Spending time with the SAILers at the Nam Ngum Dam.
On July 10th I went to visit the SAILers in Vientiane. It has been four weeks since I sent them off at the airport in San Francisco. Even though I have been reading their blogs and communicating with their Lao language teachers, the Lao-American College staff, and the SAIL Program Leader on a regular basis, I just had to visit the students for myself.
As soon as I landed, Mr. Xuan, our SAIL Program Leader was there to greet me at the terminal. We went to a Pho restaurant for lunch at Ban Phone Keng, which was one of the best I had for awhile. At the Somneuk Guest House, where the SAILers have been staying since their arrival, I was greeted by Ryan, Akarath and Toby. Phouthasack later joined the rest of the group for our first meeting. It was so nice to see them again.
During the meeting Phouthasack was concerned about the lack of his “Laoness.” Many Lao often mistook him for a foreigner due to his appearance and his Lao language proficiency. However, as I observed Phouthasack during the next few days, both inside and outside of the classroom, I’ve noticed that his Lao has actually improved a great deal. He is now able to read and write. His vocabulary has improved and he is able to carry a conversation in Lao with the local people. I could see how it could be frustrating for a person like Phouthasack, who wants to be Lao, and not be recognized as one by the local people. I have been visiting Laos off and on since 1994 and even though I feel this is my home, I still have a hard time convincing some people that I AM LAO. This will take time and the SAIL program is only the beginning of the journey for the SAILers.
Ryan’s Lao, our only none Lao American SAILer, has also improved tremendously. I was shocked to hear Ryan speak Lao so clear and precise in such a short period of time. Ryan and Phouthasack were in the same class and according to their language teacher, Achaan Bounmy, they have been focusing most of their time on reading and writing and it showed. Ryan was volunteering at the National Library and learning the Tham Script every morning. He was planning to take Khene lessons. I jokingly told him that he should play for us at the next Lao Studies conference in 2013.
Akarath and Toby were in the intermediate class with Achaan Hommala. Akarath already spoke some Lao before the SAIL program, but wanted to improve his reading, writing, and vocabulary. He also wanted to be able to give a presentation in Lao on his current research. Achaan Hommala was working closely with him to ensure that he would be able to accomplish his goal by the end of the SAIL program. He was volunteering at a children center where he taught English to a group of disadvantaged elementary students. I am proud of him for doing something meaningful for the Lao community and for the Lao children. In his spear time he played basketball with the other SAILers and the Lao-American College students.
Toby is the only female student of the group. She is passionate about helping Lao girls and women in education. In her SAIL application Toby wrote about wanting to set up a scholarship program for Lao girls to attend school. She was getting closer to her dream by volunteering at the Donkoi Children Center and at the same time finding ways to make this possible. Her Lao has also improved a great deal. She admitted that the Lao script is hard to master. Nevertheless she has been trying very hard and judging from her classroom reading the other day, I thought she read Lao perfectly. I kept reminding them not to be so hard of themselves. They have certainly made me proud.
In the evening of July 10th, all the SAILers, the Program Leader, and the three SAIL professors met for dinner at a local restaurant, Tam Nak Lao. It was wonderful to see all the people who are involved in the SAIL program to sit together in one table enjoying Lao food.
