In mid-February, the Acronis Foundation, together with Child’s Dream, started their school construction project in Dong Na Kham village in South Laos. To encourage community development and project ownership, the villagers are playing a key role in this project, overseeing and monitoring the progress of the construction to ensure our high-quality standards are being met and providing some of the electricity, manual labor, and water needed for construction. Once the school is completed, the community will be responsible for the operations and maintenance of the new school building. Child’s Dream selected a trusted local contractor to coordinate all phases of construction and to purchase materials locally.

The current primary school was built 25 years ago and almost half of the classrooms are no longer useable due to structural collapse risks. During the hot season, the building interiors become unbearably hot and the students get wet during the rainy season. These conditions affect the 115 students (61 boys and 54 girls), aged 6-10, in attendance. As a result, a new school building with five fully-furnished classrooms is urgently needed. This new building will emphasize the importance of education to the community and provide an incentive for the children to complete their primary level education. In addition, the Acronis Foundation, together with Child’s Dream, will also build four new bathrooms to help improve the sanitation standards at the school and prevent hygiene-related illnesses, thereby reducing dropout rates. Construction is targeted to be completed in May 2019.