The MIVAC Patron Colonel Sandy McGregor in Hinmu Poeng. The MiVAC Trust is an initiative of Australian Vietnam Veterans (Corps of Engineers) who cleared landmines in Vietnam during the Vietnam War and have seen firsthand the devastation caused by these indiscriminate weapons. MiVAC has been working in Xieng Khouang province (amongst other provinces) since 2009, clearing minefields and liaising with village, district and provincial heads in an area located at the western end of the Plain of Jars. During these activities, MIVAC saw the poverty in many of the surrounding villages and are now working to help the 700 inhabitants of Ban Xai and Hinmu Poeng, who have no clean water sources, toilets in only half the Lao Loum homes, no power for the Hmong, two schools with a dirt floor (at Hinmou Pueng and Ban Xai), and many villagers facing gross food insecurity most of the year. The following are parts of the program to develop the two villages.
a) Building water supply and storage in Ban Xai and Hinmou Pueng group.
b) Connecting electricity to Ban Xai School and to the poor families.
c) Repairing schools of Hinmou Pueng group.
d) Building Biodigesters.
e) Assistance with sanitation and toilets and more.
Implementation 2011 – 2012
Visited 4 March 2012
