This weekend I worked the CSO Fair on Saturday and Sunday. (A CSO is a local non-governmental organization, which is like a charity.) I worked for CARE and helped with giveaways.

CARE Laos

I have been volunteering for CARE Laos since the beginning of November. I really like working here because all of CARE’s projects put women and girls at the heart of their work. CARE does a lot of work with women’s economic empowerment as farmers and small business owners, teaching farmers to adapt to climate change, and women’s health. All of CARE’s projects focus on improving the lives of women and girls, which makes CARE special. CARE does a lot of work in Phongsaly, Luang Prabang, Vientiane Capital, and Sekong. They are expanding to Luang Namtha and Oudomxay this year.

Read the UNICEF article about CARE’s work helping women access ante-natal care in Savannakhet

Courtesy of Wikipedia

I am excited to learn more about NGOs and work with CARE. So far, I have written one page summaries about improving women’s rights in rural communities and the Healthy Mother App, an app designed to facilitate local hospitals’ access to pregnant mothers’ medical records. I might get to travel with the rest of the team to Phongsaly or Sekong eventually. How exciting!

Courtesy of CARE Laos

Read more about CARE Laos’s mission

CARE Fair

At the CARE Fair, I helped with giveaways. My Lao isn’t great yet, so my coworkers asked visitors questions about CARE. If they got three questions right, they got a bag or crayons. Everyone who visited got a Major League Baseball hat. CARE works with garment factory workers in Vientiane Capital (there’s a Vientiane province, so that’s why I’m making a distinction) and teaches them about how to recognize sexual harassment and how to advocate for themselves. The garment factory had leftover hats from the 2021 MLB All Star game, and they donated them to CARE. (Hats didn’t sell well because few fans went to the game in 2021 since COVID was still raging.) The garment factory workers donated the hats on the condition that CARE wasn’t allowed to sell them. So, CARE gave free MLB hats to visitors at the fair.

My coworkers gave me a Texas Rangers hat since that’s my MLB team! It was nice to have a small taste of home and talk about my favorite baseball team, the 2023 World Series champs!

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

Here I am with my Texas Rangers baseball hat!

I also handed out some flyers about CARE’s work in Laos. We focused on the 16 days of activism during the fair. The 16 days of activism raise awareness about gender-based violence (GBV) in Laos.

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

Ajit and I

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

Oui and I

On Sunday, we sold honey, tea, and handmade brooms from Phongsaly. All the money went to farmers, beekeepers, and female entrepreneurs there. The brooms sold out, and we almost sold out of honey and tea! We had a great weekend, and I’m really happy that I got to help.