Be part of our school’s inspiring story
Sunshine School is a unique school in Vientiane, Laos, with a school family of 380 students and 50 staff.
You can be part of a really inspiring story that has been growing for the last 25 years from temporary bamboo structures on dusty fields to modern classrooms surrounded by shady playgrounds. During that time Sunshine has also expanded from kindergarten to primary to middle school.
Mecky is learning to shine !!
Sunshine is a place where students, like Mecky*, who is now 14, find a homelike environment to discover, nurture and express their own innate abilities. Through the example of her capable and caring Lao teachers, Mecky has already learned to cherish her own cultural identity and language. Mecky is confident not only in her native Lao language, but she also knows conversational English and has learned basic Chinese. Activities with overseas volunteers, have given Mecky a sense of being part of a global family that includes all countries and our precious biosphere.
Mecky didn't want to go to school until she came to Sunshine
Mecky was introduced to us at age 8. In Laos, children of low-income families, such as Mecky’s, often drop out of school before completing primary level. Since her birth, Mecky was a sickly child and in early years she suffered bullying by local louts. Due to the emotional trauma caused by this, and her poor health, she was often reluctant to go to school. Her parents begged a social worker to find a safe, nurturing place for Mecky to be able gain self-confidence in her social interactions and studies.
At Sunshine, after initially being very introverted and uncommunicative, Mecky soon made friends and slowly also become confident in class studies and participation in extra-curricular activities. Performing with her friends in Sunshine’s regular shows especially boosted her self-esteem.
Two years ago, Mecky’s younger brother, Jojo, also joined Sunshine as one of our sponsored students. Mecky is in the final year of middle school and would love to continue her studies at Sunshine if the school can open high school classes.
*names are changed to protect the children’s identities
Due to the Covid pandemic our school is in peril
However, this wonderful school is in peril and we urgently need your involvement to save it. Due to the Covid pandemic our school started shrinking. Already, we lost one building and have had to beg rental reductions on the rest. After so many years of hard work, and the generosity of so many people like you, it would be really such a loss for children, like Mecky, if we shrink or are forced to close, when actually the need is for us to expand.
You can expand the school’s impact from 380 to 700 students
Many years ago, we received a generous donation of land, so now is the perfect moment for you to get involved and build a new building. Your contribution will allow the school to expand its reach from 380 students to 700, and grow from middle school to high school. It will also enable the staff to continue to improve the quality and scope of education free from the impacts of operating on rented premises.
Already, we’ve started on building #1 with two classrooms and a toilet block. The money came from school emergency funds, loans and donations from a past volunteer and a friend of his. (Thanks John and Akshay!!)
Make our new building a reality
We still require US$ 8,420 to complete building #1 and make it available to our students for the 2021-22 school year. This is for finishing the ceiling, tiling the floors, painting, electrical work, toilet construction and basic room equipment like lights, fans desk sets and black boards.
Your contribution, big or small, could make building #1 a completed reality by November 2021.
$30 provides lights, a wall fan or a ceiling fan for the classroom
$115 provides 2 desk sets, or half a toilet cubicle or half a blackboard
$510 finishes the ceiling or inside wall paint or the electrical wiring
$820 finishes floor tiles for one classroom or provides enough desk sets for one classroom
$1000 paints the outside of the two rooms or constructs four toilets
Join us, Cathy Lee (Didi), our director, and all our staff and students, to keep Sunshine's amazing story going for the benefit of many generations to come.
