1. In the refugee camps, many children had a strong desire to learn. With the company of their friends, they would travel barefoot all the way to school.
2. The schools that taught Thai welcomed every refugee student who wanted to learn. The schools that taught English were only for members of the church and their children. The young and old were also able to learn English if they paid a tuition fee to private, self-taught teachers who held small classes in their huts or wherever they could find space.
3. Few families could afford uniforms for their children to wear to attend school.
4. There were 20 school buildings with 110 classrooms for 8,000 students and 200 teachers in Ban Vinai.
5. The classrooms were crowded with many students; it was very hot, dark, and dusty. There was no electricity. During the rainy season, it was very humid, but the students still wanted very much to go to school. When it rained, the wood plank window shutters would be closed so the rain could not get into the classrooms. That’s when it would become too dark to study.
6. There’s a primary school in Ban Vinai (BV) that was administered by the Thai Ministry of Education. Children were taught by Thai and Hmong teachers in Thai and Lao language. When there were a lot of children attending school and BV could not afford to build more schools, school became half day only. Some learned in the morning, and some learned in the afternoon. Lunch was not included in the school. When camp started closing in the 1990s, classes were combined again because there were less children in the camp.
7. Bounthavy Kiatoukaysy: There was a time when cooked rice left the night before, then you came home for lunch to have mov ntse dej (rice with water) eating with qhiav ntsw ntsev (ginger with salt). I believe that families with fewer members might have lunch. Huge families like mine, there's no leftovers. If there's any leftovers then that's good. I remember I'd be angry sometimes when I get home and there's no lunch. Oh, that life was a poor one.