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Until about a year ago, Xue Xiong had never seen a town. She lived in a small village with a dirt road that turns muddy when it rains, making travel difficult. She dropped out of school early to help her parents farm rice and breed cattle to feed her 10-member family.
It was at Khaiphaen, a charming restaurant two hours away in Luang Prabang, that Ms. Xiong learned to dream. The Laotian fusion eatery trained her to prepare and serve food for the tourists who flock every day to the bustling city.
“I want to save money and open my little Lao food stall, because tourists love Lao food,” says Ms. Xiong, who is Hmong, one of Laos’ marginalized ethnic minorities. “Because I feel like I can do anything now.”
Khaiphaen was opened by the Cambodia-based organization Friends-International and collaborates with the Lao government and other nonprofits to aid young people interested in culinary education as a path to more prosperous futures.
Laos is one of Asia’s least-developed countries, and poor education and the lack of economic opportunities often force children and young people there to work in lower-paid, menial jobs under exploitative conditions. Many others are trafficked into factories or prostitution.
From server to entrepreneur
At almost 10 a.m. on a chilly January morning, an hour before Khaiphaen opens for the day with plates of laab (spicy minced-meat salad) and beer-battered Mekong River fish, Ms. Xiong laughs as she watches her friend, another young woman, slice carrots. Ms. Xiong shows off her yellow T-shirt from Le Petit Prince, a nearby Korean cafe where she started working after Khaiphaen. She thinks the cafe’s owner is nice, her English is improving, and soon she will play the piano at the cafe, Ms. Xiong tells her friend.
“I see children tremble the first time they come to serve,” says Khaiphaen’s restaurant manager, Anousin Phanthachith, “and then in a few years, you see them grow into entrepreneurs.” He joined the team at Friends-International in 2014 when Khaiphaen was just a concept with a few dining tables, and he has never thought of leaving. “You feel fulfilled because you help many young people – especially children who come from remote, underprivileged communities, some of them with traumatic childhoods.”
Nearly a third of Laos’ population lives in poverty, subsisting on less than $4 a day, according to 2022 figures from the World Bank. Children bear the brunt of it. Although Laos has made progress on child mortality, 43 out of every 1,000 children die before reaching age 5 – one of the highest child mortality rates in Southeast Asia (down from 154 in 1990). The government is pushing for primary education for all children, but the number of dropouts is high.
More than 130 students have graduated from Khaiphaen. Yet it is not a traditional cooking school, says Friends-International social worker Ae Thongkham. Besides waiting tables, students gain experience making noodle bowls with their teachers from scratch in the kitchen as well as preparing beverages. Mr. Thongkham adds that when students arrive from minority ethnic groups, many of them don’t speak Lao, the country’s official language. So at the social work center upstairs, students learn basic Lao and English, in addition to life skills such as managing their finances.
Students aren’t salaried but receive free training, accommodations, meals, transportation, and health care. After graduation, they are placed in hotels, cafes, and restaurants across Luang Prabang’s flourishing tourism industry.
For Mr. Phanthachith, who left his village at age 18 and studied at a temple before working at the city’s restaurants, looking after his young students has always been the priority. “We always talk to our students even after they leave the program to make sure that they are in a safe workplace that benefits them and treats them well,” he says.
A mushrooming trend
Khaiphaen is part of a series of vocational restaurants that Friends-International operates across Southeast Asia. Although some of the eateries shuttered during the coronavirus pandemic, Khaiphaen began delivering food to locals to stay afloat. In the capital, Vientiane, Khaiphaen’s sister restaurant Mini-Makphet turned into a soup kitchen, feeding underprivileged children and their mothers. Housed in a tin-roofed space with varnished wooden tables and chairs, Mini-Makphet is much more modest and mainly serves Vientiane residents.
Ketsone Philaphandet, Friends-International’s country program director for Laos, is quick to highlight that Vientiane receives far fewer tourists compared with Luang Prabang. The quiet, industrial Lao capital serves only as a pit stop for many foreign travelers exploring the country’s far-flung karst mountain towns and vibrant cultural hubs. “So we keep our prices lower and food spicier,” Ms. Philaphandet says, smiling.
For many young people, Mini-Makphet is a social lifeline. Mala Thoj has worked at the restaurant for only two months but can already pour a latte with a little foam heart on top. “I feel happy here, because I have friends who support me,” she says. She used to live with abusive relatives and was compelled to toil at a rubber estate.
In a year, Mini-Makphet sees about 40 students complete the training. About 60% find employment in the hospitality industry, Ms. Philaphandet says.
Khaiphaen and Mini-Makphet reflect a growing trend of vocational restaurants and culinary schools across the region. Some of them have great models, says Emi Weir, founder of the social enterprise Ma Té Sai, which sells handmade products crafted by Laotian women. Ms. Weir notes that although Khaiphaen lacks marketing to reach tourists who are “ready to spend more for a good cause,” its program has excellent social work, training, and outreach initiatives.
Simon Nazer, chief of communications and advocacy for UNICEF’s office in Laos, says Khaiphaen and Mini-Makphet are “excellent examples of how targeted support and education can open up new pathways for the social and economic advancement of vulnerable youth.” By providing practical skills and knowledge, Mr. Nazer adds, “these initiatives are helping to ensure [young people] have the foundation needed to thrive in the workforce and contribute positively to their communities.”
Nearly every evening, Khaiphaen hums with foreign visitors, who line up outside on the clay-tiled pathway for their turn to dine. Mr. Thongkham says Friends-International plans to expand its program in hopes of changing the prospects of many more young people than it now helps.
Meanwhile, Ms. Xiong talks excitedly about visiting her parents soon at their village. “They are very happy I work in the city now,” she says.
