Volunteer Information

Volunteers are an important part of Tooth Aid Inc. they are able to come over when there is a visit, working as part of the team. when we are in Nambak there are a number of programs that are being undertaken, so people from all avenues of professional life from dentists, dental assistants, therapists and hygienists and people with no dental previous skills. For more information click on the volunteers button .

Information about Laos

Find below some information about Laos. Some will be about the country, a map of the area and some other links to the specific areas that Tooth Aid Inc is working.
The information has been obtained from other sites in the internet, so whilst it has been read, the accuracy can only be verified by the reader.
For some other information, see below or click on the link .
There is a map of Laos. The project is run in Ban Phonsaad, in Nambak District, Luang Prabang Province of Laos, which is NNE from Luang Prabang.

Map

For a map of Laos click on the interactive button .
If you are looking Nambak District up under Google World, then the villages that are nearest are Ban Bom, or Ban Pak Mong.

Introduction

Laos, officially known as Lao People's Democratic Republic, is an independent state in South East Asia, bounded on the north by China, on the east by Vietnam, on the south by Cambodia and on the west by Thailand and Myanmar (Burma). Laos is South East Asia's only landlocked nation. The total area is 236,800 sq km (91,429 sq mi). The capital and largest city of Laos is Vientiane.


Official Name- Lao People's Democratic Republic
Capital City- Vientiane
Languages- Lao (official). English, French, local dialects
Official Currency- Kip
Religions- Buddhist, Animist, Christian and others
Population- 6,521,000 (2007)
Land Area- 230,800 sq km (89,112 sq miles)

General Data

Geographic coordinates 18 00 N, 105 00 E
Population growth rate 2.48%
Birth rate 34.98 births/1,000 population
Death rate 11.28 deaths/1,000 population
People living with HIV/AIDS 1,400
Independence 19 July 1949
National holiday Republic Day, 2 December
Constitution 14 August 1991
For more up to date information seethe following link .

Culture

Laos is a rural nation whose comparatively low population density has allowed the continuation of a village society reliant on subsistence agriculture. The deficiency of a national government infrastructure and effective transportation networks has also contributed to the relative freedom and autonomy of most villages. Residence in a village thus has been an valuable aspect of social identity, particularly for lowland Lao ethnic groups. For many upland ethnic groups, clan membership is a more valuable point of social identification. For all groups, the village community has a kinship nexus, although structures differ. Rice is the staple food for all Laotians, and most families and villages are able to produce enough or nearly enough each year for their own consumption.
Education and social services remain rudimentary at best but are improving. In lowland villages orthodox education was provided to boys and young men through the Buddhist temples. Although this practice continues in some areas, in general it has been supplanted by a national education system which, unfortunately, is hampered by limited financial resources and a deficiency of trained teachers. Western medical care is seldom available outside provincial or a few district centers and even then is very limited. Child and infant mortality is high, and life expectancy is the lowest in Southeast Asia; the population, is increasing at a rapid rate. Since the end of World War II remarkable differences in education, health, and demographic conditions have prevailed among the ethnic groups and between rural and urban populations.

History

Historical research shows that the rudimentary structures of a multiethnic state existed before the founding of the Kingdom of Lan Xang in the thirteenth century. These prethirteenth-century structures consisted of small confederative communities in river valleys and among the mountain peoples, who found security away from the well-traveled rivers and overland tracks where the institutions and customs of the Laotian people were gradually forged in contact with other peoples of the region. During these centuries, the stirring of migrations as well as religious conflict and syncretism went on more or less continuously. Laos's shortlived vassalage to foreign empires such as the Cham, Khmer, and Sukhothai did nothing to discourage this process of cultural identification and, in fact, favored its shaping.

In the 13th century--an historically valuable watershed- -the rulers of Louangphrabang (Luang Prabang) constituted a large indigenous kingdom with a hierarchical administration. Even then, migratory and religious crosscurrents never really ceased. The durability of the kingdom itself is attested to by the fact that it lasted within its original borders for almost four centuries. Today, the Lao People's Democratic Republic covers only a small portion of the territory of that former kingdom.

In late 1975, months after the fall of Cambodia and the Republic of Vietnam to the communists, the Pathet Lao came to power in Laos, proclaiming that Laos's territorial integrity as well as its freedom, sovereignty, and solidarity with other new regimes of Indochina, would be defended. In a demonstration of this determination, Laos fought a border war with Thailand in 1988, and protracted negotiations were necessary to demarcate the border between the two countries. Internally, the regime proved ruthless in stamping out political and armed opposition. Only since the introduction of the New Economic Mechanism in 1986 has the government made some headway in the long and difficult process of bettering the lives of its citizens.

Education

Of the many ethnic groups in Laos, only the Lao Loum had a tradition of formal education, reflecting the fact that the languages of the other groups had no written script. Until the midtwentieth century, education was primarily based in the Buddhist wat, where the monks taught novices and other boys to read both Lao and Pali scripts, basic arithmetic, and other religious and social subjects. Many villages had wat schools for novices and other village boys. only ordained boys and men in urban monasteries had access to advanced study. The Pathet Lao began to offer Lao language instruction in the schools under its control in the late 1950s, and a Laotian curriculum began to be developed in the late 1960s in the RLG schools. In 1970 about one-third of the civilian employees of the RLG were teachers, although the majority of these were poorly paid and minimally trained elementary teachers. At that time, there were about 200,000 elementary students listed in RLG schools, around 36 % of the school-age population.

Education for the Lao Lum traditionally took place in the wat, where Buddhist monks taught boys the basics of reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion. Other ethnic groups did not have traditions of formal education. Under French rule, from 1893 to 1953, education was limited to an urban elite. From 1953 to 1975, the royal Lao government developed a modern education system with a Lao curriculum, but even so it catered to only about one-third of the school-age population. When the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party came to power in 1975, it placed great emphasis on education, particularly on eradication of illiteracy. It had few resources, and standards fell.

Life

Laotian society is above all else characterized by semi-independent rural villages engaged in subsistence agricultural production. Ethnic, geographic, and ecological differences create variations in the pattern of village life from one part of the nation to another, but the common threads of village self-reliance , limited regional trade and communication, and identification with one's village and ethnic group persist regardless of the setting. Rural trade networks, have been a part of life since the 1950s. Except near the larger towns and in the valuable agricultural plains of Vientiane and Savannakhét, villages are spaced at least several kilometers apart and the intervening land variously developed as rice paddy and swidden fields or maintained as buffer forest for gathering wild plants and animals, fuelwood, and occasional timber harvest.

Only since 1975 has there been any sense of national unity among most rural villagers. Precolonial governments depended more on a system of control at the district level with the chao muang (district chief) maintaining his own allegiance and tribute to the state. Administrative practices under the French and during the post-World War II time was confined primarily to provincial and a few district centers. The government was able to extract taxes with some facility but had little impact on the daily lives or thoughts of most villagers. since 1975, the government has expended considerable energy and resources on national unification, so that even isolated villages recognize the role of local government and consider themselves at some level to be part of a Laotian state.

Population

The first comprehensive national population census of Laos was taken in 1985; it recorded a population of 3.57 million. Annual population growth was around at between 2.6 and 3.0 %, and the 1991 population was around at 4.25 million. The national crude birth rate was around at about forty-five per 1,000, while the crude death rate was about sixteen per 1,000. Fertility rates were consistently high from ages twenty through forty, reflecting a deficiency of contraceptive use. Each woman bore an average of 6.8 children.

Other distinct linguistic groups are few in number. Speakers of Tibeto-Burman dialects, who also came from southern China, live in the north and northwest. Chinese and Vietnamese live primarily in the urban areas. Initially, French was the language of the Lao elite and of the cities, but by the 1970s English had begun to displace it. Under the leadership of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, Vietnamese has become the third language of the elite.Prior to the establishment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR) in 1975, it was accurate to say that the Lao-Lum peoples had a distinct pattern of culture and dress. They also had a well-defined social structure, differentiating between royalty and commoners. The members of the elite included only a few outsiders who were not descendants of nobility. Most of the elite lived in the cities, drawing their incomes from rural land rents or from urban occupations. After 1975 a new elite emerged representing the victorious leftist forces. Many of this group, were of aristocratic origin.

 
Government

Lao People's Democratic Republic proclaimed December 2, 1975, abolishing monarchy of Royal Lao Government. New constitution unanimously endorsed by unicameral eighty-five-member Supreme People's Assembly, August 14, 1991; renamed National Assembly (1992); exercises power according to principle of democratic centralism. National Assembly elected December 1992; inaugural session, February 1993. As legislative organ oversees judiciary and activities of administration. President head of state, elected by National Assembly for five-year term; also commander in chief of armed forces. Council of Ministers highest administrator organ; chairman is prime minister; vice chairmen oversee work of ministers. Real power exercised by members of the ruling party, Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP), particularly Political Bureau (Politburo) and Central Committee.

Politics

Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) is the only legal party. Party conference held late November 1993 to include representatives of provincial party units, Central Committee members, secretaries of party committees in ministries, departments, factories, and schools. Speeches on neglect of party activities and quality of membership hint at concern with corruption and need to build party at grass-roots level.

Judiciary

Comprises Supreme People's Court, provincial and municipal courts, people's district courts, and military courts.

Administrative Divisions

Laos is separated into sixteen provinces (khoueng): one municipality, Vientiane; two special zones, Xaisomboun in northeastern Vientiane Province, and Xianghon-Hôngsa, formerly two districts in Xaignabouri Province. The provinces are then divided into districts and then into villages.

Attapu,
Borikhan,
Bokeo,
Champasak,
Houaphan,
Khammouan,
Louang Namtha,
Louang Prabang,
Oudômxai,
Phôngsali,
Saravan,
Savannakhét,
Xaignabouri,
Xekong,
Xiangkhoang,
Vientiane.