H O W
I
B E C A M E
I WAS TO BECOME A
W H O
I
A M
T O D A Y
HOW I BECAME WHO I AM TODAY
IT HELPED ME BECOME WHO I AM TODAY. NOW I AM A PERSON WHO GIVES BACK TO THE TEMPLES HERE IN LUANG PRABANG, TO THE COMMUNITY IN THE CITY AND IN THE COUNTRYSIDE, AND, OF COURSE, MY OWN FAMILY. After graduating from a temple school in Luang Prabang, novice
I grew up in a small village in the mountains of Northern Laos. About
monk, Valee Isin-Xiong, didn’t know where life would take him. What
thirty families lived in the village and like many other people living
he knew for sure was that he didn’t want to commit to a full mo-
in the Laos countryside they weren’t formally employed, but raised
nastic life, but finding a job to support himself outside the temple,
chickens and farmed rice in order to eat. It took about an hour’s walk
where food, running water and accommodation was provided, wasn’t
to get from our village to the farm. While the walk was arduous, it
easy. Luckily he’d spent his school years perfecting his language
wasn’t without its merits. Laos has a beautiful lush green landscape,
skills and earned the role of translator and teacher with GVI, making
and in the countryside, you get to really see that.
him the first person in his family to secure a paying job. Today he uses his success to help his brothers, sisters and wider community.
My village school offered only first and second grade, so I had to
Valee tells us the story of how he became who he is today.
travel to another village, called Hatsa, four hours away and across