Secondary School Sa Ming     
 

Status:
Completed

Cost:
USD ($) 11,000.-

Sponsord by JADE & Lions Club Bergen op Zoom (NL):
USD ($) 7,500.-

Location:
Laos, Champasak (Pakse Area)

Download the Final Report of the
Sa Ming Secondary School (10-07-2007)

Description:
This project is another good example of our strategy to reach really remote communities, which otherwise nobody else would support. Not only is the Sa Ming village far away from everything, but also the road leading to it reminds of a challenging stage of the ’Camel Trophy’. The community is in a distant corner of the Champasak province close to the Cambodian border. As for most parts of Laos, the educational budget of the government includes only teachers’ salaries (approx. USD 20 – 30 per month) and a pack of chalk per semester. Therefore, the community is responsible for the school buildings whereas the parents have to buy the school books and the uniform. As a result, most schools in impoverished, remote areas are in really bad condition.

The children of the villages around Sa Ming can complete grade 1 to 4 in their villages and then have to continue with grade 5 in a village nearby. If they want to continue their studies in the secondary school the have to go to Pathumporn, the next town, which is for most of them about 30 km away. Therefore, the community of Sa Ming village decided to build a secondary school to offer the students a opportunity to study close-by. Unfortunately, the budget was not sufficient to finish this ambitious project.

Child’s Dream agreed to support the completion of the school building which, however, will be used for primary and secondary school. The costs were about USD 11,000. The project was finished in March 2007.

28 August 2007 - Opening of School by Child's Dream and Jacob.

JADE foundation & Lion's Club Bergen op Zoom sponsored the school funding with $7.500,-
 

Past Project Updates:

19 Apr 07 - The school building is very nice. Due to a death in the village the opening celebration could not take place as planned. The ceremony will take place around the same time as those in Pathumporn and Naseng.

9 Feb 07 - The school building has been completed except for the painting. The furniture has are already been delivered. We made a payment for the furniture and for the workers. The opening celebration will take place on April 19th 2007.

2 Dec 06 - We visited the school and were glad to see that it has almost been completed. Currently they are painting the walls inside. The committee asked for more chairs for the assembly hall in front of the building. We also made a payment for the workers. Furthermore we ordered 120 sets of student’s tables, 6 sets of teacher’s tables and 6 cabinets for material.

1 Nov 06 - We visited the project in order to check the construction. The work has been progressing very fast and almost 80% of the building has been completed. According to the contract we made the first payment for the work. The building will be completed by the end of December 2006. They proposed a budget for tables and chairs for the class rooms. However, we first have to compare it with the prices in Parkse.

7 Sep 06 - After finalizing our due diligence, we went there again in order to discuss the project start together with the school committee. We signed the contract with the worker and the school committee. The community will provide the wood for the school building. We bought the rest of the currently needed material in Parkse. In the future they can order the material themselves and send us the receipt as long as it is according to the budget.