Travel to Teach: Volunteer in Laos
Travel to Teach, as a long established volunteer organization in Northern Thailand has recently started working in Vang Vieng, Laos. We are working in conjunction with The Vang Vieng Organic Farm whose profits are used to fund several community projects that support and educate the people who live in Phoudindaeng village which is located 4 km outside of Vang Vieng.
As one of the worlds least developed countries Laos offers fantastic volunteering opportunities. Volunteers have the chance to help offer a level of education unavailable to most Laotians, whilst living and integrating into a culture than is still relatively untouched by modern Western ways. Laos people are frank, open and friendly and volunteers will find their students well behaved and extremely respectful with a strong desire to learn.
Travel to Teach offers the opportunity for volunteers to combine their volunteering in Laos with stops in our other South East Asian volunteer programs in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam as part of a combination stay.
Laos has been part of the backpackers circuit linking Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam for a number of years and but has now began to emerge as a tourist destination in its own right. Despite a recent high growth rate and the development of the tourist industry in Van Vieng, Luang Prabang and parts of the Mekong Delta, Laos remains a country with a primitive infrastructure; it has no railroads, a rudimentary road system, and limited external and internal telecommunications. Laos is one of the few remaining official Communist states. It began decentralizing control and encouraging private enterprise in 1986.
Program Location: Vang Vieng
Travel to Teach is located in a small village just outside of Vang Vieng. Nestled amongst the typical Laos hilly and mountainous terrain and situated on the banks of the Nam Song river, the landscape is breathtaking. The scenery combined with a wide range of leisure activities and Vang Vieng's location halfway between the capital of Laos, Vientiane, and UNESCO heritage site, Luang Prabang mean Vang Vieng has become a popular tourist stop off. Despite this, Vang Vieng manages to retain a fairly authentic Laos atmosphere.
Travel to Teach's volunteer program is based on the Vang Vieng Organic Farm. Our volunteers teach English and computers and assist in a number of other ways.
Laos Facts:
Full country name: Lao People's Democratic Republic
Located: Southeastern Asia, northeast of Thailand, west of Vietnam
Area: 236,800 sq km
Population: 6,368,481 million (July 2006 est)
Ethnic groups: Lao Loum (lowland) 68%, Lao Theung (upland) 22%, Lao Soung (highland) including the Hmong and the Yao 9%, ethnic Vietnamese/Chinese 1%
Languages: Lao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages
Religions: Buddhist 60%, animist and other 40% (including various Christian denominations 1.5%)
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 66.4%
male: 77.4%
female: 55.5% (2002)
Government: Communist state
Money: KIP (LAK), Thailand Baht widely accepted
Climate: tropical monsoon; rainy season (May to November); dry season (December to April)
Economic overview: The government of Laos began decentralizing control and encouraging private enterprise in 1986. The results, starting from an extremely low base, were striking - growth averaged 6% in 1988-2004 except during the short-lived drop caused by the Asian financial crisis beginning in 1997.
Sights: Luang Prabang, Plain of Jars, That Luang, Patuxai (Anousavary) - Victory Monument, Wat Xieng Khouang (Buddah Park)
For more information visit our website
http://www.travel-to-teach.org
