Sometimes things aren't as simple as they seem

So we retuned to the city with vague instructions about we needed to do. It would take a few days for thing to be clarified, but essentially, one village required a new set of 41 tables and chairs, and for the rest the standard educational supplies and a set of sporting clothing for the annual inter-village sports event. Having no idea how much this would cost, the next few days was spent answering these questions.

The first of the questions was how to build the tables and chairs they required. The village teacher and chief had indicated that they could create the tables and chair in the village using local wood. They estimated that they would be able to build all 41 tables and chairs to 6,500,000 Kip (815USD). Getting the village to build the tables come with some benefits; and sense of ownership, development of local skills, and more money going in to the local economy. However there are additional risks; the level of workmanship; controls on the expenditure of the money; availability of the people.

It was fortunate then that while I was in Pak Pong I noticed that World Vision had been through and supplied the village with new tables and chairs. So I went around to the world vision office in luang prabang and had a chat with one of the staff there. He proved very helpful in providing advice on suppliers, processes and other questions that he had. He even gave me his number to call if I needed any further assistance. Armed with this information we headed out to the furniture factory. Again discussion largely led by Thee affirmed what the staff at world vision had told me. Priced at approx $41 each the total cost of the tables and chairs was around the $1700. This was substantially more that the $815 quoted by the villages. After lengthy discussions it was decided to have the tables and chairs made in the village as it would be cheaper and encourage skill development in the area, which is inline with the objectives of the project.

The shopping for educational supplies was much simpler as it was a matter of finding out how much it would all cost and match that against the available budget. It took a few days to finalize but in the end for 550 school books , pens, pencils, paper, markers, scissors, glue, soccer balls, speak Takraw balls and nets for five schools cost less than $700. As a result we were able to meet all of need of all the schools in the budget. With money left over to support the annual village sporting event with uniforms for all participants.

This is an outstanding result for the project and provides the required operational support to the schools, allowing the teachers to teach more effectively. Unfortunately timing meant that I am unable to be present for the delivery of the goods to the villages as Thee has to work and then I have to leave to Bangkok.

So having bought most of the materials I have left the final logistics in Thee capable hands to deliver over the next couple of months. I look forward to the receiving photos and updates from him.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn iPhone