von ihren Kindern.

Das ABC vermittelte ich ihnen in kleinen Happen, erst nur „a" dann „b" und „c". Danach ging es schon zügiger; fortwährend Wiederholungen mit laminierten Karten, an der Tafel, ...) bis das gesamte Alphabet bekannt war. Jahreszeiten, Kalender, Monate, Tage, Zahlen (bis 31 und 100). Nächste Themen waren Europa und Laos, Früchte und Speisen, Tiere, Körperteile, Familie, zum Schluss noch Kleidung in Schrift und Bild.

Insgesamt musste ich viel improvisieren, da kein Material (Buch, Bildband, o. ä.) vorhanden war. So saß ich immer, mit Vorbereitungen beschäftigt, oben auf „meinem Balkon", bei herrlichem Blick auf die Berge, morgens im Nebel! Ein Leben am Fluss, was nie langweilig war.

Die Zeit verging wie im Fluge und (außer Kälte, auch oft nachts) es war einfach herrlich, in einer solchen noch existierenden „Idylle" leben zu dürfen, köstliche, wenn auch manchmal ungewöhnliche Speisen zu essen, die Freundlichkeit und Ruhe der Menschen zu genießen.

Das war insgesamt eine eindrucksvolle Zeit, vor allem der herzliche Abschied mit den Dorfältesten und deren guten Wünschen und Gebeten, einmalig und herzergreifend! Wie versprochen, habe ich ihnen dann auch Fotos geschickt, was sie bestimmt sehr gefreut hat.

Das soll reichen, in Kürze, meine Erinnerung festzuhalten und weiterzugeben! Auch Dank an alle Sponsoren, die Ban Hatsa, bzw. Lao unterstützen. Sie tun ein gutes Werk!!!

Liebe Grüße und bis dann ...

Editha"

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Mit Simon Fintelmann, einem frisch gebackenen Tischlergesellen aus Kalkriese bei Osnabrück, meldete sich der erste Handwerkervolontär. Ausgestattet mit einer Kiste deutschen Qualitätswerkzeugs (gestiftet von der Firma Kötter und Siefker, Osnabrück), richtete sich Simon bei Gasteltern im Dorf Phonsana ein. In den folgenden Monaten brachte er den Bau unserer dortigen Grundschule zügig voran und beeindruckte die Dorfbevölkerung nicht zuletzt durch seine große Bereitschaft, sich auf die Sitten und Gebräuche einzulassen. Dies führte schließlich zur Ehe mit Vitan, einer jungen Frau aus Muang Ngoi - und Mutter seines Sohnes. Die Familie lebt jetzt abwechselnd in Deutschland und Laos.

Baumaßnahme1

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Ein richtiger "Volltreffer" war Thomas Lais, ein Zimmermann aus dem Schwarzwald. Von Februar bis Mai 2010 hat Tom im Bergdorf Ban Huay Lor, in Hatsa und in Phonsanah alle anfallenden Zimmermansarbeiten erledigt und diverse Projekte mit Beton und Farbe ausgeführt. Thomas macht diese Art von gemeinnütziger Arbeit weltweit seit über 20 Jahren - Anderen helfen ist sein Leben!
Mit seiner liebenswürdigen und bedachtsamen Art sowie seiner großen praktischen Erfahrung hat er bei allen Menschen, die mit ihm zu tun hatten, einen nachhaltigen Eindruck hinterlassen.

thomas freut sich ueber seine solinger saege - klein
Hier freut sich Thomas über seine neue Säge aus Deutschland

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Als ein weiteres besonders gelungenes Beispiel für einen Volontäreinsatz kommen im Folgenden Donny Comer und Brooke Anderson aus den USA, Begründer der "Growinitiative", zu Wort.
DSC_6937
Die Beiden haben während ihres mehrwöchigen Aufenthaltes in Hatsa großartige Arbeit geleistet, die die Lebenssituation der Kinder in unserem Boardinghouse nachhaltig verbessert. Auszug aus der Homepage:


84 children from 8 villages in 4 rooms 5 days a week, no running water for cooking, going to the bathroom, bathing or washing. Any hygiene or sanitation problems wrong with that? Add to that the sticky hands with food remnants being rubbed on their pants and thin mattresses in lieu of washing their hands, and this attracting rats to chew on their bedding and clothes. Certain times of day there was a constant flow of children going to or coming back from the small stream they would walk up to get water where they could access it- the size of the water receptacle varying with the size of the kid. When we were introduced to the village of Hat-Sa by Bamboo School, our partner organization on this project, we realized we had stumbled across a much needed GROW project- building a water tank and sink as an addition to the bathroom. Following this up with the nurses that live in the villages we realized that this was not the only issue but also a severe lack of tooth brushing and general hygiene. This was very evident when we spent more time with the kids and saw their rotting teeth and caked on dirt.

Before the finer details of the project work in Hat Sa and the trails we had to go through, the most important thing is that this project was a huge success in the end! There are now five taps at the bathroom at the school- a tap in each of the toilet rooms and a sink along the outer wall with three faucets. The water tank is extremely strong and has a capacity to hold approximately 1600 liters of potable water. The students are thrilled to have water and we are so happy we were able to play our part in bringing it to them with the help of our donors.

None of this would have been possible for GROW without Bamboo School, a German NGO that has been working in this region of Laos for 5 years now. Their focus is primarily on education through the construction of schools and boarding houses as well as a new shift to health and sanitation. It was Bamboo School that built the boarding house and bathrooms at the school in Hat Sa and they continue to support further work initiatives there, including that of GROW. For assistance in tools, translators, lodging and just finding the project in the first place, we send out huge thanks and best wishes to the continued success of the development work Bamboo School is doing along the beautiful Nam Ou.

K800_IMG_0235Donny

The main components of the project were the construction of the water tank, building of a foundation for the sink (as an erosion control measure) and the construction of the sink itself. When we turned on the water for the first time, our focus on the sanitation and hygiene educational component of the project became greater as now the kids had two faucets in the bathrooms where they could put into practice what we had been preaching.

While building the water tank we used a ferrocement method; we had learned to use this technique once in the past while working in Guatemala, but it was the first time we had done a tank above ground fully using this method. The idea is that it emphasizes the strengths of both the cement, rebar and wire mesh frame and combines them to make an extremely strong structure at a cheaper cost that can also be designed to whatever shape or specifications one might need. Our tank was a cylinder, a form which has additional strength over a cube.

With the support of our first two GROW volunteers who worked alongside us for five days and a Bamboo School volunteer who also helped out, the overall construction of the tank went rather smoothly. The connection of the tank to the bathroom, the sink foundation, and the sink itself were a little tougher to complete as we no longer had additional volunteers and had to depend more on the support of the community. Although this was troublesome at times, we did have some great days where the community pitched in and provided ideas and help for the project.

Every project has its setbacks and this one was certainly no different. One main concern when doing projects in this region is adapting your work to the different seasons. During the dry season you deal with blistering heat and a lack of water, and during the wet season an abundance of rain. For the sanitation and hygiene project we were expecting hot, sun-filled days that would not affect freshly poured concrete, or wash away a day's progress of building a retaining wall. But this was not to be the case as the rainy season decided to come more than a month early. Although massive rainstorms were refreshing against the heat, they certainly impaired progress.

With the rain also came unusually high winds that unfortunately caused a tree to fall on our water tank early on in the project. Luckily only the foundation had been laid and our rebar frame constructed by that point. The foundation survived intact and it was just a matter of removing the tree and re-bending and binding the rebar to get back on track. That was tree number one. Tree number two was a much bigger setback- mostly because the tree was much bigger. A giant mango tree with a diameter of about a meter and a half, maybe 90 feet tall came crashing down on the students cooking huts and bathroom which was the site for our planned sink. What was a very well constructed and nice structure of concrete, metal, zinc and wood roof became a massive jumble of rubble. The septic tank was also damaged leaving fresh sewage exposed just meters away from the children's cooking huts; a problem that needed immediate attention. When you're talking hygiene the toilet generally comes before the sink; plus our sink was supposed to be built along a wall that now only partly existed.

Although the mango tree coming down could be seen as bad luck, we were in fact extremely happy that it came down where and when it did. The tree was very old and had been decimated by termites and rot. It was going to fall at some point and if the wind was blowing in the opposite direction that would have been on the boarding house. The timing was also in our favor as all of the children were home in their villages for the Pii Mai celebrations. With 84 children constantly cooking, cleaning, using the bathroom and running around in the rain, the incident could have been devastating! This disaster was the primary factor in the duration of the project taking longer than expected.

So now in addition to the water tank, the sink, the garbage collection stations and the education initiative, we now had a septic tank and a bathroom to rebuild. We placed the septic tank as our top priority and within a couple days we had repaired the frame, built a form for the cover and poured the concrete. When the cement dried the tank looked as good as new! The bathroom was a little more difficult. The mango tree was mostly removed from the bathroom by arranging a community work day. It was a beautiful thing to see! Around 50 community members, machetes in hand, all pitched in and in a couple of hours they had chopped or hand sawed most of the tree affecting the bathroom. With the tree removed, GROW got to work on getting one of the two bathrooms operational and by the time the children returned for their new school week they had a working toilet.

As for the roof, the walls of the second bathroom and the second toilet, GROW met with the community and a decision was made that GROW would provide the materials for the roof and the cement to reform the building's columns. The community in turn would provide the labor to rebuild the building, constructing the walls out of bamboo- a material that looks nice, is sustainable, and a material the community members are experts at using for building. This unfortunately did not work out to be the case as the community fell through on their part and only built a poorly constructed temporary roof, failed to get any bamboo for the walls, and refused to reconstruct the columns. This was by far our hardest day and this lack of community interest was by far our largest hurdle to overcome.

The level of community involvement was primarily the result of the relationship between the community and the boarding house students. Since the majority of the children at the school are not actually from that community and received the most benefit from the water tank and sink, the community was not as interested in helping with the project as we would often expect and demand for a project of this type. The ethnicity of the students also played a role in the lack of involvement from the community as most of the non Hat Sa students where Kamu and seen as a lower class than the Lao students. These issues were hard to overcome and at times the only reason we didn't threaten to stop the work entirely was because the implementation of this project benefits these eighty four children who live away from home and have absolutely no one to look out for them. And as far as help and involvement, the beneficiaries, the children, were a big help- they were often the ones to carry up sand or rocks from the river for us when they were needed, and when they were not in class they were always very curious in what we were doing and often helped. Sometimes we did not have the words to communicate, but they would observe us and start to mimic what we were doing in order to help. A task like sorting our small sized stones from a massive mixed pile went from daunting to fun when there we about 20 hands in there helping and laughing along with the work. Plus it was an educational initiative as there is no "shop class" offered in school and the children gained valuable\ construction experience they can draw on in the future, plus having two positive role models in their lives. For more on what it's like to have your work site swarming with 84 young children all the time, check out our new GROW blog!

So with some help from the community and even more from the students, the tank and sink were finished. As a special inauguration of the sink and an important part of the educational component of the hygiene and sanitation goals of this project, we held teaching seminars at the school for all of the 132 children. There are two nurses that live and work in the village who assisted in the day by instructing on the basics of tooth brushing and hand washing. GROW purchased new toothbrushes and small toothpastes for all of the children to take back with them to their villages upon the completion of the school year. Soap was also purchased for the demonstrations. These types of purchases are not typical for GROW because they are not sustainable in the sense that once gone who will replace them. But in this case, besides the educational component to go along with the gifts, we have a commitment from our project partner Bamboo School that they will continue to support the initiative of maintaining soap at the sink and toothbrushes and paste for the children.

So the sink was christened with soap and toothpaste of 264 hands being washed and 3612 teeth being brushed (that's 28 teeth per 132 kids, with a few missing!). For the water tank we had something else in mind. At a previous community work day the people of Hat Sa painted our new tank a bright white and with the children we threw in some color- kids had their pick of green, blue or red for putting their hand print on the work that they helped us create. This also helped emphasize hand washing as they needed to scrub and scrub to get the paint off. We actually found out too late that it was oil based (all the writing was in Thai and no one could read it); as Donny tried to scrub away (he was the first guinea pig to show what to do) all he accomplished was rubbing the blue around to look like a smurf. So we got our blue hands on some paint thinner (that would be gasoline here) as the first hand washing step then they moved onto the sink to finish off the job.

An additional aspect of the hygiene and sanitation project was in the creation of trash collection sites around the school grounds. Bamboo baskets were made and secured to hang in permanent structures- five in total. We were constantly emphasizing the importance of proper trash disposal to the kids, though sometimes we would then almost immediately see them throw a wrapper on the ground, or sweep out their rooms and dump all that they swept over the railing. Progress on this front is slow but occasionally we would be surprised when we would come across a full trash basket or see a student pick a piece of garbage off of the ground. Regardless, we must keep trying- at least now they have a place to put their garbage and we have seen some improvement.

When we leave Hat Sa after seven+ weeks of work, we leave a successful project in capable hands. The water tank, the sink, and the garbage collection sites are all permanent structures and will save the students from the boarding house countless hours of carrying water while making it easy to put into practice the new lessons they have learned on hygiene and sanitation. After further meetings with the community leaders and our partner, Bamboo School, it has been decided that the bathrooms will be rebuilt by the community and will be ready when the children return from break in August. Bamboo school will also take over the health initiative in the area and will be providing GROW updates as they come.

(Das war ein frommer Gedanke, die Wirklichkeit sieht leider anders aus: Die Wiederherstellung der Toilettenanlage übernimmt die Bambusschule e.V.; die Dorfbewohner sehen sich diesbezüglich nicht in der Verantwortung...)

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Donny und Brooke haben nicht nur den Wassertank und die Waschbecken gebaut - hier ihr Erfahrungsbericht zu weiteren Aktivitäten

Our time living and working in Hat Sa was wonderful and rewarding in so many ways!  Our lives are enriched for the experience and we leave with over a thousand photos in memories!

Teaching English was always good fun- classes ranging from 7-30 kids, depending on whether school was in session that day, the weather, etc.  Often kids came for two classes in a row- I never turned anyone down, figured if they wanted to learn that badly and as long as they were not disruptive and trying to learn than I am not one to ban them from the classroom.  Not every student was eager to learn, but there were many that were so fully engaged in the lessons, participating and answering questions or asking questions of their own.

I was happy to be able to complete a teaching manual to be used in Hat Sa and other communities.  Working with the children in the classroom allowed for a kind of laboratory for the types of games and learning activities I put into the manual- figuring out what worked best, what they responded to and not, ideas for how to incrementally increase the level of difficulty of the educational games, etc.  I hope that the manual I created will help benefit the education of the students in the future by ensuring more consistency and continuity in the teaching, and emphasizing teaching methods that engage the students and make learning fun!

The community was particularly great in regards to sharing their culture with us- accepting us into their homes or being part of their traditional ceremonies. Since we were there over the Pii Mai celebrations, for a while it was rare to go a day without some kind of ceremony or other.  We also got to help with everyday tasks like fishing and cooking.  We even went out "hunting" for cicadas using a fishing net, then cooked them up- quite delicious to our happy surprise.

We loved the food!  Peng is a wonderful cook- we ate in some other homes and the food was always delicious, but we can say through experience that we think Peng is the best cook in Hat Sa!  Sticky rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner and somehow we never got tired of it- there were always so many good accompaniments to it!  Then sticky rice in so many other forms- learning to make lao-lao, foe noodles or the other kinds of noodles they make from it.  It was all very educational, but I think for most of these things we'll stick with going to the store!  The way the people get most of their food just from the natural land around them is wonderful- collecting greens that are wild for all practical purposes, hunting small game in the forest, fishing, collecting bamboo shoots and mushrooms.  We are pretty good cooks ourselves, but in a Lao kitchen we are pretty lost since there is almost nothing in it except soy sauce, MSG (use too much of this!) salt and sugar.  Nearly everything else you have to find from nature and know how to combine it all together.

So culturally it was fantastic, but when it came to the project there were certainly some high and low points.  For much of the project we were alone working, and though this may be the standard procedure of volunteers in the past, we had made it clear from the start that this was supposed to be the community's project headed by Boun Saeng, with a high degree of community member participation, input and labor.  With time constraints pressing on us and our work ethic and desire to see a completed project, we always pushed through with or without help.  For many days we were promised workers from the community either none showed up, we were later told no one could make it for this or that reason, or if people did come it was for such a short period of time during which it was extremely difficult to get them to do anything.  This lack of community support was completely against everything our organization stands for and we would have ended the project many times if it was not for the boarding house students.  They were the true recipients of the project and their support was never lacking.

The hardest thing for us was not that Hat Sa didn't help, but that no one in the community actually seemed to care about the project.  We had been told some about the division of ethnic groups, Laotians and Kamu, but we did not understand the extent of it until we were already deep in the project. Bringing water to the bathroom allowed for such a great increase in the hygiene and sanitation practices of the students, therefore increasing overall health within the school and greater community.  This affected 132 students and we couldn't really get anyone to care whether it got done or not, mostly because the 84 of those students that benefited the most were not even from Hat Sa.  In their eyes, we were helping someone that was not part of their family or community and beneath them.

When the tree fell on the bathroom it was devastating to us.  Why would you bother building a sink if there is no bathroom- it would certainly qualify as putting the cart before the horse.  We had been so excited for the project and already one step closer to its completion since we had just finished the water tank.  The thought of adding the reconstruction of the bathrooms onto our already time consuming project was quite daunting.  But after quickly repairing one side to a functional use and meeting with Jan and the Naai Bans and deciding we were going to rebuild in bamboo (what they were experts at) we were excited to contribute our assistance, both through materials and labor.

But as it turned out, that meeting was all talk and our worst day of our time there was when about 40+ villagers came out and sat while 4 or 5 threw up the most half-assed, poorly constructed roof I have ever seen and then refused to help with the cement or build the walls.  Again if it wasn't for students and our commitment to Bamboo School we would have been out of there!

But again, where there were downs, there were also ups.  The view from the boarding house is one of the most beautiful views we have ever seen.  Getting up early in the morning to head to the work site was always so rewarding as you could watch the morning mist rolling off the river and up the mountain side.  Plus it was the coolest part of the day!  Days without the kids around were much more tranquil, but we did relish the times that they were there.  The kids became our greatest human power resources- cutting wood, mixing cement, bringing rocks and sand, etc.  They loved helping- always eager to lend a hand and this was very uplifting for us.  When the adults from the community were more frustration than actual help, the children were always there.  It also made the project more fulfilling in the fact that we felt like we were good mentors for the children.  The project was an ongoing shop class- teaching practical life skills to kids that are often ignored and do not get the chance to work on these types of projects.  With our supervision we let them use the tools as long as they were using them correctly, amused by their attempts at imitation of the work we were doing.

The kids could also be the biggest frustration at times!  Each morning we would show up we would be anxious with anticipation of what they had managed to mess up of our work.  Wet cement was their favorite target- we'd return to our painstakingly smoothed surface of our water tank or sink to find new words, initials and dates captured forever.  When we painted the sink we literally had to stand guard, taking turns for who went home for lunch!  Kids will be kids though, and it was never out of maliciousness or disrespect really that they would mess with our work, just curiosity and a desire to be immortalized (with the cement that is).

So do we have any advice for future volunteers?  Hat Sa is a tough community.  Anyone going there must fully understand the politics before hand.  The school and the community are completely separate and so a project that benefits the students should not expect to have much community support.  Personally and culturally the village is a wonderful place to be.  Everyone is welcoming although over time dollar signs in their eyes might begin to cloud people's vision.

We have written up much of this project on The GROW Initiative website, as well as a daily account of events for the duration of the project that can be found under the "GROW Blog" section of the website.

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Lily Bourne, Australien
lilly with pupils
Lily unterrichtet Englisch in der Schule von Ban Hatsa

Lily's Hatsa experience

December till April 2010-2011

Staying in Hatsa has been a lovely experience. I had been on the road travelling for a while and was looking for somewhere to settle for a while,  an opportunity to interact more with the people and an opportunity to help out. Hatsa gave me the opportunity to all of these things and in a beautiful place on the wonderful Nam Ou river. It's great that the language I have always taken for granted and can speak fluently is of such value here.

Living with Peng and Ti has been great, they took me in as a part of the family and looked after me very well. At first I wasn't allowed to help out or do any work being the guest but slowly I could help them with collecting food, bamboo for cooking, cooking food and was able to learn how to live Lao. The village of Hatsa is a great community and the people where always friendly and open with me.

For me teaching was a fairly new experience having only taught for a short time before in Cambodia and with children who already knew a bit of the English language. When I arrived the children in Hatsa seemed knew a few words but really nothing. So I started from the very beginning, "hello" "how are you?" and took it from there. I noticed very quickly that some of the students were a lot faster than others at picking it up so after the first month I was able to make new classes, the children started to learn much better and it was much easier to teach. I had four classes with about 100 children in total. I would teach two classes a day four days a week from 1pm till 4pm.

I have never taught in Australia but I can imagine there half the work would be trying to get the children's attention, keeping them interested and making them listen. In Hatsa the children are so eager to learn and enthusiastic that it was a pleasure to teach them. I really felt that they truly appreciated the lessons and really wanted to learn. By the end of my 3 months the children (especially class one and two) where getting a good grasp on English, especially the new sounds like ‘th' ‘ch' and ‘r'. The Lao students seemed to find it harder than the Khmu students to learn the new sounds as the Khmu language has more sounds in it and I think having learnt another language (Lao) already gave them a better understanding of the idea of learning a new language.

As lovely as Hatsa was I can recommend to future volunteers staying for any length of time to leave Hatsa for a break every two weeks or so.  Hatsa is small and even after learning a bit of Lao it is good for your sanity to have a proper conversation every now and again. When I arrived in Hatsa I spoke very little Lao, but slowly with a lot of help from Peng and Ti I could communicate most of what I wanted to say. So don't be afraid if you don't know any Lao yet.

All in all it was a really positive experience for me, I will miss my new Lao family, the students, the river and the whole village. I'll be back one day for sure!

Lily mit  Avocados

 

Neben ihrem Englischunterricht fand Lily noch Zeit für ein anderes Projekt:

Ausgestattet mit Buntstiften und Zeichenpapier wurden die Kinder von Hatsa und Ban Ponsanah um je ein Bild gebeten zum Thema: "Das Leben in meinem Dorf".

Die Kinder waren von der Aufgabe begeistert - Malen war für sie völlig unbekannt - und so entstanden höchst unterschiedliche Kunstwerke.

Hier einige Kostproben:

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K1024_IMG_3433

kis pics


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Tosh Grant, Kanada

Tosh übergibt Farbe

Tosh Grant, Forstwirtschaftler aus Kanada, war schon wiederholt in Laos.  Über mehrere Monate unterstützte er Jan Droop bei zahlreichen Projekten als Volontär- dass er die Landessprache gut beherrscht, ist ein Riesenvorteil für alle Beteiligten! Hier übergibt er vom Verein angeschaffte Wandfarbe an die Schwestern der Krankenstation in Muang Ngoi.

Hier sein Bericht:

Field Report Tosh Grant

"I volunteered for The Bamboo School for several months in 2010-2011.

It was a very rewarding learning experience.  I have traveled to Laos several times before and had also taught English there in the past.  I was looking for a new experience that led me deeper into the culture as well as into a different area of positive development in the country.  Volunteering for BS gave me the opportunity to assist as well as learn about community development in rural Northern Laos.  During my stay I undertook various tasks in several of The Bamboo School's project areas.  Shortly after my arrival, Jan, the manager in Laos was going back to Germany for the month to see family and friends.  During this time the organization was financing and managing the building of their 3rd school and 1st secondary school in the area.  This gave me the amazing opportunity to supervise the project while the manager was away.  During this time I was organizing the delivery of materials to the building site, porters to transport materials, and meet with district officials and village chiefs. When Jan came back and took over the project once again I assisted him in various tasks in the project area.   These  tasks included the purchase and delivery of materials the hospital in Muang Ngoi, fundraising and delivery of  materials to the boarding house in Ban Hatsa and new school uniforms to Huay Lor, having meetings with teachers and students as well as orienting a new volunteer and being a 'tour guide' for possible fund raisers from Germany.  This experience also gave me the opportunity to quickly escalate my abilities in Lao language as most villages do not have English speakers.  This also developed into the opportunity to be used as a translator on several occasions.  I was very lucky to have the opportunity to be able to experience working in this rural environment and to have the opportunity to work with members of the district education ministry, Lao Youth Travel staff, and village elders while improving the education of rural children in Laos.  It was a great opportunity to engage in the population and build personal ties with the community and expand my knowledge of the country. It was also a pleasure to work with the manager (Jan) as well as correspond with the founder and chairman (Bodo). Both had a well rounded understanding of the culture and country and were very passionate about their work.  I also appreciated the coordination and structure of The Bamboo School.  The small size and personal commitment of the members avoids corruption and cultural disconnection which can be prevalent problems with NGO in any developing country . I will be coming back to Laos in the future and look forward for the opportunity to volunteer with The Bamboo School again."

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Tilman Haske und Sören Hansen, Deutschland
bei ankunft in Nong Khiaw
Letzter Gruß an die Zivilisation: Nördlich von Nong Khiaw gibt es keine Straßen mehr.

Rechtschaffene fremde Zimmergesellen sind Sören und Tilman und schon seit langem auf der Walz. Über einen persönlichen Kontakt fanden sie den Weg zur Bambusschule und haben Anfang des Jahres mit viel Einsatzfreude und handwerklicher Kompetenz dafür gesorgt, dass die neue Schule in Ban Sopking termingerecht eingeweiht werden konnte.

Originalton Sören und Tilmann:

Erfahrungsbericht der rechtschaffenen Zimmerer und Schieferdecker Gesellen zu Deutschland - Hansen Sören und Haske Tilman

Wir, die beiden Zimmerer, haben in der Zeit vom 03.02.2011 bis zum 31.03.2011 für die Bambusschule in Sopking das „secondary school project" geleitet.

In dieser Zeit haben wir Wände errichtet, Türen und Fenster eingebaut und als Abschluss den Dachstuhl ausgeführt.

In der kompletten Zeit hatten wir immer Kontakt mit Laoten. Die Arbeitsbegeisterung (der Laoten) ist in keinem Falle mit Ländern wie Deutschland, Australien usw. zu vergleichen, sie leben nach dem Satz: Weniger ist mehr. (Später mehr dazu)

Beim Essen wird sich relativ viel Mühe gegeben, es hat uns meistens geschmeckt. Je nach saisonal bedingten Essensvorkommen gab es halt oftmals dieselben Sachen (Kohl und Ei, Bambussprossen) wobei es auch recht aussergewöhnliche Sachen zum Essen gab (Hund, Ratte, Fledermaus, Waran und Käfer).

Ein Problem für uns wurde nach der ganzen Zeit der Sticky Rice. Er ist das Füllmittel und es gab ihn 3 mal auf den Tag. Man freut sich dann richtig auf ein Sandwich.

Zum Verhalten der Laoten können wir halt sagen, das sie doch ein wenig faul waren. Ob es an uns als Falangs lag, wissen wir nicht. Die effektive Arbeitszeit lag auf jeden Fall bei 1/3 vom Tag. In der anderen Zeit wurde sich gerne die Zeit vertrieben mit Zwillenschiessen, Küche sitzen, Feuer schauen ......

Und wenn man dann sieht, dass diese Menschen bei einem vollen Tag Arbeit in dieser Form irgendwie so um die $2-3 verdienen, ging es denen bei uns wirklich gut! Und trotz dessen wurde dann immer mal wieder sich über das Gehalt beschwert. Vielleicht gibt der Weisse ja noch ein wenig mehr. Das war gemeint: ‚Weniger arbeiten bringt manchmal mehr!‘

Vielerlei Dinge lassen sich in Laos am besten über Dritte regeln - das musste noch gesagt sein.

Sicher hatten wir auch viel Freude mit ihnen. Wenn man die Mentalität verstanden hat, kommen doch die einen oder anderen Späße zustande.

Man wird relativ oft zum Essen eingeladen, und es ist immer gerne gesehen, sich am Essen zu beteiligen. Für Männer = Laolao und für die Frauen=Pepsi Cola.

Alles in allem hatten wir dort oben eine schöne Zeit, sind nun aber auch froh, wieder ein wenig mehr in der Zivilisation zu sein.

Mit kameradschaftlichen Grüßen,

r.frd.Zi. Haske Tilman

r.frd.Zi. Hansen Sören

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Kate Smithers und Will Bosnich, England und Neuseeland -

Februar 2011

Volontäre helfen beim Restaurieren

Kate und Will reparieren das Dach der Schule in Hatsa.

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Des Weiteren unterstützten uns Sabine Studer aus der Schweiz, die dafür ihre Weltreise mit dem Fahrrad für sechs Wochen unterbrach, und Valentin Leininger und Alison Forest aus Frankreich.

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K1024_IMG_6253 klein

Delphine Le Page und Francois Vanghent aus Frankreich schwingen die Pinsel in Ban Sopking!

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Laura und Al

Laura und Al aus England reparieren den Baumschaden an der Toilettenanlage in Hatsa. Wer mehr über die Beiden lesen will, findet es hier.

Hier ihr Bericht:

Unbeknownst to us at the time we approached a sandy bank on the brown Nam Ou river and stuttered to a halt. This was our village home for 3 weeks. We grabbed our bags and the tools, climbed the sand bank and climbed the stairs made of rocks, tree trunks, leaf matter and rubbish. As we were to learn this was a reflection of Hatsa overall. We walked past the Hatsa sign, next to which a UXO (unexploded ordnance) hung and was now used as a village bell.
Immediately our impressions of the Ban (Lao for 'village') was "brown" of all shades. The brown clay rose into the brown wooden and bamboo mix houses. Everything here is made of the local teak and bamboo. Everything felt natural, apart from the rubbish that is generally dumped down towards the river. Burning waste here is not so common, so unfortunately again the river is used to carry garbage away.
We made it to our new home in a complete sweat and were shown to our room: A lovely traditionally built place with a balcony looking out over the river.


This had already been set up for us, cushions on the floor and mosquito net were more than adequate in such a rural setting. The family were all there and we introduced ourselves to Ping, T, BinTan and Simone and were soon sat down to our first home cooked meal and what a spread: BBQ fish, chicken Laap (chilli and locally picked herbs with minced meat- lovely!), jiao (a freshly made, fiery chilli sauce) with the ever present sticky rice.
We were shown around the school and presented with our challenge: To rebuild the toilet cubicles that had been demolished by a massive mango tree. It was in a poor state with one of the two cubicles almost completely destroyed. We would need to rebuild and repair 3 concrete columns reinforced with steel rebar, and rebuild the walls before setting the toilet in again. This was all needed in 3 weeks, starting now!
After another lovely meal in the evening accompanied by the family's home made Lao Lao (the Lao drink and spirit made from sticky rice no less) we asked a few questions via the translator, offering our help for home tasks and showing our interest in the local food, cooking it etc. We retired early as everyone in the village wakes up with the cockerels. This is generally at 4 - 5am each morning. So, the next day we were up and waving Jan off. Jan, General Manager at the Bamboo School, which is a German foundation that supports the development of education facilities around northern Laos. We had numerous other projects pointed out en route to us arriving in Hatsa and their presence and aid is clearly made in the region.
Our first day of work was one of establishing a plan and giving ourselves an overall strategy of what to do in what order. We had little experience in heavy construction like this and having worked with each other on numerous and varied tasks knew we needed to be on the same page to get this done well. I first began creating a wooden mould
out of timber planks we had picked up en route. Unfortunately they were not the right size. The columns were supposed to be 15cm square, but in what had been described to us as Lao style, meant inaccurate. We soon realised that we would be working with everything that was not quite right. The floor was not level and the walls were not straight. This made our job more difficult, as what do you decide to relate everything to?

The first couple of days went ok and we soon established our expectations of the difficulties we would face in delivering the kind of standard that was asked for. A prime example is the mould I built for the front column. Due to the wood not being wide enough the edges had to be used all around. This meant large gaps on each corner of the mould- not great for pouring concrete in and creating square columns! To make this sturdy enough the contraption that was built ended up being called "the beast". It worked though- just.
We soon developed a routine. Although the family woke up early, either to forage for bamboo shoots, herbs or go fishing at 3am, we slept until 7am. The cockerels disturbed us somewhat as there must have been over 20 roosters in the near vicinity that made the morning chorus like a squawking choir starting at 4am, running until mid morning. We always said "Sabbai dee" to the same old lady on the street sitting and chewing betel nut (a natural stimulant) so her face was contorted and had red lips. A little boy was generally playing in the mud when we past on the way back for lunch and the same little girl we called grizzle chops was screaming with tears, snotty nosed.
We had some precious interactions with the people and saw them with enough regularity to develop some common ground and a connection. Yet we never felt that our presence was actually noted to be of benefit by the village and not really welcomed in as we had preconceived. This was perhaps a reflection of the "Nayban" or village chiefs attitudes towards the support they were receiving. It was generally a 'take, take, take' attitude, where help was not given by the village and yet they asked for a lot from the bamboo school.

New roof on the school, boarding house etc. Yet we needed sand and this was promised immediately so we could get on with the concrete mixing and real work. This ended up taking 4 days and 2 additional requests to the Nayban to mobilise the people, which as usual turned out to be all the kids of the village. Around 20 kids turned up, some as young as 5 years old, all with bags and head straps, carrying them down to the river banks, filling them up as much as they could carry up the steep hill to the school and dumping it where we needed it. We felt bad watching them perform this task, but this was promised by the village and this is the way it is. In many Asian countries the kids do the work that no one else wants to do.
It seemed crazy that the young men were doing nothing but watch also. Some walked by while we were working to watch what we were doing. It made us think a lot about how aid is given and delivered more than ever. One prime example of this was when the hard wood door arrived and was left on the river bank. Hauling it up the steep slippery steps with Laura was a complete mission and too heavy for her to carry. Yet none of the men would help, despite being asked. They just sat there and watched us struggle.
We had plenty of time to think about these things as well as have other projects during the day. We started work at around 8:30am after breakfast of either things left over from the night before, bamboo soup and sticky rice, omelette with sticky rice or fish soup and you guessed it: Sticky rice! I didn't really enjoy it when I first tried it, but eaten

with delicious local herbs and vegetables native to the region and chilli sauce it is tasty and gives you the feeling of being satisfied. As they say "Kin Kau, Im Lai", which means: "eat until you are really full!" We quickly became accustomed to the rules of eating. For example you cannot lean over someone else taking some food. Food is served in the middle of the table and you hold a large wad of sticky rice in the non-dominant hand, rip a bit off and then scoop some of the vegetables or whatever onto the rice ball you make in the dominant hand with your thumb. You can only use your hands when you are holding sticky rice, if not then a spoon or fork is used. A water bowl is set by the side of the table for washing before and after eating. A local tea called "Yar" is generally drunk with a meal when Lao Lao is not drunk, but this can be pulled out at any meal, time of day or any occasion! Considering it is actually a branch of a tea it is really tasty and far better than boiled water. This is because the water is taken directly from the river and used for everything. It is muddy, even when boiled when large sediment develops. The tea is a great disguise for mud water!
After being in Hatsa for 4 days it was Buddha day, unbeknown to us until we emerged for breakfast to see a large spread being assembled and people starting turning up to calls of "kin kau". It is customary in Laos that if a family is eating and people pass that they are invited in to join the meal. At this party we were joined by an extra 4 people, the Lao Lao was out at 8am and everyone wobbling by 9:30am. Smoked fish was on the table with chicken noodles, morning glory (an Asian spinach, which is really simple but tasty), and spicy fish soup. It was a beautiful meal with everyone in high spirits. After 2 bottles of Lao Lao beers were bought, I went to contribute some. Undecided on 2 or 3 bottles, chose 3 and as it had the usual heavy rain the night before the clay was wet and slippery. Of course I fell over and smashed one bottle, fragments in my knee and a good set of people around to see me get caked in red/brown mud! Two visitors had to leave mid morning time as it turned out they were nurses for the local clinic, built by UNICEF and supported by a few other organisations. I headed over to the hospital with Ping to see what was going on. People were paying and receiving antibiotic injections for any ailment really and Ping had one just because it may do something for something. It was comical though as the nurses were drunk, beer bottles were sat empty in the waiting room. Then when the patients had been sorted money was taken out of the draw from what was paid for the injections, given to a little girl who then came back with 6 bottles of beer. I sat with them feeling guilty and wondering if I was really drinking the money taken for hospital treatment, while listening to music and laughing in the stifling heat.
The only other day of celebration was when Ping and T's family came to visit from Luang Prabang. That day was another filled with drinking and eating good food. Smoked ribs cooked with banana flowers, fried fish and other delights including a fish intestine paste mixed with chilli! We were certainly getting the local Lao food experience we were looking for. Otherwise we sat in the hammock I had bought in Vientiane, tried my hand at poetry (see end of post for the effort!) while Laura sat weaving necklaces, listening to the insects and duck's arguing, chicks tweeting and people shouting at each other through the walls of their homes. In the village everybody knows everything and a person is just part of the village, identity is communal. People chat while in the shower. You shower with clothes on and many people can see you, so privacy is minimal. Despite this a bucket wash of river water was a favourite time that happened twice a day. Refreshingly cool and amusing as I would sit on the floor scrubbing my crotch, with ducklings looking at me to see whether it was food time or just a time to have a drink from the run off water.
Work also started going well and we felt our confidence increase. The first column moulds came off with no problem and the beast did a great job. The columns were intact and square. Result! We soon developed a system of mixing concrete in the one bucket we had. With no spade this was done using a stick and was hard work in the tropical summer heat. Sweating buckets became normal as did the onslaught of mosquitoes that hung around the stream, near where we worked.
Unfortunately though things started to get uncomfortable. The food that was so excellent at the start began to become minimal. T would go out hunting, but only brought back 2 birds in 3 days, which we saw nothing of. Comments began to get made about how we were buying coffee (this was all we could afford as we brought little money with us). Laura was asked a few times to pay Ping to make a dress for her. We were then openly given the usual stereotypical treatment of a westerner. You have money so cough up and share it around. The truth was we didn't have money with us, apart from what was given to us by the foundation for building supplies. We started to feel more and more unwelcome. This really made itself known when the family had words and the mood in the house dropped to an all time low. The kids spent most time away from the house and T ended up leaving to go to Nong Khiaw to register as a teacher. He left with barely a word, head hung low and looking miserable. We thought he would be back in a few days, but it turned out that he would not return till after we left. This was sad as he was a lovely, smiley person and actually we agreed a cute character. He made a great deal of effort in teaching us Lao and explaining what was happening in conversations to include us. When he could see we were being reserved in eating and hanging back to see what other people did he would hand us a good part of the fish or meat, as a gesture to feel part of the family. Unfortunately it was not in Ping's nature to do this, she wore the trousers and controlled the finances. She seemed money obsessed and we suddenly realised that there was an issue with how the arrangement was set up with us staying in the house.
After T left the workload for Ping increased because she still had to feed us all, now a family of 5. This is tough. She sent Tan out to go fishing in the storms that dumped buckets of rain with booming thunder that echoed around the surrounding mountains at 3am. He was exhausted. There was strain on the family it was clear and ultimately this was reflected in the atmosphere. We were asked about money more and more, had less food and the effort to deliver what we needed to live dropped. This was fine as we were more than happy to help out, cook even. We offered our help but this was almost always turned down, with the exception of a few occasions to pull the black roots off freshly picked herbs.
Working hard in the heat, mixing concrete and doing heavy building took a lot of energy. When we reached a stage where breakfast stopped and we had just soup for lunch and a vegetable and sticky rice dinner, we became very hungry. As our keep was paid for so we had 3 meals a day and drinking water we had to start asking for food. This made things worse as the rest of the family seemed to be eating less, but they should have had the cash to buy ingredients without going out to collect the food. This is what happened at the start so why not now in times of hardship? We suspected that we were being used as an income and Ping was trying to make as much money out of the situation as possible. As such we pushed the issue and asked for food, sometimes this was met with "no food". This situation lasted for 5 days and gradually made our stay more and more uncomfortable, which was a shame. Our time with the family reduced and we spent our time either on the site working or sat on the balcony trying to enjoy the view and our experience overall.
We reflected that we thoroughly enjoyed our experience. We spent time with the kids shooting dragonball fruit off the tree with a catapult. A few times we skidded down the muddy steps to the river and had a splash around in the murky waters with the local, gaily painted long boats used for fishing and transporting up and down the river. We played with the kids, playing catch with the fruit of a tree and throwing them up in the air amid screams of delight as eveyone scrambled to collect as many as possible before the strong river's flow carried them off. It was beautiful at the river, as you could see the river snaking its way through the mountains that are cloaked in trees and bamboo forest. Just a few patches of light green scarred the wilderness of the steep slopes where cassava plantations surrounded the small brown dot of a wooden house. The people who live in the most remote place I have seen occasionally emerged at the bottom of what might as well have been vertical to visit the Hatsa market or bringing wood down from the hills. We had met our desire to get completely off the beaten track and hang out in a remote village in Laos.
We knew our time was up. We couldn't justify staying and offering our help in a bad atmosphere. We felt that we were either being a drain on the family or not treated particularly well. This was partly selfish on our part. Our time was nearly up on the travelling road and we wanted to ensure we spent it on positive experiences. Experiences we have learnt are all positive if they are significant. This was significant as we were experiencing the real Lao lifestyle and ultimately thrown into a project that was a challenge and doing well in both. Yet we had our travelling ambition of an elephant tour on our minds and to relax in a remote village to reflect on our journey, so decided to leave. Yet this was the hardest decision of our travels. We have endured uncomfortable situations before- why bail now? Surely we will kick ourselves if we don't quite finish what we started and feel like we ran away from a remotely difficult situation.
Jan was due back in a few days so we worked as hard as we could to get the toilet in the most complete state as possible. Soon those days disappeared and we were sat around eating lunch when Jan arrived. We talked about our issues and let him know our decision to return with him. He was disappointed but understanding. We showed him our work and how close we were to finishing before retiring for the evening, surprisingly for a great and varied spread of food. The first time in 5 days we had a good meal, which we suspected was a show for Jan. It was funny to see a whole pig being brought in and the hairs burnt off the skin that evening. It was pay day for the family and it showed! We had sat on the fence somewhat as to whether we were staying or leaving, but that meal time we were distanced even further from the family and local activities and this sealed our decision to leave. Either way it was a great send off to have fried pork and the delicious bamboo soup one last time before getting back to the "real world".
We packed up that evening feeling sad at the outcome, but positive that we had made some kind of impact on the project and highlighted an issue with the arrangement of how the homestay logistics worked. Ping had some great points on the difficulties they faced and of course this is a learning curve for everyone. We left happy that things would be more ironed over in the future and felt bamboo school was a worthy cause of our time. Although we felt that the people of Hatsa overall didn't seem to care if they had a toilet or not we hoped that it was a contribution in providing good quality facilities to the kids who would be boarding at the school as that is what ultimately mattered.
With these thoughts we walked around Hatsa one last time to say goodbye to the faces we had met, took some pictures of the kids to their screams of "photo, photo". They love seeing their faces on a screen and giggle wildly when they see what they look like. Then we made our way down to the boat landing, looking more bedraggled than we started, my worn slip-on shoes caked in mud, clambering into the boat talking to one of the villagers in Lao about the merits of us having drunk a few shots of Lao Lao for breakfast! People shuffled over and the engine roared to life as the brown houses and paths of Hatsa grew steadily smaller. A handful of kids waving us off "and that" I commented "was that".

Village Life in Laos

Walk around the sleepy village, people look idol,
A survival life in stifling heat,
Needs dictate a smarter schedule.

Power is only on for half a day,
doing anything part time here
is the only way.

Shapes green and brown of every dimension,
Leaves as flat as perspectives,
Politics aren't worth a mention.

Around every corner different species of insect,
An eco-system of global envy,
But here it's just a new play set.

The "Farang" west sees a need for aid,
But where existence is pure,
People aren't bothered if we stayed.

People look at wood houses like they're backward,
So when people donate money,
they take like we all would.

Discussions through closed walls- public community,
Everything is shared and known,
The core of village life, bonds, its unity.

Rustle, fwap, ting, murmer, clack, tweet and laughter,
With not much activity,
Sounds are the sign that people live happy every after.

 

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Nadja Meister aus der Schweiz bereitet mit ihrer Gastmutter Peng Käfer für das Abendessen zu.

1

In ihrem Erfahrungsbericht schildert Nadja eindringlich, was es bedeutet, wochenlang auf sich gestellt in einem kleinen laotischen Dorf zu leben und zu arbeiten.       

Hatsa: Oktober - Dezember 2011

Mitte Oktober 2011 begann für mich eine unglaublich spannende und lehrreiche Zeit als Volontärin in "Ban Hatsa", einem kleinen Dorf mit ungefähr 250 Einwohnern unweit des Flusses Nam Ou.

Mein Volontäreinsatz offenbarte mir die Möglichkeit, vielfältige Einblicke in den Lebensalltag einer laotischen Dorfgemeinschaft zu erhalten und gleichzeitig eine Vorstellung darüber zu erhalten, was es bedeutet, sich als einziger "Falang" inmitten einer solchen Gemeinschaft zu bewegen.

Projekte Bambusschule

Neben meiner konstanten Tätigkeit als Englischlehrerin konnte ich in Hatsa im Laufe der Zeit auch noch andere größere und kleinere Projekte rund um den Bereich Schule/Boardinghouse verfolgen, welche vom gegenwärtigen Bambusschule-Team bereits im Vorfeld meines Einsatzes ins Auge gefasst wurden.

So galt es beispielsweise, das "Abfallproblem" auf Schul- und Boardinghouseareal in Angriff zu nehmen, wobei es insbesondere darum ging, sowohl Kinder als auch Lehrpersonen darauf zu sensibilisieren, ein Verständnis für eine nachhaltige Abfallentsorgung zu entwickeln.
Weiter war die Idee, in Zusammenarbeit mit den Boardinghouse-Kids sog. "Guidelines" zu definieren, nachdem sich unter anderem herausgestellt hatte, dass es zu deren Gewohnheit wurde, nicht die Türen, sondern die Fenster als Einstieg in ihre Zimmer zu benutzen, sodass die ehemals weiße Außenfassade des Boardinghouses nun mehr braun war. Auch ihre Essensreste und Abfälle pflegten die Kids direkt aus dem Fenster zu werfen, was zu einer stinkenden "Müllstrasse" entlang der Fassade führte und nicht unbedingt einen netten Anblick für BesucherInnen bot. Weiter benötigten sowohl Toilette und Waschbecken des Boardinghouses einen neuen Anstrich. Mit meinem sozialpädagogischen Hintergrund sollte es zudem zu einer meiner Aufgaben gehören, mich nach Möglichkeit vermehrt in die Alltagsgestaltung der Boardinghouse-Kids einzubringen.

Da die Bambusschule bis anhin über spärliche demografischen Angaben ihrer Projektdörfer verfügte, galt es für mich, im Verlaufe meines Volunteering-Einsatzes über jedes Projektdorf bestimmte Angaben bezüglich Schulklasse und SchülerInnen zu sammeln, welche als Arbeitsgrundlage für zukünftige Bambusschule-Projekte dienen sollen. Zu diesem Zweck fertigte ich im Vorfeld meines Einsatzes ein Dossier an, anhand dessen ich mit den jeweiligen Lehrpersonen der Dörfer die wichtigsten Daten über ihre Klassen festhalten und im Anschluss entsprechende Statistiken darüber anfertigen konnte. Dieses Papier fragt neben der jeweiligen Klassengröße auch  nach Geschlecht, Alter, Herkunft und Ethnie der Schülerinnen und ist sowohl in englischer als auch laotischer Schrift verfasst.

Teaching - new experience...Learning by doing!

Der tägliche Englischunterricht erwies sich für mich gerade in der Anfangszeit als tolle Möglichkeit, näher mit den Kindern und Jugendlichen in Kontakt zu kommen und die mir entgegengebrachte Scheu einzelner Schülerinnen allmählich abzubauen. Ich unterrichtete drei Klassen während vier Tagen in der Woche für jeweils 2 Stunden am Nachmittag, wobei ich die Lektionen je nach Situation und Bedarf auch mal etwas ausdehnte. Obwohl das Niveau der einzelnen Schülerinnen innerhalb der Klassen stark variierte, war ich erstaunt über ihren bereits vorhandenen Wortschatz und es war klar erkennbar, dass die Kinder bereits viel von vorhergehenden Volontären gelernt hatten und erinnern  konnten. Da ich in der Vergangenheit noch nie Englisch unterrichtet hatte und mich diesbezüglich etwas unsicher fühlte, war es für mich insbesondere am Anfang eine Erleichterung, anhand des geführten "Tagebuchs" von meinen Vorgängerinnen zu erfahren, was bereits unterrichtet wurde und welcher Methodik sie sich bedient hatten.

Meinen Unterricht startete ich ohne jegliche Unterrichtsmaterialien - das Einzige, was die Kinder besaßen, waren ein Heft und ein Kugelschreiber und mir selbst standen lediglich Tafelkreiden zur Verfügung. Trotz der spärlichen Hilfsmittel habe ich versucht, das Englischlernen in einen aktiven, abwechslungsreichen Unterricht zu verpacken und alles Mögliche auszuprobieren: Wortlaute in verschiedenen Rhythmen üben (klatschen, stampfen, etc.), einen Ball hin- und her passen und dabei einfache Konversationen führen, Wettbewerbe machen (z.B. Rechnung an die Tafel schreiben; die Gruppe, die das Resultat zuerst auf Englisch nennt, erhält einen Punkt), Seilhüpfen und dabei auf Englisch zählen, usw. Es war eine Freude zu sehen, mit welchem Enthusiasmus die Kinder hier lernen und sich von den simpelsten Spielen begeistern lassen. Tagtäglich rannten sie laut schreiend ins Klassenzimmer, sobald ich mich der Schule näherte und begrüßten mich mit einem strahlenden "sabaii-dii" (später dann "good afternoon")!  Als ich von einem Wochenende in Nong Khiao mit Papier, Bleistift und Wachs-, sowie Buntstiften zurückkehrte, war die Begeisterung kaum zu stoppen und von da an versuchte ich natürlich, den Unterricht wann immer möglich mit irgendwelchen Malarbeiten zu verbinden und dadurch (noch) attraktiver zu gestalten! 
Die Lust und Freude der Kinder am Lernen hatte auch auf mich eine motivierende und kreativitätssteigernde Wirkung und ich bekam mehr und mehr Gefallen am Unterrichten und die anfängliche Skepsis war bald vergessen. Obwohl die Kinder bereits über ein gewisses Repertoire an Englisch-Ausdrücken verfügten und sich bereitwillig auf das Lernen von neuen Wörtern einließen, hatte ich mit der Zeit immer stärker den Eindruck, mehr mit meinem Unterricht erreichen zu können, wenn die Kinder in einem Mindestmaß auch englisch lesen bzw. schreiben würden. Daraufhin habe ich mit einfachen Schreib- und Leseübungen begonnen, in der Hoffnung, dadurch ein Verständnis oder zumindest ein Gehör für unsere Schrift zu entwickeln. Leider konnte ich dieses Projekt nicht zu Ende führen und ich hoffe natürlich, dass nachkommende Volontäre Interesse daran haben, in einer irgendeiner Art und Weise daran weiter zu arbeiten!

Laotische Abfallentsorgung stößt auf westlichen Ordnungssinn

Das "Abfallproblem" zu thematisieren, entpuppte sich als nicht ganz so einfache Aufgabe - sind die Menschen hier doch mit einem total anderen Verständnis für Abfallentsorgung aufgewachsen, als es unsereins gewohnt ist. Hier ist es Gang und Gäbe, den Müll von Zeit zu Zeit einen Hügel hinunterzukippen, um ihn dann zu vergessen (ganz nach dem Motto: aus den Augen, aus dem Sinn). Leider sind die Zeiten vorbei, als sich der Abfall der Dorfbevölkerung noch mehrheitlich aus Essensresten, Blättern und Bambusutensilien zusammensetzte. Heute sind es vornehmlich Plastiktüten, Flaschen und Dosen, die sich großflächig über die Hügel von Hatsa verteilen - insbesondere rund um das Schul- und Boardinghouse-Areal. Unsere theoretisch ausgeklügelte Idee, eine Art "Verbrennungsanlage" in Form eines alten Fasses auf dem Areal zu installieren, in dem der in Körben gesammelte Abfall regelmäßig verbrennt wird, ließ sich in der Praxis leider nicht immer ganz so leicht umsetzen und brachte mich ab und zu an die Grenzen meiner Geduld. Dies begann bereits bei den Vorbereitungen, als es beispielsweise darum ging, Abfallkörbe für die Schulzimmer und das Boardinghouse zu besorgen. Mit meinen noch sehr spärlichen Laotischkenntnissen bat ich die Lehrpersonen, sich um die Organisation der Abfallkörbe zu kümmern, indem sie ihre Schüler dazu anhalten sollten, diese von zu Hause mitzubringen, wo jeder Haushalt seine eigenen Bambuskörbe ohne großen Aufwand herstellt. Obwohl ich mich täglich erkundigte und immer wieder nachfragte, fand kein einziger Korb den Weg bis zur Schule. Schlussendlich konnte ich mit Lehrer "Tii" (bei dessen Familie ich gleichzeitig wohnte) ausmachen, dass er (gegen Bezahlung) das Flechten der Körbe übernahm. Dies erfüllte nun zwar den Zweck der Dinge, sprach aber gegen unsere ursprüngliche Idee, die Kinder und deren Familien mit in dieses Projekt zu involvieren (vom zeitlichen Aspekt ganz zu schweigen).

Dieses simple Beispiel war eines von vielen, welches im Laufe dieses Projekts und meines gesamten Aufenthalts immer wieder in ähnlicher Form auftauchte und mich erahnen ließ, was die Zusammenarbeit mit Menschen bedeutet, welche eine grundverschiedene Arbeitsmoral verfolgen als ich selbst. Im Einzelnen mögen solche Vorfälle vielleicht unbedeutend erscheinen; doch wenn es zu einer Anhäufung von vielen dieser kleinen zeit- und nervenaufreibenden Geschichten kommt, kann das teilweise sehr ernüchternd sein. Es brauchte seine Zeit, bis ich mich an die laotische Arbeitshaltung gewöhnt hatte und die dafür notwendige Geduld und Akzeptanz aufbringen konnte...Doch als dieser Prozess einmal vollbracht war, gab es durchaus einige Erfolge zu verbuchen!

So auch mit dem gegenwärtigen Projekt: Nach Fertigstellung der Körbe veranlasste ich einen "Cleaning Day", an dem die "Verbrennungsanlage" offiziell eingeweiht wurde. Anstatt Schule war an diesem Morgen Saubermachen angesagt und alle Kinder, inkl. Kindergarten und Lehrpersonen, halfen tatkräftig mit! Die schmutzige Außenfassade vom Boardinghouse wurde ebenso geschrubbt wie die Toilette oder die Türen des Schulhauses. Sowohl für das Boardinghouse als auch die Schule wurden "Guidelines" formuliert und gut sichtbar an Wände und Tafel angebracht. Mit  den Lehrern konnte ich vereinbaren, dass von nun jeden Freitagmorgen ein sog. "Wochenendputz" stattfindet, an dem das Feuer im Verbrennungsfass entfacht wird, so dass der Abfall - der sich während der Woche in den Körben angesammelt hat - entsorgt werden kann. Dieses Vorhaben hat erstaunlich gut geklappt, auch wenn ich mich immer wieder hartnäckig auf unsere Abmachung berufen musste. Auch das System mit der Abfallentsorgung durch die Nutzung von Körben hat sich bis anhin noch nicht in den Köpfen der Kinder (und Erwachsenen) festgesetzt und brauchte immer wieder Input von außen.

West meets East

Es fiel mir manchmal schwer zu akzeptieren, dass sich die Menschen hier andere Umgangsformen gewohnt sind und ich in vielen Situationen gewissermaßen "gezwungen" war, die Rolle eines Polizisten zu übernehmen, um Erfolge erzielen zu können. So habe ich die Kinder und Jugendlichen in meinen Augen oft nur "herumkommandiert", ohne auf partizipierende und ressourcenorientierte Weise mit ihnen zu arbeiten, so wie mir das während der Ausbildung zur Sozialpädagogin immer wieder wunderschön nahe gelegt wurde. Es war auch nicht in meinem Sinne, den Menschen hier unser westliches Gedankengut aufzuzwingen und dabei ihre eigenen Vorstellungen zu einem Thema außen vorweg zu lassen.

Ob diese Aktion(en) eine nachhaltige Wirkung auf die Bevölkerung und die Kids hinterlassen haben, muss die Zeit zeigen und ich hoffe, dass diese Projekte auch in Zukunft von der Bambusschule weiterverfolgt werden und nicht eine einmalige Aktion bleiben.

Laos live

Während meines gesamten Aufenthaltes in Hatsa durfte ich die Gastfreundschaft von Familie Peng und Tii genießen. Mit ihren Kindern Tjiit (17 Jahre) und Bun Tan (15 Jahre) wohnen sie in einem netten Haus, dem sogar ein kleiner Balkon mit extra-Zimmerchen angehört. Dieses durfte ich während meines Aufenthalts mein Eigen nennen und ich saß unzählige Stunden am kleinen Tischchen auf dem Balkon, konnte meinen Blick über den Nam Ou schweifen lassen und die nachmittäglichen Schulstunden vorbereiten - Idylle pur!


Von Anfang an fühlte ich mich von der Familie herzlich aufgenommen und ich schätzte die natürliche Art ihres Umganges. Insgesamt habe ich viel Zeit innerhalb ihres Familienkreises verbracht (die halbe Verwandtschaft wohnt ebenfalls in Hatsa) und konnte auf diese Weise an ihrem Alltag teilnehmen und spannende Einblicke gewinnen, indem ich zum Beispiel beim Kochen mithalf oder mit zum Fischen ging. Ich aß höchst interessante Speisen, was über Käfer, geräucherte Ratte und Fledermaus alles Mögliche umfasste, feierte „wilde" Lao Lao-Partys inklusive Traditional Dance und führte erheiternde Konversationen, die mit Hilfe von Händen und Füssen immer irgendwie zu gegenseitigem Verständnis führten. Peng war zudem eine super Lehrerin und meine Lao-Kenntnisse machten von Woche zu Woche Fortschritte und ich entwickelte einen regelrechen Ehrgeiz, immer mehr und mehr zu lernen!

Es war unglaublich beeindruckend zu sehen, welch handwerkliches Geschick die Menschen hier besitzen und auf welch vielfältige Art und Weise sie zum Beispiel das Rohmaterial Bambus zu verwenden wissen. Über Werkzeug, Möbel oder Haushaltsutensilien wird hier alles ganz selbstverständlich und innerhalb kürzester Zeit aus Bambus angefertigt. Bereits von Klein an werden die Kinder hier mit in den Arbeitsalltag einbezogen und es ist ganz normal, dass sie von früh bis spät tatkräftig mithelfen und selbstständig Arbeiten durchführen (Feuer machen, Kräuter sammeln, Tiere schlachten, Fischen, usw.) von denen die Kinder in unseren Breitengraden vermutlich nicht einmal träumen.

Auch wenn die positiven Momente eindeutig überwogen, war das Leben als einzige Nicht-Laotin in einem Dorf wie Hatsa nicht immer leicht zu ertragen. Tagtäglich wurden jede meiner Handgriffe und Tätigkeiten von unzähligen Augenpaaren quittiert und kommentiert und ich konnte mich praktisch nirgendwo hinbewegen, ohne von einer Horde neugieriger Kinder „verfolgt" zu werden. Diese Umstände spielten alle keine Rolle, solange ich mich selbst in guter Verfassung fühlte. Doch es gab immer wieder Tage, an denen ich keine Energie hatte, Verständnis für die Situation aufzubringen und mich am liebsten an einen einsamen Ort verkrochen hätte. Es raubt viel Kraft, sich ständig in einer fast fremden Sprache zu unterhalten oder sich erklären zu müssen und insbesondere der zwischenmenschliche Austausch hat mir am Ende eines Tages manchmal gefehlt. Rückblickend hat es enorm geholfen, das Dorf nach 2- 3 Wochen für ein paar Tage zu verlassen und zurück in die „Zivilisation" zu kehren, um da wieder neue Energie zu tanken. Nach diesen Auszeiten bin ich stets gerne zurückgekehrt und habe mich auf das Leben im Dorf gefreut und auf die dort auf mich wartende Ungewissheit, was der nächste Tag wohl an Neuem bringen mag.

Meine gesammelten Erfahrungen der letzten drei Monate möchte ich auf keinen Fall missen und ich kann ein Volunteering dieser Art wärmstens empfehlen. Es macht jedoch Sinn, sich für einen längeren Arbeitseinsatz (mind. 3 Monate) zu entscheiden, so dass der Angewöhnungsphase genügend Zeit eingeräumt werden kann. Man sollte das Alleinsein und die Auseinandersetzung mit sich selbst nicht scheuen und sich darüber im Klaren sein, dass das Leben hier ein Minimum an Privatsphäre und Hygieneversorgung bietet.

Dankeschön

Ich danke der Bambusschule, dass sie mir einen Einsatz solcher Art ermöglicht hat und mich von Anfang an optimal in die bevorstehende Arbeit eingeführt hat (sei dies der offene und rege E-Mail Austausch im Vorfeld meines Einsatzes oder die umfassende Einführungsarbeit vor Ort).

Mein Dank gilt insbesondere auch der Familie von Peng und Tii in Hatsa, die stets um mein Wohlbefinden besorgt waren und es nicht müde wurden, mich immer und immer wieder zum Essen anzuhalten („kin kau lai lai!") J. Es war garantiert nicht das letzte Mal, dass ich mich in Hatsa habe blicken lassen!