About 30km from Vientiane, 4km from the road to Luang Prabang, is Don Savang - a small island in the middle of a lake at the Nam Houn Dam. Here, locals enjoy the afternoon spending their time eating, drinking and playing water sports. There are a number of floating shelters where you can relax, as well as a small restaurant.

We work directly with farmers and farmer groups to assure that the beans are processed according to specialty coffee standards - ripe, fresh cherries, disciplined processing and professional grading and sorting. We sample all of our beans before we buy them to assure quality and consistency, and for the best beans, we pay the highest prices in Laos. We understand that freshness is possibly the most important part of making a good cup of coffee, and that's why our retail coffee is roasted-to-order to ensure freshness (look for the roast date on the package).

To work as closely with the coffee farmers as we can, we have developed a relationship with the Jhai Coffee Farmer Cooperative (JCFC), a Fair Trade certified co-op on the Bolaven Plateau. The Jhai Coffee farmers are one of the few groups in Laos that makes pure Arabica Typica coffee beans, and their certification meant the farmers receive all of the income generated by their coffee.

As the only exporter of specialty coffee beans in Laos, Jhai reaches markets in Europe, the US and Australia. Jhai Coffee is the first and only coffee co-op to be certified Fair Trade in Laos and we are proud to support them. For more information, go to www.fairtrade.net.

Our Orchid Farm was created in 2006, born from a passion for orchids and the desire to be part of the conservation of the unique Lao biodiversity while at the same time impacting economic and social development. Through our Orchid Trek in the Phou Khou Khouay NPA we:

- Promote awareness to local people on the consequences of the extinction of species and their natural habitats, in particular, orchids.
- Give local forestry poachers an alternative to their unlawful activities with properly paid lasting jobs.
- Promote responsible business practices, which cooperate closely with local authorities and people to support poverty alleviation and deliver conservation benefits.
- Provide a source of income to conserve and sustain the Phu Kwa Kwai protected area

We provide medical care, non-formal education, vocational training, life skills education, psychological support, games, sports, dancing, and painting for participants up to 21 years of age. Their families are also supported by helping them to set up home-based businesses and access to health care. We provide parents with counseling and life skills training, so they are better prepared to accept their children back into the family.

ChildSafe is building a network to protect vulnerable children from all forms of abuse. Tourists have an essential role to play in protecting children. Please do not give money to children on the streets; it encourages them to stay on the streets and reinforces the idea in their family, that children are more useful on the streets than in school. To constructively support the children to get an education, please support the Peuan Mit projects and buy ChildSafe products.

Makphet Restaurant, our newly-opened vocational training restaurant, is run by the instructors and the students. We uphold the highest standards of hygiene, use only naturally-grown ingredients and no MSG. The décor, food and the music are purely Laotian and profits help fund our activities for street children. Once training is completed, Peuan Mit helps the students find other full time employment .

Our Noi-Noi Shop (meaning ‘small-small') sells ChildSafe® products made by parents in vulnerable communities of Vientiane. Parents receive regular payments for their products, and all profits help sustain the project and support basic welfare services for the families. These products are ChildSafe®, as the income generated enables families to pay for their children's education which helps prevent them returning to the streets. We will soon be implementing the regional ChildSafe program in Lao PDR.

MAG, a co-laureate of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, is a humanitarian organisation clearing the remnants of conflict for the benefit of local communities worldwide.

MAG currently works in 11 countries around the world and has been clearing UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) in Lao PDR since 1994. Our UXO Visitor Information Centre on the Mekong River in Vientaine provides visitors with the complete UXO story.

In Laos, if you need an artificial limb (prosthesis), a limb support device (an orthosis), a walking aid or a wheelchair, you go to COPE (Co-operative Orthotic & Prosthetic Enterprise). COPE is currently the main source of these devices in the country and serves those injured by unexploded ordnance (UXO) as well as in traffic and other accidents.

COPE was established in 1997 as a joint venture between the Ministry of Health and a number of international organizations concerned with disability in Laos. The operation is directed entirely by COPE staff, who work with the staff of the National Rehabilitation Centre in Vientiane and four provincial Rehabilitation Centres located in Luang Prabang, Xieng Khouang, Savannakhet and Pakse.

Rugby has come a long way in the Lao PDR since it was reborn in the late 1990's. The Lao Rugby Federation now has associate International Rugby Board (IRB) Status, full membership of the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) and most importantly, has been recognised by the National Sports Committee of the Lao PDR since May 2004.