Food That Gets Kids Off the Street
Activity name: Makphet Restaurant & Peuan Mit Programme
Location: Vientiane city
Tip: Around town, don’t give money to street kids begging
Enjoy great food that helps keep kids off the streets in Vientiane.
Former street kids at work
The experience: It’s an uncomfortable experience to see bright-eyed, young children begging on the streets. Often our first reaction is to give money or to buy their postcards and flowers. But does this really help? Chances are it will only encourage the kids to stay on the street where they have little hope for a better life and are vulnerable to abuse. A great way to help is to visit the Makphet (‘hot chilli’) restaurant in Vientiane run by Friends International. The restaurant is staffed by former street children and youth at risk (all over 15 years old).
It offers delicious Lao food in a modern setting prepared with the freshest local produce under the highest standards of hygiene. Check out also the Noi Noi (‘small small’).
Friends Shop above the restaurant which sells handicrafts made from recycled materials by the parents of former street children. The income the parents make from selling these products means that their children can go to school instead of working on the streets. And if you have a bicycle or motorbike that needs repairing consider taking it to the Friends International workshop where at risk Lao teenagers are being given a chance to learn a new vocation under the tuition of expert mechanics.
Tasty,fresh,hygienic
How it helps: The Makphet restaurant provides vulnerable youth with job skills and a new chance in life while at the same time helping to generate income for Friends International to run its Peuan Mit (‘close friend’) programme in Vientiane. This globally inspired programme offers counselling services, emergency lodging, vocational training, medical care, small business development assistance and life skills support to both street and at risk children and their parents so they can move away from a life on the streets.
You can also make donations to the Peuan Mit programme and know that your money will be making a real difference to those who need it. Currently the programme, with the help of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, is supporting up to a 1,000 street and at-risk children a month.
Location and contact Information
The Makphet restaurant is located in a pleasant garden setting opposite Vat Inpeng temple on Sethathirath Road not far from the central Nam Phou fountain. The mechanical workshop is found on T2 Road, #366, Ban Donmieng. Ask at the restaurant for details.
Mak Phet Restaurant
Tel: (+856) [0] 21 260587 / [0]20 7821949
Peuan Mit Centre
Tel: (+856) [0] 21 261389
E-mail: makphet@friends-international.org
Web: www.friends-international.org
and www.childsafe-international.org.
Map: Marker indicates Vientian not The Makphet restaurant …
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