Hello Forum members,

My wife and I are not expatriates and this enquiry is not strictly related to the expatriate nature of exchanges I've read on the Forum except in a somewhat roundabout way, brought about by our own recent visit to Vientiane. It's our hope, though, that members may be able to offer a practical solution to a difficulty we're confronted with..

In a nutshell my wife and I are currently in the process of trying to work out how best to sponsor a young man we met while visiting Luang Prabang in February/March of this year, to complete his law studies at the Northern Law College in Luang Prabang.

Briefly by way of background I’m a retired solicitor living with my wife Kim in Townsville, North Queensland, Australia. The occasion for our visit to Lao was the birth of our grandchild to my son and wife in December last. They live in Vientane which is where we stayed for the majority of our time in Lao, but in February Kim and I took the opportunity to travel to Luang Prabang to see a little more of the country.

It was there that we met a young man who was employed on a casual basis at a small tour booking office, and who organised several enjoyable tours for us during our stay in Luang Prabang. We had several occasions to chat with him and came to know a little of his background – early years in the Buddhist monastery as a means of gaining an education, followed by his enrolment in the Northern Law College where he advises that he has two more years to go to graduate. He is 25 years old, very personable and while he speaks English very well. His background, demeanour, ambition to succeed and sense of obligation to his family impressed us considerably, and on the way back to Australia we felt that we would like to assist him to reach his goal and upon our return made our thoughts known to him. We believe he is worthy of our support and see in him the possibility of greater things if given the opportunity.

Not un-naturally he was receptive to this possibility, but our difficulty has been in trying to confirm his bona fides, grapple with the practical aspects of sponsorship given the distance that separates us, and work out an administrative means of providing financial assistance as well as being satisfied that that assistance was being utilised in a meaningful and accountable way.

In relation to the issue of bona fides, we have been made aware that there is the possibility that he may already have other ‘sponsors’, which would be unfortunate if found out to be true and would bring an end to our relationship, But for the moment we have formed the judgement that his need for support is genuine and have agreed to reimburse his Law School fees for this Semester, with future support being dependent upon results and financial need. We have received a copy of the receipt for his fees which of course is meaningless to us except for the figures which are expressed in Lao currency.

We come then to the problem of the administrative means of reimbursing him for his fees and we're hopeful that forum members - and particularly those living in Luang Prabang - may be able to offer some guidance as to how this might be achieved. Ideally it is hoped that we could be referred to a trusted source in Luang Prabang who in turn would be willing to act as the conduit through which this initial and ongoing financial support could be passed on to the student. It would also be hoped that that person might also assist in ensuring that our student is fulfilling his academic obligations in return for our support and perhaps form a more informed opinion as to his bona fides.

Whilst our initial assessment of this young man is yet to be vindicated, we feel that there is considerable promise in him if given appropriate support and mentoring and it would be very much appreciated if forum members could assist with their suggestions.

Thanks for considering the matter and we hope we may hear from you shortly.

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