Griffith Business School prepare for Laos community development placement

COUNTRY: Laos
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Nursing
WRITTEN BY: Aisling Brennan, Griffith University Business Faculty

The Griffith Business School Leader team’s Laos Community Development adventure is right around the corner. Some of us have packed, some of us haven’t (mainly just me) and we couldn’t be more excited. Or nervous. Or hopeful. Or most likely all of the above!

This past semester has been a pretty big one for most of us so our feelings are kind of all over the place. One thing is for certain though, we can’t wait to arrive in Luang Prabang and see where this adventure will take us.

As a team, we’ve been working hard to get organised for our trip to Laos. We’ve been fundraising by supplying most of the student and staff population of Griffith University with chocolate, baking, and sausages, dancing to the early hours of the morning at a cocktail fundraising event, and even one of our fabulous team members, Bec Piper ran a half marathon! Along with getting all the necessary jabs, finding the perfect suit case and collecting a lot of physical donations like children’s books and clothes, we’ve had a busy lead up to our trip to Laos. And I think we’re ready.

While we are in the country we will be conducting a community needs assessment on how tourism can help alleviate poverty in the Seuang River Valley, in the Pak Xeng District Authority. The majority of the population do not have access to adequate health care, housing and sanitation. As a team, we will be conducting meetings with relevant community leaders, district officials, education and health professionals to discuss future development possibilities for local communities. As well as documenting these meetings, we will be working on the renovation of Pak Xeng High School. We will be renovating two classrooms.

There’s a lot to do and a lot to achieve while we are in country and once we return. So let the adventure begin!