Oudomxay student wins prize in global art competition

www.laosmile.com - A primary school student in Oudomxay province has been named one of the winners in an international children’s art competition, according to a press release from the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP). Yeer Yung, a grade five student in Xayxana village, won US$100 for himself and US$200 for his school in the 2008 WFP Children’s Art Competition. His drawing showed four women preparing food at his school and was one of 13 finalists selected from a short-list of 155 drawings by primary school children in 31 countries. WFP’s Head of School Feeding in Oudomxay, Ms Anna Kilala, congratulated Yeer at a ceremony held at his school last month. “This is the second time Laos has produced a winner for this international competition,” she said. “The people of Laos should be very proud of their children and encourage them to attend school and participate in competitions such as this one.” Students were asked to create a drawing that showed how WFP school meals affected their lives. Five drawings from Laos were selected from 500 entries created by students throughout the country to be sent to the competition judges in Rome, Italy. Yeer loves mathematics and Lao classes and is determined to continue his schooling after completing primary school next year. His father said he would support his son to travel 10km to the closest secondary school next year. “I am very proud of my son and his success in the art competition,” he said. “We will use his prize money to buy a school uniform and a bicycle for Yeer, so next year he won’t have to walk the long way from school to our house.” Yeer’s school participates in the WFP school feeding project, which provides students with a daily midmorning snack made of vitamin and mineral-fortified corn-soya blend and takehome rations of rice, salt and canned fish for their families. Provincial Education Services Director, Mr Ovath Ch a n t h a v o n g , t h a n k e d WFP for i t s cont inue d support and commended the Lao government for its determination to provide education and basic services to every family in the country. “Children need to eat, but they also need food for their eyes and ears,” he said. “Every child should have the chance to receive a good education.”


Yeer’s winning drawing.