Gang Village is located in eastern Luang Prabang Province towards the Vietnam border. In June 2008, we drove for five hours from Luang Prabang Village on paved roads, followed by a three hour drive on a treacherous, unpaved dirt road that could only be negotiated and overcome with a heavy-duty, big-wheeled SUV. The road was slippery and very muddy during the rainy season.
We returned in February 2009, the dirt road has now been paved, but the drive is now like moving through a blinding dust storm. We were the last SUV in our caravan. The SUVs ahead of us created a dust screen so thick that we could not see the front of our SUV. We settled back and discovered the beautiful landscape, eventually driving above the cloud cover in the heavens. We drove up and around two mountains, then on a mountain ridge above the clouds and descended into a green valley, where we found Gang Village.
We built the preschool by special request of the Luang Prabang Vice Governor. He requested that we consider building a preschool in a village too remote for other NGOs to consider. He said it’s too far and difficult to access. Well, it didn’t stop Give Children A Choice from visiting, building a preschool and have a healthfair there.
We built a one-room preschool for the village children with the support of Denise and Michael McCarthy.