Nambak in Laos, Nam Bak District of Luang Prabang Province

Nambak in Laos, Nam Bak District is a district (muang) of Luang Prabang Province in northern Laos.

Ban Nambak is located in Laos's Northern Laos region. It's not much of a tourist destination, and other travel spots such as Luang Prabang may be more interesting to explore in this area of Laos. If you do travel to Ban Nambak, please add your favorite places in this Ban Nambak travel guide.

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NAMBAK, LAOS: The Nambak Orphanage

In all the countries where we deliver, The Pencil Promise looks to understand the barriers to education in that particular educational system, and to see where we can make the most impact giving access to education through school supplies.

Barbara explained that this is how it works in Laos; the government provides free school through primary school. The reality, however, is that there are no schools in the far lying areas so the children cant get to a school. There is no transportation available to them except to walk or if several can share a bike but if the nearest school is 30 or 40 miles away and there are no proper roads, this is not possible. And if the school was within reach the students would have to pay for uniforms and school supplies and some modest fees, which their families cannot afford. In Laos 35% of the population are without means. These families live off the grid- they are farmers- they don’t have the cash to afford these expenses. In our travels we were hard pressed to find one Loa local who kept a bank account- no one trusts the banks. No one has a credit card, atm card, everyone is paid in cash, pays in cash, and keeps it at home in a metal box because if it is in a cupboard in a paper bag the mice will eat it.

So there are two other options for these families to try to obtain an education for their children. The first option is the monkhood which is an option for boys of devout families, but many of the poor are Animist not Bhuddist, and secondly the monasteries provide no options for girls. The second option is an orphanage. In Laos you require specific documentation proving that the child is indeed an orphan before he or she can be accepted into the government orphanage. Families go to great lengths to get this documentation for their children at great personal risk.

Once the child is placed in the orphanage the layers of corruption become more apparent. The government provides 2 to 3 cents a day for each student for food shelter clothing and education. Imagine the shortfall. The teacher’s salaries get paid by the Government on a 3 or 4 month delay forcing very well meaning teachers to have to leave the school to take other jobs temporarily to support their families. These realities are hard to believe.

The Nambak Orphanage has overcome so many obstacles to provide excellence for their students that you just cant help but be impressed. To provide food they have an extensive vegetable garden that the children cultivate themselves that feeds all 400 students. They also grow rabbits, which they sell at the local market in exchange for rice and tin fish to enrich the children’s diet.

As for providing the students clothing they are very industrious. At their ethnic school, which is really a vocational training program, the weaving students create all the fabric for the school uniforms, while the sewing students sew them. It’s impressive to watch in action.

“The director of the orphanage school pulled me aside and wanted to ask me about the American Prison system- Is it true in America that in prison the government gives you three meals a day and a dry place to sleep and you can get a high school degree for free? And even watch TV? Because this is what we hope to give our students.” Wow…

As industrious as the staff is at Nambak Orphanage they can’t grow pencils and notebooks, and it was with great pleasure that The Pencil Promise made a delivery to these amazing kids. We brought backpacks of all different colors and let each student pick their favorite. They then walked down the line, a bit like trick or treating, to get their backpack filled with pens pencils notebooks and a pencil sharpener.

Just a note about the pencil sharpener- this prevents the spread of AIDS. Yes it is true. In a country with epidemic sex trafficking and poor to no medical care, AIDS is a reality, and when kids share a razorblade to sharpen their pencils they cut themselves and spread the AIDS virus. We make sure each child has their own pencil sharpener and teach the Teachers why they must not use razorblades anymore.

We also brought supplies for the teachers who had no books or pens to write lesson plans and keep track of their students grades.

The students that we met were such a delight and are so hard working and driven to learn. They care so much about their education, as they know it is the only way to break the cycle of poverty that their futures would hold otherwise. They are so affectionate and warm, and they couldn’t suppress their joy and delight as they picked out their backpacks.

They proudly took The Pencil Promise team on a tour of the whole school, and when we reached the girls dormitory we saw a long platform against a grey cinderblock wall, with a thin mat where the girls sleep, and The Pencil Promise backpacks with each girls name on it were hanging in a row on the wall above each girls spot. That’s a sight I will always remember.

http://thepencilpromise.com/our-story/educating-children/namback-laos