Lao Update from Vieng

I hope you are all doing as well as you can even despite the condition with the virus. It is Lao New Year here and even though we are celebrating safely from our homes, we still want to share our message of best wishes for the New Year with all of our key supporters like you!

We are really pleased with the reach the video about the Pot Bellied Pigs' support for Lao Rugby has received. We had more than 1,500 interactions with the post on LRF's social media channels and Xieng Khouang Rugby Club also got many new views and likes from it. Here is the video again in case there is anyone in the Pigs who hasn't seen it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3lqk1QKwXA We will be looking to produce another video closer to August that profiles the Xieng Khouang Rugby Football Club and includes further reference to the Pigs' support for Paek rugby to date. We really appreciate all that you've done to help us get the program started in Paek and we are so fortunate that we have more than 20 Coaches and 40 teams there now as well as the Xieng Khouang Rugby Club which has been formed and is led by the young leaders who've come up through the program. This wouldn't have been possible without the great support from the Pot Bellied Pigs over the years!

Even though it's a challenging time and our activities are paused now from the lockdown restrictions due to the virus, last month our Coaches rushed to give out hygiene supplies and WHO and Ministry of Health information to try and keep our communities safe and healthy during this time.

For now, all schools and our activities are stopped in Laos as we are encouraging everyone to stay home and wash hands as much as possible to try and keep safe and healthy during this time. Of course, as soon as the situation improves, we have our Coaches and players in 3 provinces here keen to get back on the pitch and training and playing as quickly as possible! So far all 7 of the Pot Bellied Pigs Teams in Paek have completed one full season of life skills and rugby learning and they were in the middle of the second season of the school year when the virus started to close activities. If we can resume and progress sessions pending the news from Ministry regarding the virus, we will immediately resume and until then, we will keep you updated on this news.

That is a short update from us in Laos here and we would love to hear how the Pot Bellied Pigs family is coping with the challenging time!  As rugby family, we are all in this together and even though the future still seems uncertain for all of our work and we understand may be uncertain for funding from your side as well, we are so grateful for Pot Bellied Pig’s support for the LRF over the years! We hope everyone in the Pot Bellied Pigs family and network stays safe and healthy and we can all come through this challenging time together and with bright rugby days ahead!

All the best,

Vieng