Help Train and Find Jobs for 30 Laotian Youth

Makphet restaurant is a vibrant and vital part of the Friends-International Peaun Mit program in Lao PDR.

Offering vocational training in the hospitality field to marginalized youth including young people who lived and worked on the street, it assists in enabling them and their families to break free from the cycles of poverty which forced them onto the streets. It also works with those who are at risk of becoming street youth.

In the last 18 months, five young men and four young women have graduated from Makphet restaurant with donor support for their tuition, education materials, food and accommodation.

Without that support these young people would almost certainly have faced an uncertain, difficult and dangerous life on the streets without the opportunity to train for a better future.

‘I stayed on the street (Vientiane) since 2004 after my parents divorced. I begged and worked in the streets ….I did not go to school… I started using drugs when I was 15…then we made a gang. We used to steal and beg at the same time… Finally, I met Parn (Peuan Mit outreach worker) on the street then I came to join activities and sleep in the Peuan Mit center .I was very happy at that time, I had a place to sleep, I had food to eat and I was studying there… In 2007, I decided to study in Makphet Restaurant… now I am 19 years old; I got a work that I like… ‘

Graduates have gone on to employment in local restaurants, some in the canteen of an International School, and two young women have decided to open their own restaurant, with support from their families and Peaun Mit.

The current crop of students also have their own dreams of a brighter future, which your support can assist them to achieve…

‘I like (my) friends and teachers here, I have learned many things I have never gotten in my community - my parents could not support me because they are poor and sick…I want to work in a hotel as a waiter or cook assistant’ (male student, 21)

‘I have a good chance to study in Makphet restaurant, (At) first I don’t think I will stay here long, there are many things changed and different from my village where I live…finally, I like this training - I have learned from very kind teachers and they help console me when I feel bad because of my drug addict parents. …I want to get a good work and big salary after I finish here.’ We’d love to hear your comments or feedback on our project, so please do get in touch. On behalf of the young students of Makphet restaurant, a sincere thank you to all our donors for your support.

Kopchai lai lai!