What a shocking statement, and yet it is likely to be the outcome of the impact that COVID-19 has, and will continue to have, on girls’ education in Laos.
As an English teacher here in Laos, I have seen first-hand the challenges faced by students from low-income families. Those challenges multiply if you are a girl and multiply again if you are a girl from an ethnic minority group. Add COVID-19 into the mix, and the chances of lifting yourself out of poverty reduce considerably.
My opinion is shared, as I found out when I asked some of the students about this topic. Here is an example of the problems girls are facing. A female teenage Hmong student comes from an ethnic group that experiences discrimination. This student can speak English fluently and is by all accounts a genius. She pays a fee to study at a University which her family can’t afford. The bottom line is that she is paying to receive an education which doesn’t even come close to helping her fulfill her potential. She is one of 7 siblings living in a society that already favours sending boys to study and expects the girls to stay at home.
Her family supports her, despite the cultural prejudice and despite the whispering neighbours telling them it was stupid to send a girl to study. They send their daughter to receive an education, and she grasps the opportunity with both hands. School starts at 7am and finishes at 4pm. After that, there is an extra English class from 4:30 to 5:30pm and another English class from 6:30 to 8:30pm. And then COVID-19 turns everyone’s world upside down. Her university closes. The English classes stop. In general, jobs are drying up. So what’s next?
Have the whispering neighbours been proved right? That her family invested all this money in her education, and for what? It is only a matter of time before her parents ask her to come back to work on the farm. The widespread effects of COVID-19 have halted something that a few months ago seemed so promising.
This story is similar to thousands of other examples, and the impact here in Laos will be generational. Will other families in this student’s village send their daughters to study? Possibly not. A country that was starting to move in the right direction with equality in education has come to a juddering halt (for now).
Our farm works with the local community to offer them new income streams, healthier animals, improved nutrition for children and free English lessons - not only to our staff but to the local community around us who can’t afford to pay for it. We are proud of our students, and especially when the girls (and boys) progress to become English teachers and help us with our week-long summer camp, they become role models and inspirations for the younger students.
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, travelers 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 team members, and continue to train farmers and work on our nutrition program.
