Humanitarian Mission Trips
It is through Humanitarian Service Trips that Jai Lao is able to accomplish our mission. When our volunteers and board members are on-site, we are able to assess the needs of the villagers and work in partnership with each community to give back what they truly need. Our team’s travel expenses for these Humanitarian Service Trips not paid for by Jai Lao Foundation because we have promised that 100% of donations will go directly towards the families and children of Laos who need it the most.
In these missions, we are able to provide necessities such as clothing, food, toiletries, clean water systems and other basic needs. We are also able to determine the type of school or building a village needs and work together to make education a reality for Lao children in remote areas.
See below for descriptions and galleries of some of our mission trips!
It all started with a playground
January 2008
Jai Lao Foundation’s first mission trip to Laos. A child's mind is stimulated not only in the classroom, but in the playground. In most if not all the country villages in Laos, there are no playgrounds to play and explore. A 6 year old daughter Lao American girl asked her mom, "Mommy, how come these kids don't have any playground to play in?" From her idea and heart, a small donation of $750 was made by her family to have a playground installed. It was the greatest feeling and the start of more projects we wished to do for kids in Laos. From her heart of compassion and giving, the seed of Jai Lao Foundation was planted...
Humanitarian Service Trip #1
December 2009
Jai Lao's first humanitarian trip to provide relief for villagers was in December 2009. We learned that a big typhoon had hit Laos so just seven months after the founding of Jai Lao, several Board Members volunteered to travel there to visit villages in need, particularly Baan Na Don Keo that was hit really hard by Typhoon Ketsana. Jai Lao brought the village of 137 families basic household goods, food, livestock, and clothes to replace a fraction of what they lost during the flood with a project cost of $6,800.
Humanitarian Service Trip #2
July 2010
Two volunteers from the Jai Lao Foundation embarked on a trip to southern Laos to build a school in Laos. They came back with permits/approvals to build two schools in the Salavan province. Both schools have been fully paid for from the efforts of our "Night in Laos" Charity dinner in June 2010. The preschool and elementary school is each and everyone of your school that attended the event or made live donations the past year since our founding. Without generous supporting donors like you, all this dream would not be realized. As we continue to strive to build a better Lao together, may we always be reminded of these first two schools as the root of only the beginning of an everlasting charity towards our Lao brothers and sisters.
Humanitarian Service Trip #3
November 2010
During Jai Lao's third humanitarian trip, we opened up two Jai Lao schools in Southern Laos!! It was with humble hearts and uplifted spirits because this happened only a year and a half after the founding of Jai Lao. We also found another site to build our third school. One of our sweetest moments was cooking food to feed orphaned children at the Blind Center where the sweet voices of the children sang and serenaded us. Another highlight was cooking another meal for a Khmu village in the remote area two hours north by boat of Luang Prabang town limit. To see the children's faces light up is so rewarding for us as they feasted upon simple Lao dishes like tummakhoung, fried noodles and bbq meat.
Humanitarian Service Trip #4
June 2011
June 3-13, 2011: Luangprabang, Laos. Banh Pou Nong Khouay village chief contacted Jai Lao's advisor in Laos to ask for help in building a school for his village. On this trip, Jai Lao went to negotiate the cost and conditions of the two room school to be built for the villagers. The negotiation with the village chief went well and they were all eager to help get the school started.
Humanitarian Service Trip #5
November 2011
On this particular trip, Jai Lao focused on two villages in Luang Prabang Province. Jai Lao went to open our third primary school in Banh Phou Nong Khouay in which 31 Hmong and Khmu children will be attending Kindergarten and First Grade. This school project started in July after one of the Directors went to Laos to negotiate and finalize the details of the school with the district and would not be possible without Jai Lao's trusted volunteer project manager, Ai Vong, a Lao French who now resides in Laos.
Jai Lao also went to do the preliminary work of building our fourth primary school in Banh Hat Kham, a village submitted to us by Daravanh Bills during Jai Lao's Village Essay Search Contest. The Bills traveled with Jai Lao having all their airfare and other expenses paid for by the Foundation as the contest winners in which they generously donated hygiene and dental kits to all 53 Khmu families.
Humanitarian Service Trip #6
July 2012
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Humanitarian Donations
June 2015
Most of these children in Baan Pa Toop village have never tasted the sweetness of candies in their lives, and our sweet treats for them may be the first time to enjoy this sweet flavor of life. Jai Lao doesn't just build schools, but we build hope, opportunities and a sweeter future. We learned to give not because we have much but because we knew how it felt to not have anything. Jai Lao is very grateful for the generous donation of our Canadian donor sis Malaisy Visouvath for her kind and caring heart to ensure these children all received shoes and uniforms to prepare themselves for the new school. Sis Pak Lea Philavong of Illinois and her gift bags filled with educational materials is also another priceless gift from the heart. From the depths of our Jais (Hearts) we thank you all for your warm and loving support in our efforts to help the sweet and beautiful children of Laos.
Miss Laos Blind Center Trip
November 2015
Having Miss Laos pageant contestants make tum mak houng, serve and clean up after the children at the Blind Center was a priceless gift that no photos are needed to be seen by the children to have that memory etched in their hearts forever. Indeed it was a very special day as 20 beautiful Miss Laos angels descended from the heavens and came down to wrap their caring arms around these sweet children.
Baan Pa Toop School Mission
October 2015
Baan Pa Toop (BPT) Shack Wall Village, Meuang Ngoi District, Luang Prabang Province is Jai Lao's newest school building project. BPT is four hours from the city of Luang Prabang tucked away deep in the mountains and is home to 65 Khmu ethnic Lao families with a total of 377 household members and a total of 123 students from preschool to 5th grade. Today, the school stands as a two room building on dirt floor with thatched roof. Jai Lao will be funding the building materials, furnitures and educational materials for the 6 room school which will include a teacher's office and students' library. In addition, Jai Lao will also install four toilet rooms for students and teachers. Our school's architectural design was graciously donated by Mr. Ophspa, a reputable architect from Vientiane city. It's a very well thought out design that's aesthetically pleasing on the outside and very efficient and functional on the inside. This ambitious model school project is made possible by our wonderful project coordinator, Ms. Oey Saiyadeth, who's so generous in donating her time and talent with coordinating all necessary contracts, technicalities and legalities of our school. Our wonderful project manager and contractor Ham Vannavong's dedication is key to helping Jai Lao build our school.
Winter Humanitarian Mission
February 2016
Upon hearing the devastating plight of the poor villagers experiencing unusually cold weather, Jai Lao had to do something to help ease their pain and burdens. Children were getting sick, because they just did not have the proper winter clothes to keep them warm and safe from the dangers of the frost and even snow. With the generous contributions from our faithful supporters we were able to embark on another trip in February 2016 to bring coats and blankets to eleven villages totaling 526 families plus 198 students living in a village to attend school far from home. In addition, 150 disabled students and patients also received blankets at the Disability Center and Hospital in Vientiane which makes it a total of 500 coats and 2,150 blankets of love given to keep our Lao brothers and sisters warm.
Warm the Hearts of Laos Humanitarian Service Trip
June 2016
On JLF's mission to Laos in June 2016, we provided 1,500 children with lime green JLF tote bags filled with coats or jackets, beanies, mitts, scarves, socks, shoes, and dental kits. It was the largest amount of donations we've ever done requiring a 20 feet shipping container to be sent over to Laos. It took us over two months to gather all these items, and supporters throughout the USA contributed so kindly and generously to this relief effort.
Visiting the 11 mountaintop villages in Nong Het district of Xieng Khouang province was not easy and required the help of state officials and their transportations. The Ministry of Overseas Foreign Affairs helped get our donations waived from paying a $2,200 tariff fee. The Xieng Khouang province and Nong Het district department of social welfare provided transportation and extra manpower to help organize and distribute the donations.
Blind Center Donations Trip
June 2017
The gift of warmth and love of the greatest gift we can give to others. With the compassionate generosity of Jai Lao's supporters we were able to gift 56 students at the Blind Center with a clean and warm place to sleep. The children were treated to lunch and dinner by Jai Lao thanks again largely in part to our supporters Padek or Tummakhoung purchases that makes this kind of donation possible. We provided new mattresses, sheets, blankets, and pillows. In addition they received new undergarments, feminine hygienes, toothpastes, toothbrushes, detergents, soaps, and bath towels. Thank you Euy Sone and Ai Ot Singharath for gathering and assembling all the items for the kids! Also thanks to the kindness of Vicki Gilbertson from California for helping to donate sweatshirts to the children. But one of the most caring gift these sweet children received was a deep cleaning of their dorms by a team of dedicated volunteers from Vientiane led by Layou Thammavongsa. They spent all day cleaning the dorms till it was disinfected and cleaned before they put the new mattresses and sheets on.
Backpacks of Hopes & Dreams Humanitarian Donations Trip
November 2017
Jai Lao volunteers and supporters came together in full force to make this shipment of donations abundant and full of love. With the help of the local community, Jai Lao was able to gather Backpacks School, Supplies Coats, Shoes, Dental/Hygiene Kits for Kids in Laos.
Revisiting JLF Schools Mission
March 2017
This humanitarian trip focused on visiting the five villages Jai Lao built schools for and to donate educational materials to the children. It was a great opportunity for Donors and Board Members to see firsthand the schools they have worked hard to help build. It was a long and arduous journey with a few unexpected mishaps along the road to getting to the villages but we always end up making to be greeted by smiling and excited children.
Backpacks of Hope Mission
November 2017
750 backpacks were shipped in a container from San Francisco to Laos for our November 2017 "Backpacks of Hope" village donation visit. From then we worked with our partner Voluntour Laos to distribute the backpacks to seven villages in northern Laos.
