Sponsor

 

Project 2025-2026

Construction of two nursery infirmaries in Pa Bong and Hua Thanh - Nua Ngam - Dien Bien Phu

Pa Bông and Hua Thanh are two associated communes of the Nua Ngam school group, in the suburbs of Dien Bien Phu, nestled against the Annamite mountain range shared with Laos, and accessible only by trails.

 

In 2018, Vinaes built the Pa Bong school (see Section 5 "2018 Achievements"). Previously, in 1990, the Hua Thanh school had been built by the local authorities. However, since then, it has only received a grant for exterior renovations.

 

By launching this infirmary project for these two schools, rather than just one, we hope to harmonize the health management of the pupils in the Nua Ngam school group, thus avoiding the risk of social and interethnic discord between the Thai, Muong, Lao, and Kh'mu, who are malnourished and poverty will inevitably engender them if they see the donations or gifts are different. To avoid this phenomenon, when we conducted our winter campaigns in the remote hamlets, we always purchased the same products, the same brand, the same color... and the same size.

 

These infirmaries will also welcome other children from their communities free of charge. Each will include four rooms: waiting, consultation, treatment, and rest.

 

Their populations and surface areas are practically identical: 3,750 inhabitants for approximately 45 km², with a density of 75 inhabitants/km².

Pa Bong

2018: Inauguration of the Pa Bông kindergarten built by Vinaes. 2024: New decorations to make it more welcoming with the vegetable garden also used by the children as part of object lessons. The harvests constitute the vegetables for the meals. This introduction to agriculture is taught throughout the mountainous north. The tree on the left is a very fruitful papaya tree.

Hua Thanh

The entrance portico of Hua Thanh Kindergarten. To the left, the classrooms are hidden among the trees, halfway up the mountainside.

The two infirmaries will be built outside the schools. aries will be built outside the schools.The two infirmaries will be built outside the schools. aries will be built outside the schools.

« There are no coincidences

There are only appointments. »

Since 2002, before the creation of Vinaes, we had already been traveling the length and breadth of the North, in particular the arc of the shared borders with Laos and China, without ever coming across a rural medical center. This thought from the French poet Paul Éluard (1895-1952) and this anecdote are timely to illustrate the non-existence of emergency services: in 2011, while organizing a solidarity trip for a group of employees of the EDF works council, upon arriving in Mu Cang Chaï, a region of terraced rice paddies, we came face to face with two villagers who had recently been injured. They had treated themselves with what they had. As chance or – according to Buddhist belief – fate would have it, among the solidarity travelers, there was a nurse, her first aid kit never far away… "It was high time!" she says.