As part of the education side of Laos Buffalo Dairy we offer free English classes to all of our staff as well as to the children and young adults from the local primary and high schools. This is incredibly important as having a good level of English is a great way to widen their future career opportunities.
Initially our farm offered English classes to our staff but of course the staff have children and their children have friends and this programme has now grown into 60 students receiving free classes every day. We are proud to welcome students of all abilities and ages, our youngest is six and our oldest is thirty.
We’ve also brought on a full time English teacher named Tom to run the education programme and in the future we want to expand and grow to teach as many students as we possibly can!
The truly awesome thing about the students is that no-one makes them come to study on the farm. They all come out of a desire to improve and grow, this makes teaching them a delight. They arrive for class, they study intently, they go home and practice, practice, practice. They are inspirations!
Poukham, was the very first to join our English programme for the high school students. Since he first started coming to the farm three years ago, he’s barely missed a single class. He is dedicated, hardworking and incredibly intelligent and this now manifests in a brilliant grasp of the English language. In February, we brought him on to be the monitor of our library so we could invite the primary school students back from 3:30-5:00 to practice independent study. Poukham dreams of being a dancer in Korea and if his dedication to our classes is anything to go by, he will absolutely achieve his dreams.
Did you know….?
You can still vote!
2020 Mekong Experience Showcases Finalist
In case you missed this fantastic announcement last time, we are one of the finalists in the 2020 Mekong Experience Showcases. According to the members of the Mekong Tourism Advisory Group, we fit the bill for 3 main principles:
To make a significant social impact in our community.
To provide an authentic local experience for tourism.
To have an innovative and sustainable concept in our business model.
We are so excited to have been singled out as one of the responsible small businesses to do this. But, it isn't over quite yet! There is still another round of voting to go through.
From 7 July to 15 August we are asking that you please go to http://www.destinationmekong.com/ems2020/ and vote for us. The winner will be announced on 25 August 2020.
Tourism in Need
COVID-19 has badly affected tourism and visits to the farm. In order to mitigate some of the effects of the loss of income this has meant for the dairy, we have teamed up with the Tourism in Need initiative that supports responsible tourism organizations affected by the pandemic. Through this initiative, travellers can support the dairy through the Give Today, Go Tomorrow fundraising scheme. Click here to find out more and to make a contribution to help us to pay farmers and staff, and continue to train farmers and work on our nutrition program.
