International Organizations Encourage Children at Local Festival

International organizations partnered with local associations at the recent That Luang festival in Vientiane to organize booths offering fun activities for youngsters under the theme ‘We Love Children’.

World Vision Lao PDR, Room to Read (RtR), Child Fund, Learning House, the Participatory Development Training Centre and the Lao National Rugby Club co-organized the activities that ran throughout the festival.

Over four days at the festival, more than 500 children joined in painting and drawing activities, fruit-eating competitions and question-and-answer sessions on waste management.

“Many children gained knowledge and learned lessons from attending the activities, I enjoyed painting and I also learned about sharing with friends,” said one child who was attending the activities named Noy, 10, grade4.

After completing an activity, each child was asked to write their life’s dream on a leaf-shaped piece of paper, which was then attached to a ‘dream tree’ and put on display.

Two grade 5 girls, Kaymany and Thipphavanh, visited the booth every day it was open. It was a delight for them that the That Luang festival could offer such great fun for kids for free.

The two girls spread the word among children in the neighborhood and, sure enough, all of their friends visited the booths the next day.

The final activity at the festival was a special highlight for children and festival organizers alike.

On November 17, after the almsgiving ceremony in the morning, almost 100 young people from the Participatory Development Training Centre, the Lao National Rugby Club and Lao Bangfai as well as regular festival-goers wandered around collecting the mass of rubbish that had collected throughout the week-long celebration.

The activity successfully raised youth awareness on the importance of waste management and recycling.