Visiting Laos is all about happiness! You throw away your watch and life flows to the rhythm of the Mekong. With our euros the cost of local living allows you to spend a stay at a lower cost.

But there is one thing you can't buy: it's Health. One thing is certain, if you are seriously ill or injured, it is better to travel to Thailand! The average life expectancy is 56 years. Hygiene and health are precarious and access to health care for the local population is a "luxury" because "effective" health services are money... 

In short, in Laos, it is better to be "rich and healthy" than "poor and sick". It is at the level of health that inequality is most glaring.

Before the school project began, Bé wanted to bring a better quality of life to the villagers, but it was a woman, a Ban Na Teui native living in the United States, who made the first donation to the clinic.

In 2001, 12 concrete pillars, the future framework of the dispensary, were erected in the centre of the village, near the tiny bamboo Town Hall and the majestic "hard" pagoda.

All it took was... to build the walls, to install a framework, a roof, doors, windows, doors, an office, a care room, a consultation room and a delivery room for the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, that is 10,000 people.

Designed voluntarily by Kéo, an architect who lived in the village (now in the USA) and who worked in Savannakhet in a construction company, and financed by SIBAR (Société Immobilière du Bas-Rhin in Strasbourg) which allowed the construction of the building as well as the interior design, the Ban Na Teui dispensary was built in 2003 exclusively by local artisans and villagers. We have thus allowed families in the village to have some income.

It was in the presence of Savannakhet officials, but also Mr Richard MISSLER, director of SIBAR, and several members of the company, that the dispensary was inaugurated during a major celebration in honour of the generous donors in February 2004.

A partnership had been established with the Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health of the Savannakhet District. There was to be a doctor and two nurses on duty. 

A stock of medicines, brought by all the "falangs" (French people) who came to the village in 2004, has been built up. Two Strasbourg nurses and a pharmacy assistant from the Paris region motivated the Laotian medical staff in place, by organizing the packaging and distribution of medicines.

Unfortunately, in the year following the inauguration, this person in charge, a doctor himself, died. With his death, the partnership was reduced to a nurse on duty, then to a few permanent positions, then to nothing.

Nevertheless, to date, in addition to the medical missions from France (in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010), the dispensary operates on an ad hoc basis and serves the Savannakhet medical staff for vaccination campaigns, infant consultations or other screening organized by the Ministry of Health. Surrounding villages are invited to present themselves at the Ban Na Teui health centre.