Vegetable Farm Project
Project identified as very urgent and worthwhile
Story - 2014
Philanthropist and volunteer John, a founding member of Global Support Association Inc. has just returned from Laos after having been working on this project for a few months. Much has been done to progress the project along in this period once Global Support Association Inc. identified the project as extremely urgent and worthwhile. John is an agricultural specialist who worked in Laos for 5 years previously with Australian Aid and is one of most qualified people available to help the children improve the soil, improve their yields and therefore provide more vegetables. Later, he can also assist with improving fish yields from some fish farming as there is a small dam which could be used to increase food supplies although not big enough by any means to supply 600 plus children. He will also help in expanding the area so that more children can grow more vegetables. These children come mostly from farming backgrounds so this is natural for them. However they also go to school and can do with some help in improving their conditions and making it a bit easier and more efficient for them. John is also very familiar culturally and knows how to facilitate the work in difficult circumstances and isolation. Here is John checking out the local supply of basic agricultural tools.
Philanthropist and volunteer John, a founding member of Global Support Association Inc. has just returned from Laos after having been working on this project for a few months. Much has been done to progress the project along in this period once Global Support Association Inc. identified the project as extremely urgent and worthwhile. John is an agricultural specialist who worked in Laos for 5 years previously with Australian Aid and is one of most qualified people available to help the children improve the soil, improve their yields and therefore provide more vegetables. Later, he can also assist with improving fish yields from some fish farming as there is a small dam which could be used to increase food supplies although not big enough by any means to supply 600 plus children. He will also help in expanding the area so that more children can grow more vegetables. These children come mostly from farming backgrounds so this is natural for them. However they also go to school and can do with some help in improving their conditions and making it a bit easier and more efficient for them. John is also very familiar culturally and knows how to facilitate the work in difficult circumstances and isolation. Here is John checking out the local supply of basic agricultural tools.
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Suan Luang Facility. The six hundred plus children at Suan Luang School for Disadvantaged Children and Orphans live about 45 minutes south of Luang Prabang by vehicle. This may as well be hundreds of kilometres away as the children have no access to Luang Prabang for any purposes including medical. This in itself presents a problem for volunteers as it is expensive to get transport to the village and as Suan Luang is on a major highway south - travel by Tuk Tuk while also expensive is also dangerous due to the large number of trucks coming down from China laden with goods and on a very narrow winding road.
Communication by phone is difficult if not impossible and you are never sure when teachers and directors are available as they don't attend every school day due to not being paid by the Lao government for months at a time. The children are supplied “basic” food by the Lao Government in the form of almost adequate rice and less than 200 grams per month per child of protein and the cheapest vegetables available (obviously not great for growing kids). The limited food budget does not allow for adequate amounts of anything but rice. The children try to supplement their food supply through growing some vegetables and foraging in the local forest and river for protein such as termites, frogs, fresh water shells etc but this is no where enough and is time consuming for students who are trying to study. |
Prior to the Project commencement. The photos show the vain attempt to grow vegetables in rock hard ground, with very few tools but the enthusiasm (the most important element) is very strong and the children are committed.
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By contrast, the Luang Prabang Orphanage School close to Luang Prabang city, and also housing six hundred plus children, have developed their own veggie patches which they tend themselves “totally unsupervised”. They produce (mostly lettuce but some other greens and the introduction of new higher nutritious crops is now being addressed) and these are used by the students to supplement their also meagre rice meals and soup slop and some vegetables are actually bought back through the school’s food budget for the dining rooms for additional food. The resultant small income to the students provides them with some niceties like extra meat, fruit and eggs etc but still this is no where near enough. This particular school has the benefit of being close to Luang Prabang so it is easier for local businesses, tourists and a few altruistic ex-pats to assist. It also has very easy access to water whereas the Suan Luang Facility does not have easy access. This method has been working quite successfully for a few years. However, to help alleviate this massive shortfall problem at Luang Prabang, donors both Lao and expats attempt to provide the shortfall in vegetables and protein; as well as other essential items and services, including personal hygiene, clothes, health care and school supplies. Unfortunately this can be spasmodic. The aim of Global Support Association is to at least in the first instance get Suan Luang vegetable gardens looking more like Luang Prabang Orphanage School.
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The Suan Luang Project Assessment. It was obvious, that the Suan Luang Facility was considerably more isolated and administratively well behind the Luang Prabang Orphanage Facility and needed some urgent help to at least bring it up to the standard of the Luang Prabang Facility which is also still in dire need. There were only a few rudimentary veggie patches being tended by the students and the schools food budget appeared less available for the buy-back scheme at this stage. You have to remember this is 600 plus children not just a backyard garden. In addition, the water that was available for the veggies was relatively inaccessible, being down a very steep incline (12-15 meters vertically) to the local river. Luckily, the facility had the benefits of having access to reasonable amounts of land but the soil is less fertile and virtually rock hard in the dry season.
The limiting factors for improving and expanding the agricultural vegetable garden at Suan Luang:
The limiting factors for improving and expanding the agricultural vegetable garden at Suan Luang:
- access to needed water
- basic tools and equipment
- infrastructure assistance ensuring responsibility and sustainability
- would the children be able and be willing to participate
- assessment of assistance with land preparation.
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The Project so far: We were delighted that the children and directors approached the project with gusto and gratitude. The children cleared an area of approximately 1 hectare in a few days with the whole school being assigned areas to complete the clearing. With donated funds we were able to build two water storage tanks in the growing area (1 x 4,000 litres & 1 x 3,000 litres), supplied and installed a high-lift water pump (with the relevant pipes to the main storage tank), and purchased adequate watering cans, basic land-clearing, digging, and cultivation tools and some seeds. The school administration provided the electricity installation (with our materials and bamboo poles) to the river and are paying the additional electricity for the water pumping. All this cost well less than $2,000 AUD, great value for money and so cost effective.
Already there is at least ten times the area planted for growing crops than before the project commenced a month or two earlier and the produce is already being consumed in the dining rooms, by the children in their own little cookers plus used in end-of-year school festivities. The crops chosen are highly nutritious and extremely edible and enjoyed by the Lao - these include eggplant, morning glory (Lao version), cucumbers, pole beans and of course lettuce which is used at every meal. |
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The Positive Future of the Project. The water pumping is working well but there are some organisational and administrative issues still to be solved to make the system more efficient and to fit in with the children's study and school commitments but there is no shortage of enthusiasm. The present method of pumping and delivering water was based on local technology which is tried and true in Lao and copying what a nearby farmer does very successfully and what the children are familiar with. Now they believe it works, the system has to be tweaked to make it completely appropriate to the school environment and associated restrictions. Once satisfactorily operational and very soon in the new school year starting September 2015 we plan to expand the range of crops considerably as well increase the planting areas by assistance with mechanical land preparation to break the rock hard ground and by further additional water pumping facilities. We are now satisfied that this project is totally sustainable and will help children for years to come. We intend to make the Suan Luang Project a show piece for other schools to follow and something the children, the directors and teachers will feel proud to show to others as an example of what they could also do. All5we need is some funding to push this to the next level.