HAK 22
15th Dec 22 - 5th Jan 23
Fundraisers
Our fundraisers are held to raise funds for both our local and overseas beneficiaries. These fundraisers are usually held on campus, lasting around 3 to 5 days each. The scope of our fundraisers can vary from selling items like self-designed shirts and accessories to even providing services to the student body! The funds collected from the fundraiser will go towards the purchasing of construction materials for the villagers and other things that our beneficiaries may need. We also organise donation drives along with our fundraisers to collect used clothes and items that our beneficiaries might need like stationery and toys, which will be distributed during the donation drive conducted on the actual expedition.
General
Meetings
Every week, we gather together as a committee to stay updated with the project’s progress. We also engage in lessons to improve our Lao language proficiency so that we can communicate with the locals in Laos better and be able to teach the children there effectively. Additionally, games were held for us by our own welfare committee to forge stronger bonds with one another and form lasting friendships!
Logistic
packing
With the generous donations from our fellow peers and sponsors, we had tons of clothes, toys as well as logistics to be packed into boxes. Hence, we came together one week before our trip for a mass packing session so that it will be easier to ship the donations over! It was hard work - packing, packaging and transporting box after box but it was all worth it when we saw the smiles on the villagers when they received the items! Packing was also a lot more fun with each other around!
CHalet
After 2 mornings of packing, it was time for our 2D1N chalet! We booked a chalet with the main purpose of having a full dry run of how the village party would go and of course to have fun! After we reached the chalet, it was quickly down to business - everyone was assigned a dish and after hours of toiling out in the kitchen, food was served. The food we made that day was the BESTEST tasting - everything turned out so well, especially the goreng pisang and the salted egg chicken!
FLy OFF!
Hello Laos! 🇱🇦
The day had finally arrived for us to commence our overseas trip, and we were all nervous and jittery! One by one, we gathered at the airport and many surprised us with either a huge or a tiny luggage size! After checking in, we bid our farewells at the airport and took a committee photo to memorialise this fateful day. Little did we know, 22 days would have flown past so quickly once we were there!
We were filled with excitement while waiting for the flight; and we prepared to head onto our flight after reading through our HAK Booklets at the departure gate area. Once the gates were open, we all took our last breath of Singapore and embarked on the very start of our overseas trip project.
the
embassy
After checking into our hotel, we visited the Singapore Embassy in Vientiane, where we met Ambassador Ms Leow Siu Lin and had an informal dialogue with her. We asked her many questions, ranging from her favourite food in Laos to the challenges she faced when she first embarked on her journey as ambassador in 2019. Through the dialogue, we gained valuable insights into Laos’ economic and political scene as well as the Lao culture. Ambassador Leow had shared with us interesting facts about the Singapore-Lao bilateral relations, economic and business environments and the people-to-people ties between Singapore and Lao.
We also learnt about the skills enhancement programs organised by the Singapore Embassy for the Laotians to upskill themselves and the Belt & Road project that connects Laos and China which will undoubtedly have a positive impact on economic trade between the two countries.
The Embassy visit was a productive and informative one, and the insights gained will undoubtedly be useful in our project execution in Laos.
COPE
VISITOR
Centre
Tai baan
crafts
On our second day in Vientiane, we visited TaiBaan Crafts which is a social enterprise run by Shui Meng, a Singaporean, & her husband.
When we reached, we were all in awe at the beautiful crafts displayed in the shop. 🧸🧶 Shui Meng then shared with us how these crafts came about & how it helps the women in many villages around Laos. 🎎🎏
She explained her motivations behind starting a social enterprise, wanting to help impoverished villagers, mainly women, to share their crafts & give them income. 💰
She further explained how her business model worked & how the business benefited both the craftswomen in the villages & the society as a whole. 👱♀️👧👍🏿
Amazed by the craftworks on display, we immediately started a shopping spree and were spoiled with choices by the amazing selection of products and designs available in the shop. 😍👝👜
On our second day in Laos, we stopped by the Cooperative Orthotic & Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE) Visitor Centre. COPE is a non-profit organisation that helps people with disabilities with medical care, prosthetics and rehabilitation.
This was an extremely eye-opening experience, with numerous exhibits, documentaries and anecdotes of victims detailing their experiences littered around the centre. These set the context for how UXO was first brought to Laos – by cluster bombs – and the long-lasting environmental and health effects that the Vietnam War still has on Laos today, despite the war ending in the 1970s. We were particularly shocked to find out that a significant portion of victims are children, who chanced upon the UXO while playing in the villages, and how this demographic contributed to almost half of the innocent lives lost as a result of UXO. We gained a greater awareness of the effects of the war on Laos and were surprised to learn that Laos is the most heavily bombed country per capita in the world, and to date, the UXO has still not been fully recovered.
Despite all the adversities faced, our friendly tour guide emphasised the resilience and positivity of the Laos population, with some locals even repurposing bomb shell casings into flowerpots! This informative visit left a strong impact on us, and we feel grateful that such a support system exists for people with disabilities 💪🏻💪🏻.
NAPHONG Village
Hand
washing
Our first ever experience teaching in Laos as a team was in Na Phong village, where we gave the children two hygiene lessons over two days– firstly handwashing 🫧!
We taught them the seven handwashing steps with a fun song (to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”) and a short dance 🎶🕺. We then played a short game with paint to demonstrate how germs spread 🦠. Once everyone’s hands were full of paint, we conducted a mass handwashing session, to reinforce the seven steps. We also played charades to demonstrate scenarios where they should wash their hands 🖐🏻🧼!
After this, we distributed soap bars so the kids can continue these handwashing habits at home 🏠👍🏻.
Overall, the kids managed to learn and repeat the handwashing steps in a short period and seemed to really enjoy our programme, setting a positive tone for the rest of our teaching journey in Laos!
Tooth
brushing
Following a successful day of handwashing lessons, we returned to Na Phong Village the next day, pumped up and even more excited for our toothbrushing lessons.🦷
To start off the program, a few of our members came together to showcase a skit that was designed to be both entertaining and informative for the children. We then moved on to the main activity, where we demonstrated proper toothbrushing steps on a mouth model and a Lao toothbrushing song that we created to make the steps easy to remember.🎤 After the demonstration, we got the children to practise using the toothbrush and toothpaste that we distributed, and it was heartening to see that they were able to display proper techniques just after a few minutes of practice.👏
Overall, the event ended as a success and we hope that this would help instil good dental hygiene habits for the children there to reduce prevalence of dental problems in the community!💪
GAMES day
Prior to this day, we didn’t know what to expect - how many kids would turn up or how the games would go, hence we went with an open mind, ready to adapt to whatever happens. When we reached, we were pleasantly surprised that so many kids turned up! We quickly divided the kids into groups according to their ages and started the games. We prepared 4 station games - What Time is it Mr Wolf, Relay Rock Paper Scissors, Poison Ball and Three-Legged Race, and What Time is it Mr Wolf turned out to be the greatest hit among the children!. Despite the language barrier, and a lot of charades needed to guide the kids, it was a great time filled with lots of smiles and laughter. Both the children and us sure had a good time under the sun!
DOnation
drive
We distributed all the items to the villagers during the Donation Drive conducted at Na Phong Village. This included sponsored items such as toys 🧸 and toothbrushes 🪥, as well as the things that were generously donated by NUS students and staff during our fundraisers, like clothes 👕👖 and stationeries ✏️. Both the children and the adults were extremely happy and thankful to receive the items. It was heartwarming to see the genuine smiles on all their faces!
PONG SONG
After a 3 hour drive, we finally reached Pong Song Village, our project site! It was dark when we first arrived at Mer Seurh’s house and we were received with a warm welcome. (Mer Seurh is the host at our homestay 👵🏼💞) When morning came, we finally got to soak in the village which was a completely new sight for most of us city-dwellers. Pong Song is a beautiful village with amazing scenery and a close-knit community. Children from the neighbouring houses would come over to Mer Seurh’s house to play with us almost every day. Despite the cold weather, we could feel the warmth and hospitality that they gave us. Although we were far away from our homes, through our interactions with the host family and villagers in Pong Song, we felt at home throughout the two weeks of our project.
10 days were all we needed to internalise how tiring construction really is. We thought that we were acclimated to the climate in Laos given how hot and humid Singapore already is, but we were dead wrong. Toiling in the hot sun, shovelling up dirt and carrying uncountable buckets of cement had us sweating and exasperated at the end of each construction session. Even though the village hall was still not complete, it was still worth it as we saw that the village hall is now close to being finished!
Construction
TEaching
For our English lessons this year, we decided to focus on building the vocabulary of the children through themes such as animals, colours and body parts. 📕
Before the trip, we spent months pouring our hearts and souls into planning and preparing for the lessons. We created lesson plans and tried our best to include suitable songs or games to keep the lessons engaging and interactive. For months, we could only envision how the children would receive our efforts.🤯🥶
On the first day of lessons, we started our walk to the school with perturbation.😖 The excited screams of the children could be heard from the school’s entrance and we were so worried for the days to come. Whether we would be able to handle them or even successfully teach them anything.
However, these kids proved us wrong with that same energy.⚡️ They were involved in our lessons and repeated after us with gusto and pride as it was a rare opportunity for them to learn a new language.🤓
How can we forget about the post lesson activities? After class ends every day, it meant game time for us and the kids.⚽️🏃🏻♂️ We took this opportunity to bond with the children and they slowly opened up to us. It was how they introduced their games to us while we tried to understand the rules with our broken Lao, when they would drag us to the convenient store to cajole (or scam) us into buying snacks for them🍪 and many more little actions like these that really warmed our hearts.❤️
In our nightly teaching reviews, we gathered around to share memorable or funny moments that happened in class and reflected on our learning points for that day.🧠 This helped to foster growth and development as we geared up for another day's worth of lessons💪🏻.
Before we knew it, we were conducting lessons for the last time.😢 Throughout our 2 weeks of English lessons, it was heartwarming to see the progress of our students. We would proudly share with one another about how our students could remember what we taught them in class.
Time flew by so quickly and it is definitely hard to say goodbye to these children who welcomed us with open arms from day 1. We never had to walk home from school alone as torrents of joy and laughter filled the air while they held our hands home every day.👭👬
Overall, We hope that our efforts over the years would help them in improving their English proficiencies and open up more opportunities for them in the future.🎉
10th
Lesson
To end off our teaching journey at Pong Song with a bang 💥, we conducted a mini carnival within the school, with station games such as Rock Paper Scissors Relay, Captain’s Ball, Shuttle Run, and Three-Legged Race. We also included some Singaporean games such as Chapteh and Pick-Up Sticks. However, the game that received the most positive reception was Mr Wolf 🐺!
The students were each given a card and upon completion of a station they would be given a chop . If they successfully collected all seven stamps, they would be eligible for a prize bag, which included notebooks 📘, pencils ✏️, folders 📁, and even crayons 🖍️! Of course, we would have distributed all the prizes to the kids regardless, we just enjoyed seeing them have fun 🤪! Overall, this was a touching end to our teaching stint, and we got to take some last pictures with the children before saying our last goodbye to Pong Song Primary School 🥺👋🏻.
Market
VIsits
On day 10, all of us woke up early and prepared to go to the Phon Hong market. After a filling breakfast, we climbed onto our tuktuks and set off on a nearly 45 minute ride to the market. We passed by many scenic spots and small villages and enjoyed the cooling air. We reached the market and were greeted by many sights and sounds of the bustling shops selling all types of items. From fresh local produce, many different kinds of meat, cooked food, drinks as well as our favourites - snacks!! Before heading off to explore what the shops held, we consulted Noi, our translator, on some must-know phrases for bargaining and enquiring about the prices. With some cash in our hands and bubbling excitement we headed in and looked at what the shops had to offer. Some of us bought some yummy snacks that we would stash away in our rooms back at Mer Seurh’s. There were some unique delicacies that we found too - crispy fried crickets! The welfare committee also shopped for some goodies and fresh ingredients for dinner. We also tried our luck at bargaining with the shopkeepers for a better price, and it actually did work out~~ After an hour or so we left the marketplace with many goodies.
A few days later, we set out to go to another market, the Meung Phuang market. This was another trip on the tuktuk past the beautiful mountains and bustling villages on a nice saturday morning. This time, we were all heading there with a plan - to buy ingredients for our Christmas dinner that night, and also to shop for more snacks to bring back to Singapore. Armed with more bargaining phrases and curiosity we explored the new market. They sold many different types of meat, and vegetables. There were also many vendors selling many gift items and snacks. We had another field day looking at the shops, buying more of our beloved snacks and enjoying some cold drinks - their special iced coffee which was refreshing and sweet. We went back satisfied and happy.
Hiking
On day 6 of our expedition, after our usual daily routine of doing construction in the morning and teaching the kids in the afternoon, we ended our day of activities with a short hiking route. We made our way to the hiking trail from the school and our first stop in the hike was at the side of the Lao-China Railway tracks to take some photos. We then continued on our journey until we reached a field of rice paddies right behind the village. Some of the kids from the village followed us on our hike as well and they played at the rice paddy while accompanying us. We took pictures there with the kids as well before moving on with our hike. We then went further up the trail and reached the side of a new expressway that was newly constructed. To end off the hike, we walked through a short and safe underground tunnel which brought us right back to Mer Seurh’s backyard where we were staying, making the hike one full circle.
On day 13, we went on another hike after our daily activities. This time, we embarked on a 1.5 hour long hike to a mountain nearby the village. During the hike, we passed by interesting sites like a rubber plantation and beautiful nature. In order to get up to the mountain, we had to walk up lots of elevation which was tiring but the view at the top made it all worth it. We managed to reach the top of the mountain right before the sun set and sat on a rock to admire the sunset overlooking the entire village while rehydrating ourselves. After admiring the beautiful sunset, we climbed back down and made our way back to the house just in time for dinner.
After two weeks in Laos, the members of HAK were really excited to celebrate Christmas in Pong Song village. Albeit not being physically near family back home, we were grateful to have spent this special day with our ‘family’ in Laos! Using the ingredients we had purchased earlier, in groups we embarked on a mission — a cooking contest! Despite the friendly fire between the teams that were cooking different dishes to win the hearts of the members, we embraced the spirit of teamwork and helped each other out. The result — we had a delicious meal with homemade dishes like scallion oil noodles, meatballs, corn dogs and fried eggs. Tummies full, we also had a blind secret santa gift exchange which everyone enjoyed. It was indeed a very special day and we celebrated the love and happiness and remembered the joy of service that had brought us here.
CHRistmas
Village
Party
The day has finally come! After several cooking trials, and the mass cooking trial during the chalet… it was time to show the villagers what we got and to let them have a taste of our home! With the ingredients bought from Phon Hong the previous day, we started prepping for the party really early. Our menu consisted of goreng pisang, laksa, chicken rice, salted egg chicken, string beans with hae bee hiam and peanut glutinous rice balls. The laksa was the hardest and most tedious because we had to make everything from scratch—the whole process was about 4-5 hours long. The rice balls were also really challenging as getting the right consistency for the dough was hard. We also had to adapt as some of the ingredients we needed weren’t sold at the market.
However, we managed to overcome all challenges and by the time the first few villagers came, our food was ready to be served! Our hard work paid off when we saw the smiles on the villagers’ faces and got compliments after compliments that the food was “saep lai lai” (meaning very delicious)! Our food was approved by the village chief and Mer Seurh! We were all very pleased heheh!
Besides the food, we also prepared traditional games and activities for the children. There was chapteh, five stones and pick up sticks, alongside a henna booth and origami station by our members! The kids were surely very entertained while their parents enjoyed their food. Overall, it was definitely a tiring but very rewarding night.
On days that we are slightly more free, welfare comm would prepare activities for us. The more memorable ones included a cooking competition where we were split into groups and had to spin for a mystery ingredient to cook with. With the ingredient, we had to whip up something that would impress our PDs. We went to the market to get our ingredients before taking turns in the kitchen. Not gonna lie, every dish turned out amazing - who knew we had such great chefs in our comm! We are sure our PDs had a hard time selecting the winners but of course, the group with our welfare head won! HAHAH The prize was a “voucher” where the losing group had to free the winning group from the kids XP
Besides this cooking competition, we also had trivia night, games night and captain’s ball in the backyard! Welfare comm knew that we would be missing our mala from home so they also cooked us mala on one of the nights!
We also played Angel and Mortal throughout the trip which turned all of us into Sherlock Holmes. Gifts were gifted and clues were left behind… but at the end of the trip, only half of us knew who our angels were, some like our PDs were completely clueless (how idk too…) But it was definitely a fun time guessing and suspecting our members!
Welfare
Activities
On the way back to Vientiane from Vang Vieng, we stopped by a Riverside Hut for lunch. This meal proved to be one of the more memorable ones for us on the trip, spanning a karaoke session and a 30 min boat ride across one of the smaller rivers in Vientiane. We started our lunch by being seated along a lengthy family sized table, which resembled a tatami-style concept. After being seated, we eased ourselves into the mood for lunch and karaoke with ambient music playing over our heads, and our drinks served to us. We then had an array of food served to us, including omelettes, curries, seafood and vegetables.
After approximately 1 hour of dining, the boat hut that we were seated in finally set off for a tour of the river! It was at this point where we formally started our karaoke session. Repping songs from Taylor Swift to the Weeknd, I think I could safely say that everyone had a jolly time singing along. During our boat ride, we also chanced upon friendly groups of tourists who had similar experiences with their karaoke boats as well! What a sight it was. It was truly a unique and novel experience for most of us. I think some of us would agree that the food had also got us feeling some way🤮
karaoke
boat Lunch
We not only celebrated one, but two special days in Laos on this trip. New years was also a time that all the members were looking forward to. It was nearing the end of our stay in Pong Song, and we were treasuring these experiences. Welfare comm had planned a surprise for the members - a New years’ eve BBQ! After some short games in the morning deciding what we would cook and getting ingredients from the marketplace in the afternoon, we came back and started to prepare for a night of yums. In the backyard of Mer Seurh’s house, we set up the grill to cook the meats for both the villagers and us. <I had never seen so much meat in my life > We cooked the meat using some local seasonings. It was a night of joy and merriment, as we cooked for each other and mingled with the locals as well. We talked about how the past year had gone by, and were indeed excited for what the New Year had to hold for us.
10..9..8..7..6..5..4.3..2. 1.. Happy new year!!!
BBQ &
Countdown
BACI
CEREMONY
On our last night in Pong Song, the villagers held a Baci Ceremony ✨ for us at Mer Seurh’s house. The Baci is a Laotian tradition 🇱🇦 that is typically held to commemorate special events and occasions, such as marriage, birth of a child, recovery from sickness, or to honour visitors or guests of importance. We were very honoured to be graced by the presence of all the village elders! 🥺
As we sat around a centrepiece with banana leaves and flowers, the village chief expressed his gratitude for the work we had done in the village and chanted a prayer over all of us 🙏. Each of us were then given rice wine, cake, and hard boiled eggs (mmm… yummy 😋), and we finished every last bite! Before we knew it, the village elders started walking around and tying white cotton threads around our wrists. They blessed us with peace 🕊, good fortune 💰, good health 🥰, and a safe journey back to Singapore ✈️. Towards the end, our beloved kids joined in and started tying white threads around our wrists too! We continued wearing the threads on our wrists for the rest of the trip, carrying the villagers’ blessings all the way back home 🇸🇬
Vang vieng
r&r
On the second day of our stay in Vang Vieng, we had an itinerary filled with fun activities and cultural visits. We first started our day travelling to a village to explore different caves. In the first cave we visited, we learned about the history of the cave and the village, and ended it with us getting our fortunes told.
We then moved on to the second cave which was very deep and dark. The guide told us that the villagers once tried to explore the cave to find out how deep the cave was and after 5 full days of exploration, they still did not reach the end of the cave and hence they decided to return back to the village.
We then ate our lunch in the village before proceeding to the third cave which was a water cave. As the entrance was very low and in the water, we had to enter the cave on tubes. We lied on the tubes and brought ourselves around the cave by pulling our tubes using the ropes provided. It was a really eye-opening and enjoyable experience.
After the third cave, we travelled to another area to kayak. Each pair was assigned to one kayak and we kayaked down the river for around 1.5 hours, passing by many restaurants and locals along the way. We eventually ended our kayak journey back at the main town in Vang Vieng, and ended our day of fun and eventful R&R activities right there!
Christopher's
Residence
We had the opportunity to visit the residence of Christopher, who is an entrepreneur living in Laos and one of our project sponsors. When we entered his house, we were mesmerised by the beautiful architecture and interior design of his home. We had an informal sharing session over tea where we asked him questions about his job as an entrepreneur and his motivations behind his philanthropic works in Laos. We learnt about his project on building schools in rural parts of Laos and his advocacy on making education accessible for children in Lao. We were very much inspired but still in awe of his house, so we asked for a house tour. Christopher was very happy to bring us around and shared about his antiques collection and stories of how he obtained the intricate paintings lining the walls of his house. It was a very informative and awe-inspiring session at Christopher’s residence. We went back with our minds blown by the sheer magnificence of his house.
To the locals, temples are centres of respect and magic. To cap off our Laos experience, we visited several temples to get to know more about Lao culture and tradition. These included Wat Si Muang, Wat Sisaket and Pha That Luang, among others. It was breathtaking to see these historic monuments and enlightening to learn about the temples’ exquisite and unique histories.
Temple
Visits
After spending some time at the Buddha Park, we travelled to the Lao Brewery to tour the site and learn more about the operational process of how their national beer, Beerlao is produced. We first headed into the auditorium to watch an introductory video about the origins of Beerlao and their progress over the years. Following the video, we were brought to the brewery by two guides to witness the brewing machinery and processes. As we were short on time, we did not get to witness the entire process which was a pity, but we still managed to gain lots of insights about the entire brewing process of Beerlao.
lao
Brewery
After 22 days spent in Laos, our time has come to go back to Singapore! It was heart wrenching because we know that this could very well be our last day in Laos forever, but it had definitely been an enriching and meaningful experience for all of us.
Interacting with the locals and kids, we were always amazed by how warm and friendly they are towards us since the very first day. Despite the language barrier, they never fail to make us feel welcomed, to make us feel at home in their homestay and community.
English lessons and construction were equal-part tiring and fun. For construction, despite it taking a physical toll on us day after day, it was all worth it to see the progress we made for the village hall. As for the lessons, despite facing many headwinds due to the language barrier and the children’s English proficiency, we still managed to impart some value to the students there and we hope that we have made a lasting impression on every child there.
These 22 days could have just been the shortest 22 days of our lives. Thank you for having us, Laos. We hope to see you again! 🙂
.png)
.png)
.png)
.jpg)