New Trees Help Village to Mature
Khamkeuth District, June 1, 2015
The villagers of Ban Phonthong in Khamkeuth District, Bolikhamxay Province, marked National Tree Planting Day by planting over 6,000 saplings around their community. District and provincial officials joined the tree-planting effort along with staff from the Theun-Hinboun Power Company (THPC), which organised the event.
Phonthong is one four villages developed by THPC to resettle people who moved as part of the expansion project which raised the company’s generating capacity to 500 megawatts. Over 1,800 people took ownership of their new houses at Phonthong in 2010-11. The village features a clinic, school, new roads and other public facilities, as well as improved water supply and electricity. The company runs livelihood programs to help villagers increase their incomes and supports any vulnerable families who struggle to grow food or earn money.
Soulideth Baomanikhoth, Deputy General Manager of THPC, said the annual tree-planting event was both symbolic and practical. “THPC is happy to contribute to National Tree Planting Day every year. The occasion provides us with an opportunity not only to raise awareness about environmental issues but also to help villagers improve their surroundings”.
THPC provided a variety of trees for the villagers to plant including fruit trees, decorative species, industrial trees and shade providers. The residents of Phonthong planted the saplings around the village school, meeting hall and temple plus around their houses and home gardens. Village authorities, including the school teachers, have taken on responsibility for watering and protecting the young trees over the first few years.
As they mature the trees will help the new part of the village, which was built on cleared land, to greatly improve in appearance. The tree-planting exercise also helps remind local people and authorities of the importance of forests and biodiversity conservation, issues which THPC is keen to promote around the rivers and reservoirs in the Theun-Hinboun area.
Download KPL article (Lao language)
THPC Staff Combine Teambuilding and Community Service
Pakxong District, May 10, 2015
Employees at THPC have discovered a way to help a countryside village while at the same time improving their own professional performance. Two trips in May and April brought the THPC staff to Champassak, where they combined team-building activities with practical assistance to a rural community.
In late April a first group of about 120 THPC employees travelled to Pakse to spend two days on activities designed to help them communicate and work together better. In May a second group of around 150 personnel repeated the program so that every staff member had the chance to participate.
The first day was spent building new classrooms for Ban Boun Secondary School. THPC has joined together with the provincial education authority and the villagers of Ban Boun to co-fund the construction of four new classrooms at the school, located in Pathoumphone District.
As well as fund
ing the construction, THPC staff spent two days at the school laying cement-block walls and concrete floors for the new classrooms. According to Jyxiong Juevaxaiki, THPC’s Corporate Support and
Services Manager, this exercise showed the people of Ban Boun that THPC staff were serious about serving the community, and also enabled the company to speed up essential work ahead of the wet season.
“We had well over 100 labourers and some experienced builders on the site for two days, so we were able to accelerate the construction,” explained Mr Jyxiong. “At the same time, our staff benefitted from having to work together in random groups and an unexpected setting. This gave us a valuable team-building activity while helping out the school and village”.
The team-building theme was continued on the second day of both trips as the THPC staff travelled to the Etu Waterfall Resort in Pakxong District for an all-day session of outdoor bonding exercises. Divided once more into random teams, staff were put through a succession of activities designed to make each group organize, elect leaders and find ways of co-operating to complete various tasks. These physical and mental challenges required trust and team coordination as participants were in turn blindfolded and tied to each other while given problems to solve.
The two days of activities left almost the whole of the THPC staff physically exhausted but emotionally rewarded. Asked if they wished to repeat the exercise next year, almost all 270 participants replied with a resounding “Yes!”
THPC Helps Attract Blood Donors
The Theun-Hinboun Power Company has shown its support for public blood donation, handing over 300 T-shirts to the Lao Red Cross in Vientiane in late February. The T-shirts will be given to blood donors to thank them for their valuable contributions and to encourage others to give blood.
The Khammouane branch of the Red Cross requested the shirts after helping THPC organise a blood donation session at the company’s hydropower plant in November last year. Company staff, senior students from the THPC school and members of the public came to the plant in Khounkham district to give blood.
Dr Sing Menorath, the Vice-President of the Lao Red Cross, thanked THPC for its support and said he hoped the company would continue building links with the Red Cross, especially in its mission to increase blood donation in the country.
Radio News from Keosenkham
In April 2015 L
ao National Radio broadcast four programmes made in Ban Keosenkham, one of the resettlement villages built by THPC around the Nam Gnouang Reservoir.
These programmes were made by the Government Office Media Department as part of a training exercise to improve their reporting skills. Excerpts from the four programmes are available below.
The first file is a special report that explains the Government Office Media Department training exercise. The other three files are news features recorded in Keosenkham, with the general title viek dee khun den or “Good Work, Outstanding People”.
The Deputy Head of the Government Office, Ms Viengsavanh Douangsavanh, explains about the Media Department training. This is their second such training programme and the subject chosen is hydropower development. The team is therefore looking at Theun-Hinboun.
Programme 2: Pig-Raising a New Opportunity in Keosenkham
This feature story includes an interview with the village head of Ban Keosenkham, Mr Somsack Inkeomanivong, who compares life in the new resettlement village with how it was in the old villages. He describes how the new infrastructure, services and training have transformed the opportunities available to the community. One example is an improved pig-raising initative in the village, sponsored by THPC, which is helping several families secure a good income.
Programme 3: New Life in Keosenkham
The second feature from Keosenkham features Mr Khamkhiao Veanvongsoth, from the THPC Agricultural Demonstration Centre, who describes how villagers can choose various farming activities sponsored by the company including rice, cash crops such as mushrooms and animal husbandry.
Programme 4: Fishery at Keosenkham
The last programme in this series explores how the villagers use the fishery in the Nam Gnouang Reservoir as a major pillar in their livelihoods. One of the villagers, Mr Xiengkhan Chantavisouk, explains that the fishery has given him a much better lifestyle than was possible before the resettlement to Keosenkham. Mr Xiengkhan is putting four children through upper secondary school and has also bought a car, which would not have been possible before. He explains how he fishes, and also has some advice for the authorities and the company on how to manage the fishery.
The May 2015 issue of the Prime Minister's Office magazine, Nak Borikhan, also carried a feature on THPC's work in Keosenkham. Click above to download the story.
Books and Fun for Houaythom Children
In late December staff from the Theun-Hinboun Power Company Head Office travelled to Ban Houaythom in Sangthong District, Vientiane Province, to give educational materials to the children at this rural primary school.
More than 100 children at the school received textbooks donated by THPC, with sports equipment and games for pre-school children also handed over.
Head Office staff gave the children a short talk on THPC and its business before handing over the materials. The staff then shared drinks and snacks with the kids before enjoying some fun and games in the school yard.
THPC has long been committed to suppoorting educational development in Laos. The Company funds a successful private school at its main compound in Khounkham, making the school open and free to local children, and has also built new schools in resettlement and relocation schools around Bolikhamxay and Khammouane provinces. THPC has provided university scholarships to promising students from its project area, but is also looking to extend its support to children in other parts of Laos, including through funding to the Educational Development Fund for Laos.
The school at Houaythom village was selected as being in need of extra supplies after consultation with the education authorities, and the THPC team was happy to make the long drive to Sangthong and meet the delighted pupils and staff at the school.
