“Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.”
Project Team
Reading Elephant Laos was founded in 2016 as a civil society initiative (grassroots project) by a group of young Lao people in Ban Houayxay, Bokeo Province, and is now officially registered as a non-profit “Private Reading House” (under the Lao Law on Libraries) and operating as a non-profit children’s mobile library.
From the beginning, the group led by Khamkeo Vongsavanh has aimed to promote reading and access to literature among children and young people in their home province. Four team members work full-time, others on an hourly basis or as volunteers or interns at Reading Elephant Laos. Several of them have completed training as school teachers for various subjects (Lao language, mathematics, English).
From initial experiences with events in village schools, the concept of “book festivals”, all-day reading events held in primary schools in the catchment area, was developed. Book festivals continue to be the highlights of the school year. Gradually, however, a regular driving service with monthly stops of the bookmobiles in the schools is introduced. In addition, the team in Ban Houayxay drives the small electric bookmobile to residential areas and to markets in the city in the afternoons and during non-school hours, wherever children have no leisure activities.
Reading Elephant Laos‘ after-school education program has been evaluated by the local education authority and found to be an enriching method to increase motivation for learning. The Houayxay District Education and Sports Office has given approval for the implementation of the educational policy activities in the primary schools under its jurisdiction.
- Khamkeo Vongsavanh (Keo)
is the founder and project manager of Reading Elephant Laos. He works full-time in the project. Khamkeo was born in the village of Numpouk, Bokeo province, where his father Bounthong was the director at the local primary school. This marked his early years of education and made him keenly aware of the need to promote reading and education in his country. During and after his studies in Luang Prabang, he gained a great deal of experience by working with the children’s book publisher Big Brother Mouse in how to organise and implement book festivals as well as about book design and book sales. Khamkeo has written several children’s books. Beside leading the library project he is the first book dealer in Bokeo province ever.
- Phaivanh Philainthavong (Touy)
is a permanent project member at Reading Elephant Laos. Born in a village in Luang Prabang province, Touy is responsible for the organisation of the library stock, the book lending and is actively involved in the preparation and implementation of the village book festivals. He trained as a Mathematics and English teacher and completed his degree in Basic English at the Visoun English Center. Phaivanh enjoys working with children and is a very talented motivator. He likes to read himself a lot and has a great gift for inspiring students to read. In our reading room he offers coaching lessons in Mathematics.
- Huk Malaisuk
Huk is a permanent project member at Reading Elephant Laos since February 2019. She was born and raised in the village of Phonxay, Xayaboury province. Huk studied at Luang Prabang Teacher Training College and graduated in 2015. She enjoys working with children very much. She joined our team to work with students in the reading room and as a librarian as well for attending travelers in our bookshop.
- Patithin Phetmeuangphuan (Khong)
is a full-time journalist in Vientiane. He works part-time in planning and evaluating project activities and in public relations, maintains contacts with partners and supporters and represents Reading Elephant Laos at events in the capital. He comes from the village of Nontae in Vientiane province and graduated from the National University of Laos as an English teacher. During his stays in Bokeo, he supports the project in the reading room or at book festivals as an educator.
- Yim Sang Pha Sert (Yim)
Yim joined Reading Elephant Laos as a full-time staff member in 2022, having already joined the team as a part-time student staff member in January 2020. He was born in Hom Souk village, Pha Oudom district, Bokeo province, one of eleven children, and grew up there, where he also finished primary school. He then attended upper secondary school in Ponglad village. He graduated from Thonysaba College in Ban Houayxay in 2021. Yim is extremely talented musically and educationally. He is very creative and likes to develop different new formats for working with the children. Among other things, Yim organises the tours with our e-bookmobile to the primary schools in the urban close-up zone of Ban Houayxay and conducts many of them himself.
- Bounthong Vongsavanh
was a senior consultant at Reading Elephant Laos. Bounthong sadly died on May 27 in the age of 61. Like his son Khamkeo, he came from the village of Ban Numpouk in Bokeo and grew up there. During his childhood years there were no kindergartens or pre-schools in Laos. He finished secondary school in 1977 and got the chance to continue his studies at secondary level II. Teachers at his school greatly encouraged Bounthong and he ultimately decided to become a teacher himself. He graduated from the Teacher Training College in Luang Namtha and subsequently returned to his home village Ban Numpouk as school principle. – The team of Reading Elephant Laos will miss him, his advice and his warmth forever.
Child Protection Policy
Reading Elephant Laos, as a non-profit Children’s Mobile Library with the support of the German association Books for Laos e. V., is involved in promoting reading as an exercise of the right to education by children in Laos. In doing so, we are guided by Goal No. 4 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to ensure inclusive, equitable and high-quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all. We are also committed to the United Nations human rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Children are at risk in many countries around the world. In Laos they make up the majority of the population. Poverty or weak educational structures increase the risk of disadvantage and discrimination and limit their ability to enjoy basic rights. We advocate strengthening children’s rights, ensuring their participation, and protecting them from possible dangers.
Children are our target group and thus recipients of the impacts of our work. Our Child Protection Policy contains principles and rules for individual and institutional behavior. As part of cooperation with our partners, we jointly commit ourselves to respecting and implementing these principles.
We and our project partners pledge:
- to value all children and respect their dignity and rights,
- to never carry out actions that endanger the best interests of the child or lead to mistreatment and sexual abuse
- to support girls and boys in their healthy physical and psychological development,
- to actively contribute to building and maintaining a safe environment for children according to respective possibilities and responsibilities,
- to take the opinions and concerns of children seriously and promote them as persons, treating all children with respect,
- to be mindful of closeness and distance and respect children’s privacy and personal boundaries of modesty,
- to follow the “two-adult rule” if possible, i.e. ensure that another adult is present when one-on-one discussions are being held or when children are present at events or project visits,
- to take into account cultural circumstances when in contact with children,
- to ensure within the scope of our print media, educational and public relations work that the dignity of children is always preserved,
- to deal carefully with positions of trust or authority,
- to take immediate measures to protect children if boundaries are crossed
- to inform the responsible contact person immediately in the event of a justified suspicion that a child is at risk,
- to sensitize other people in the children’s environment to this issue,
- to take an active stand against racist, discriminatory, violent and sexist behavior, whether in word or deed.
Volunteering
At Reading Elephant Laos, there are currently no volunteer opportunities for foreign visitors.
Books for Laos e. V.
Books for Laos e. V. is a non-profit, non-religious, and politically independent association recognised as a non-profit organisation in Germany. Its stated objective is primarily to support Reading Elephant Laos in providing underprivileged children and adolescents in remote rural districts of Laos with access to books, and thereby with enduring access to educational resources in order to increase their literacy and learning skills. Books for Laos e. V. is not active in Laos, but rather supports Reading Elephant Laos in its efforts by means of donations and counsel. Books for Laos e. V. is the editor of this website.
Thanks to all Donors
We would like to thank all permanent and individual donors – especially Books for Laos e. V. – who have supported us financially from the beginning until today.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Stiftung Nord-Süd-Brücken (North-South Bridges Foundation), from Berlin, Germany whose funding in 2018 and 2021/22 has made possible the opening and operation of the reading house in Ban Houayxay, the purchase of books and basic equipment as well as the new bookmobile and the introduction of regular driving operations.
From 2019 to 2020 and 2022/23, the Georg Kraus Stiftung in Hagen, Germany also supported us by making a significant contribution to the project phase “Planning and trial operation for the use of a bookmobile for children in Laos”. In this way, it made possible in particular the purchase of a first used pickup truck as well as the small electric vehicle for the trial phase in the area-wide operation of the catchment area.
We would also like to thank the German Embassy in Vientiane, which has granted Reading Elephant Laos material resources from its micro-project fund in 2019 and 2022 to finance additional reading and school books for the mobile library, as well as working materials and furnishings to expand the services offered in the reading house and to set up computer learning stations. Ambassador Jens Lütkenherm (second from left) personally visited the reading house in Ban Houayxay in May 2019 and got an idea of our joint project through on-site discussions.
Contact Details
Reading Elephant Laos
c/o Khamkeo Vongsavanh
Khunjing Road, Ban Moungkhounsin, Houayxay District, Bokeo Province, Lao P. D. R.
Tel: +856 (0) 20 59515550; Reading Room: +856 (0) 20 95015440
Email: info@readingelephant.org
For any queries you may have concerning Reading Elephant Laos project, please contact us by email.