Lathngorn Village is located in Xieng Khouang Province, home of the Plain of Jars. The village is located on Highway 7, 12 miles west of the provincial capital city Phonsavan en route to Luang Prabang and Vientiane.
Our first visit to Xieng Khouang Province was life changing. Xieng Khouang Province was a key venue for the Secret War in Laos. Bomb craters are ubiquitous, the visible manifestation of the most bombed area in the most bombed country in the history of war. Underneath the calm of an extensive grassy open plain are uncleared lands of UXOs (unexploded ordnance). People live on these lands because they have to live. People farm these lands because they have to eat.
Lathngorn Village was destroyed during the Secret War and continues to struggle with its consequences. The elders lived through the bombings during the 1960s and 70s. The village leaders recounted that the bombings were so intense during the War, they fled in the 1960s and wandered place to place to escape the US bombings, finally to return in 1975. They shared that they didnâ€™t understand why their land and their people were being bombed. And, they shared their stories about how they had to live through these challenging years, as they do today but to a much lesser degree. Today, they live in peaceful times.
We built a two-room preschool for them with the support from the Coleman Fung Foundation.