— Community Center

During 2004, the farm worked with local villagers and foreign volunteers to build a community center for the village. The center is located on a hill overlooking the Song River valley. The view from the center is rather inspiring. The building was built from local materials as much as possible, using unfired bricks, mud plaster, and local lumber (see the photo at left). We decorated it with discarded bottles and with the basic construction materials, applied as a relief sculpture on the walls.

The center was built by our local villagers, with help from foreign volunteers. Much of the work was done during school holidays so that the children could help out. After the walls and roof were built, doors and window frames were installed and "mud" applied to seal and secure the windows. Local plant fibers are used to reinforce the "mud". Some of the young girls made up ropes of mud and fiber for use around the doors and windows. Others helped by carrying the mud to the workers. The final step of the construction is to apply a special mud plaster to the wall surfaces. When all of the construction is complete, the walls will be painted to protect them from the elements.

The community center is available for use by all of the residents of Phoudindaeng Village. It is also the location for our English language classes.

— Equal Education For All

EEFA is a program started by the farm. EEFA build new schools, retrofit schools and English classes are taught through the EEFA program. If you are interested involunteering to teach in one of the English classes, please visit the EEFA website at www.eefaproject.com.

— School bus

For years, the children have had to walk to school. It is quite far and many children, particularly the youngest, did not go to school every day. Providing them with bicycles has been only a partial success. The bicycles were inevitably damaged in use, and the families could not afford to repair them. And, as highway 13 has been paved and improved, the traffic has become heavier and faster. It is no longer safe for the children to ride their bicycles on this major highway. So, we needed a school bus (photo at left).

With help from Korean members of the Asia Volunteer Action Network (AVAN-Korea) we were able to purchase a small bus to take the children to school and bring them home again in the evening. With the bus, school attendance has increased dramatically, and the children are no longer at risk riding their bicycles on the highway. Now we must provide fuel, repairs, and a driver for the bus. This ongoing expense is being met by money-making projects in the village and by donations. It costs about $110 per month to operate the bus.