Wheelchairs From China

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a humanitarian organization in Laos called Deseret International Charities (DIC).  One of the things DIC has been doing since 2010 is sponsoring wheelchairs for people who can't afford them.  

We provide money to fund a wheelchair workshop, where people build wheelchairs in Laos.  There are 3 main types:  a tricycle, which is powered by a single push-pull lever; a standard wheelchair, and custom chairs for people who have no ability to move the chairs by themselves, such as those with severe cerebral palsy.

Because the standard wheelchairs made here don't last long (1-3 years), we just began to import 2 types of wheelchairs from China.  They are the "Rough Rider," designed for rural terrain, and a standard adjustable chair.  But to maintain the jobs of the 11 people working in the workshop, we are bringing the chairs in unassembled.  Most of the workers have a disability themselves, and this helps them maintain independence.

The sea crate of wheelchair parts for 324 chairs arrived July 20 from Beijing, China, through a series of little miracles.

The sea crate was supposed to have been left at the Center for Medical Rehabilitation (CMR), where our workshop is, but there was a mix-up in Bangkok and the load had to be offloaded so the driver could take the crate back that day.

Elder Bush helped greet the shipment as the driver brought it onto the CMR complex.

Through the help of a friend in the Ministry of Education, Vienkham, we made contact with a supplier of sea crates in Thailand and were able to purchase it and had it delivered within 3 days.

CMR staff showed us where to put it and we got the permanent storage container put in place with the help of a crane.

Some young men from the branch of the church and our young elders unloaded the first sea crate and put the items into temporary storage until the other sea crate arrived.

Yung Tee (left) and far right, plus Nuna (turquoise) were hired by
Elder Smith to help organize the storage and to translate and run
errands, since they both speak some English.  Others helped for just
two days.

Elder Dennis Smith gives instructions to the workers on how to organize the parts in storage so they can be retrieved.  The Elders are Hartman and Evans.

Dennis and Donna Smith, wheelchair specialists, have done this type of things in many other places, including the Philippines, Eastern Europe and other parts of Asia.  Dennis even went to the wheelchair factory in China to see how they assembled the wheelchairs so that he could train our workers.


The Smiths paid the young people from the branch for their labor, but of course we don't pay our volunteer elders.  So the Smiths asked what they could get for the elders.  Elder Bassett and Elder Beebe answered:  laundry detergent!

We purchased over 45 plastic tubs to put the parts into for ease of use when they assemble the chairs.

The Smiths also brought a few tools that we couldn't get here to help with the assembly.

The workers are working well in figuring out how to put the chairs together.  Elder Smith wasn't sure how long it would take to train everyone here, not knowing any of the people.  He was pleasantly surprised by how fast they learned and even helped each other in solving little problems.

The manager of the workshop is in gray, Phimphisane, and the shop foreman, Khamsouk, is in green.  They both speak English and were great to work with on all stages of the training before and during the 2 weeks of training.

This lady always has a smile.

Inventory is being build up.

Elder and Sister Smith, with Yung Tee as their translator, at the handover ceremony with the CMR Director and workers at the end of the training.  Everyone felt good about the training and the project.

Every worker that completed the training was awarded a certificate.

Following the training, the Smiths were off to Cambodia, then the Philippines, Indonesian and then to Iraq to help with their wheelchairs.  The Smiths live in northwestern Washington State, but keep pretty busy in their "retirement."

Lao English Teacher's Workshop

When Sister Susan Gong was visiting Lao PDR in October 2014, she told us about a conference being held in Mongolia where professors from BYU Utah and BYU Hawaii were going to be the guest teachers to help teachers in that country learn to be more effective English teachers.  After hearing about Mongolia, Sister Bush thought “why not Lao PDR, too?”  That is what started the ball rolling. 

 It was a team effort involving many places, Dr. Evans  in Utah, Dr. Andersen in Hawaii, Sister Gong in Hong Kong, President Senior in Thailand,  and Elder and Sister Bush and the 4 young International Volunteers (elders) in Lao.  There were lots of emails, several Skype conferences and a lot of ground work at all points to coordinate.

After receiving permission from the Lao government, plans were made for a 3 day English Teachers’ Workshop, where 60 secondary English teachers gathered in Vientiane, Laos to improve their teaching methods.    These teachers have never had such a thing.    Our workshop focused on student-centered teaching, activities, effective ways to learn vocabulary, check for understanding, lesson planning with clear objectives and general teaching principles.  The 3^rd day was review and practice for all the teachers, conducted in 4 rotating breakout sessions by the international volunteers and the Bushes.  That was a lot of fun, as the conclusion to a lot of work. 

Madame Kettmany from the Ministry of Education addressed the group at the beginning and at the end.  L to R are presenters Dr. Anderson, BYU-H, Dr. Evans, BYU,  Mdm Kettmany, Elder Gong, Area President from Hong Kong, and Elder Bush, Country Director for DIC and presenter.

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The 60 teachers were eager and pleased to have the training.  

Dr. Evans from BYU Utah, Dr. Andersen from Hawaii

Tiengsack did a great job doing simultaneous translation during the keynote addresses/instructions.  He also translated for me during my sessions when needed.  He is one of our Church members and a graduate of BYU-Hawaii.

Below, he holds a number of headphones for the participants to hear his translations into Lao.  He also took some pictures for some of the teachers.  Elder Vance always enjoys a photo op.

International Volunteers (elders) were being trained for their teaching on Wednesday

Sister Gong is an experienced educator in teaching English as a second language, having worked with the Chinese program for the Utah Department of Education.  She conducted a breakout session on ways to involve students in practicing and activities for learning.

Dr. Anderson gets teachers to practice what has been demonstrated in working with class members.

Dr. Evans had a group of 12 Lao high school students come in as a demonstration group for a real example of classroom teaching.  The principles were taught, but with much smaller classes than most Lao teachers have.  Their classes are anywhere from 25-50 students.

President Senior instructing International Volunteers before the workshop began.  He is a former business man and BYU professor himself.  
L to R Elder Gong, Sister Gong, Sister Senior

Sister Gong interacts with two of our new members at lunch Sunday after Church meetings.  Both these young men are university students and speak English, Chinese, Lao, and Hmong.  They are amazing











Elder Bush taught one of the sessions on "Checking for Understanding", having the participants (Lao English teachers) practicing interactive lessons that let the teacher know that students are understanding what is being taught.  Board work is one of the 10 strategies demonstrated and discussed.

Some of the participants wanted a picture after the workshop. 

After 2 days of training with Dr. Evans, Dr. Anderson, Sister Gong and Elder Bush, we had review sessions on day 3 where the participants got to practice the things they had been taught.

Elder Hartman, who lived as a boy for 8 years in Thailand, conducted one of the review sessions.  We divided the 60 teachers into 4 groups and had them rotate through the sessions until they had gone over all 4 sessions of the first 2 days.

Elder Beebe, from Pennsylvania, conducted another review session.

Elder Bassett helped with our review activity that involved the Hokey Pokey and other interactive approaches to get the teachers moving and learning.

At the end, we presented each teacher with a certificate of participation, an extra workbook and a DVD of the conference to use back in their schools to review and train others.  The Ministry of Education had only one teacher per school attend so the participants could increase the circle of influence by helping fellow teachers.  We had a former missionary to Lao do the video work and he produced the video, with recorded summaries from each of the presenters, as well as a few shots of the workshop.  He stayed up most of Tuesday night editing and making the DVD so we could review it at 6:30 the next morning, giving him just enough time to get 60 copies made before the end of the conference at 2:45 that afternoon.  He arrived just as we started handing out the certificates.

Certificates are a prized evidence of accomplishment in Lao.

 We had a former missionary to Lao, Nate Bartling, do the video work and he produced the video, with recorded summaries from each of the presenters, as well as a few shots of the workshop.  He stayed up most of Tuesday night editing and making the DVD so we could review it at 6:30 the next morning, giving him just enough time to get 60 copies made before the end of the conference at 2:45 that afternoon.  He arrived just as we started handing out the certificates.  He  explained the DVDs before we handed them out with the certificates.

We had the cooking school prepare the lunches for all 80 of the participants and presenters each day.  That way we could keep everyone on campus and on the same schedule, as well as give the cooking school some great experience.

The foundation of every meal in Lao is rice, with veggies and some meat and soup.

The International Volunteers helped the kitchen staff with the dishes each day.  The staff didn't expect that and it was a fun experience for everyone.

Elder Bush leads the students in a learning activity that they found really fun.  It was a great experience for us all.

Back row were teachers who wanted their picture with us.  At the table for closing ceremony and remarks were Pavy, Mdm Kettmany, Elder Bush and Sister Bush.  Pavy is the director of  secondary schools and this facility where we held the training and did a lot of the logistics work for the venue.  This is also the school where we (Bushes) teach 3 classes of  English every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The participants’ comments on the ending evaluation we had each one fill out were extremely positive.  On how to improve, some said it was “Perfect.”  Most said they wanted more days or to have this again.  On the “worst part of the workshop,” the most frequent comments were “too short of time.”  They wanted more days. 

While we were conducting the workshop, Sister Bush went with Elder Gong, President Senior, Vientiane Branch President Kompadith and Udorn District President Khamphee to visit government officials in the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, and the provincial government of Vientiane Capital.