The U.S. Embassy Helps Preserve Culture Heritage and Promotes Literacy in Laos

Ms. Shannon Dorsey, Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane,  Mrs. Kongdeaun Nettatavong, Director of the  Lao National Library and others Lao officials.

The Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation also enabled the U.S. Embassy to provide $10,000 to the National Library to expand its palm leaf manuscript preservation training program. This is the second session which held in Vientiane at Wat Naxone Tai. The first training session was in Luang Prabang’s Wat May Souvannapoumaram. Preserving Laos’ valuable Palm Leaf manuscript collection began in 2008, when the U.S. Embassy gave $9,000 for similar work in Savannaketh and Champasack provinces. 

The Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation was established by the U.S. Congress in 2001 to support heritage preservation in countries around the world. Through this fund, the U.S. government is currently helping 100 nations preserve historic sites and manuscripts, museum collections, and traditional forms of music, dance and language. [Lao version]

U.S. Provides 100 Blood Units to the Lao Red Cross for the 25th SEA Games

Third from right Deputy Chief of Mission, Mr. Peter Haymond and the U.S. Defense Attaché, Lieutenant Colonel Jamie McAden, formally handed over the blood units on behalf of U.S. Pacific Command to the Lao Red Cross and the Lao Blood Transfusion Center

The U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM) Joint Blood Program Office provided 100 units of blood to the Lao Red Cross and the Lao Blood Transfusion Center, in preparation for the 25th SEA Games in Vientiane, December 9 – 18, 2009.

The blood is provided in response to a request from the Lao Red Cross for units of Type O blood to assist the National Blood Transfusion Center in building its stocks ahead of the 25th SEA Games. The U.S. Pacific Command provided 80 units of Blood Type O, Rh Positive and 20 units of Blood Type O, Rh Negative.

Deputy Chief of Mission, Mr. Peter Haymond and the U.S. Defense Attaché, Lieutenant Colonel Jamie McAden, formally handed over the blood units on behalf of U.S. Pacific Command to the Lao Red Cross on December 9, 2009. [full story][lao version]

U.S. Government Provides Funds to UNICEF to help Lao communities hit by Typhoon Ketsana

The United States Ambassador to Laos, Ambassador Ravic R. Huso, participated in a ceremony to hand over the emergency aid to UNICEF at the Ministry of Health

Vientiane, December 4, 2009: Communities hit by the floods that swept through southern Lao PDR following Typhoon Ketsana last September will be the beneficiaries of $300,000 in emergency aid provided by the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The United States Ambassador to Laos, Ambassador Ravic R. Huso, participated in a ceremony to hand over the emergency aid to UNICEF at the Ministry of Health. Since September, the U.S., through USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, has provided a total of $400,000 for use in Laos to assist in the aftermath of Typhoon Ketsana.

The assistance to UNICEF is being granted in response to a United Nations appeal in September, and will be used to provide clean water and improved sanitation to approximately 6,000 students and 3,000 households living in three southern provinces impacted by the floods Saravan, Attapeu and Sekong provinces. [full story][lao version]

U.S. Ambassador to Lao PDR Joins Habitat for Humanity’s 2009 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project to Repair Houses in Laos

U.S. Ambassador Ravic R. Huso and three other members of the Embassy staff volunteered their time during the Lao-leg of the 26th annual Habitat for Humanity Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project.

Embassy staff members volunteered to work for Habitat for Humanity Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project.

From 16th-20th November, former U.S. President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jimmy Carter, his wife, Rosalynn, and nearly 3,000 volunteers from around the world are building and repairing 166 homes in countries along the five counties along Mekong - Thailand, Vietnam, China, Cambodia, and Laos. 

On Monday, the United States Ambassador to Laos, Ambassador Ravic R. Huso, and other members of the Embassy staff volunteered their time during the Lao-leg of the 26th annual Habitat for Humanity Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project.

In Laos, Habitat volunteers and families refurbished 11 homes in Ban Chansawang village. The community was established in 2001 as a relocation site for the families, mostly traders and laborers, living near a bus terminal in an area that had burnt down. |full story|

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