Tapping into the Creative Heart of Laos
Using storytelling to empower Lao youth.
Children and young people possess a boundless potential for creativity. Unleashing that creativity can help us create a better future for everyone.
With thanks to Dr. Steve Arounsack, lead cultural advisor to Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), the first Walt Disney animated feature film focusing on Southeast Asian culture, more than a hundred youth from across all 18 provinces of Lao PDR gathered in Vientiane Capital to take part in a storytelling workshop, learning how to tap into their own life stories in search of inspiration and solutions to tackle the most pressing issues affecting children and young people today.
The young participants, aged between 12 to 18 years old, were empowered to see themselves as protagonists of their own heroic journey, to explore the peaks and valleys in their own stories as well as the ways in which they can create a better future together for children and young people.
The workshop is especially timely as Lao PDR slowly transitions into the post-COVID-19 world. While children and young people are not the most directly affected by the pandemic, they bear the brunt of the insidious impacts of the pandemic, which has rippled far and wide across areas like education and health. Thus, it is important for children to be given a safe space to discuss their own life and future against this backdrop of events; how they can be empowered to help their communities and support the ongoing vaccination drive against COVID-19; their own hopes for education and learning; and how they can be advocates for their own rights.
In addition to Vientiane Capital, the storytelling workshop was also held in Pakse, Champasak province. To further complement the workshops, screenings of Raya and the Last Dragon were organised in both Vientiane Capital and Pakse, providing Lao youth with the opportunity to see Raya and her own heroic journey in the mythical land of Kumandra rendered on the big screen.
The events were made possible through the support of the United States Embassy in Vientiane and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which were organised as part of the celebrations of UNICEF’s 50th anniversary in Lao PDR.
