Last Day In Champasak, Lao-PDR

Today was one of the most hurtful and torturing day of all the days I had been through during this two weeks mission of ours where we, The YSS Volunteers would leave the land of Lao-PDR and separated with our counterparts who had been sharing everything with us since we arrived here. We did not only collaborate in each and every projects and programmes that we handled in Ban Soukhouma but we had also shared many ups and downs together. Noudchalinh Thammavong, my sweet nineteen years old counterpart from Champasack University that currently studying in Faculty of Education specialisation in English Literature. She did not only helped me to overcome my awkwardness with my host family due to our language barrier but she also did approached me in her own sweet way that I felt so related and closed to her even though during that time, we just knew each other for few hours.

 Being in a totally different place mingling with people whom you just knew for few days and knowing the fact that I was going to stay in a house with people whom I never meet or talk before exhilarated part of me but I have to be frank that there was an inner side of me that whispered, “Is this going to be okay?”. Those doubtful, hesitated and shilly-shally feelings that resided in me would have overwhelmed me throughout this mission if I depended solely on myself to overcome it. But finally, I did it. No, I should have said, we did it. We survived Students Volunteer Mission YSS-ASEAN to Champasack, Lao-PDR and I must say that we would never make it without our incredibly spectacular fellow volunteers who had always been there to support one another in every circumstances.

Today, all of us The YSS Volunteers woke up early because we would be divided into two flight groups and I was one of the luckiest one who would be flying home earlier via Seam Reap, Cambodia before heading to our beloved Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We were informed that we would be heading to Pakse Airport at 0700H and I enthusiastically prepared myself and waited for the bus to pick us up before 0600H. I could be considered as one of those people who would not simply shed their tears and indulged themselves in an emotional situation and this morning, I was ready to leave the land of Lao-PDR. I would not say I was happy to leave. In fact, it was a heart wrenching moment and I still have the urge to stay, hoping that this mission would be extended but I had to face the truth that this was real, I would be leaving soon. While I was still trying to calm myself, I was distracted by a sudden commotion below the female dormitory of Champasack University and guess what? The initially gloomy and quiet ambience just now turned noisy because our counterparts came to visit and see us for the last time before we were gone to our separate ways. The vicinity was suddenly full of people and all of us were very touched because some of them actually came all the way from their home just to meet us.

 Among the crowd, I saw Noudchalinh Thammavong, my counterpart who had been with me through my ups and downs, willingly to listen to all the complaints I conveyed each time I was in my hardest moment. I could not stand the look in her eyes. She had always been so innocent and cheerful but today, she looked different. Our other counterparts that were assigned to be with us in Ban Soukhouma also came and we hugged each other, hoping that we would have the opportunity to meet each other again someday. Then, the buses came to fetch us up and surprisingly, they had arranged a simple farewell ceremony for us at the Hall of Champasack University and we went there. They draped Champa flowers wreath around our neck. The pleasant smell of the Champa flowers overwhelmed the atmosphere making it more saddening especially when some of us were already in tears, hugging each other as if they were not willing to let each other go. I was still unaffected with my surrounding as the only thing I had been thinking was to come back to Malaysia, head back to Akademi Kementerian Pelajaran Tinggi (AKEPT) Negeri Sembilan and enjoying the delicious food of AKEPT’s Canteen.

That was when I was Noudchalinh Thammavong. Her eyes were teary and when she saw me with her woebegone face expression among the crowd, she immediately hugged and said, “Ana, I do not want you to go” and immediately that moment, I could feel innumerable needles were pricking my feelings that I instantaneously felt wretched and broken. If I were to convey those feelings I felt during that time into words, I would say that I felt as if my feelings were shattered and my entire ego of not wanting to cry during that moment perished. All of this while, I had been suppressing my sadness of not wanting to leave them all by myself but during this moment, I relinquished all of it. Despite of our diverse language and culture; we did went through a lot together.

On the surface, our relationship may seemed only based on our volunteerism work, our community immersion together or perhaps maybe only for the sake of making this mission a success but it was not. We were always more than this. We took care of each other. We supported each other. These two weeks mission of ours would never be the same if it weren’t because of the strong bond that had been growing stronger and stronger with each and every passing day of that we had been through. But that would not able to change anything. The YSS volunteers still had to leave the peaceful land of Lao-PDR and came back to Malaysia. We still had another commitment to accomplish. We need to leave. This was the hardest good bye that I had been through all of my life. I had been saying good bye so often every time my father was transferred to another states of Malaysia due to his duty as a soldier and I thought I was already immune to it but today was the day that another good bye managed to torn my feelings to pieces. That sadness did not stop even until we arrived at Pakse Airport for departure. Some of our counterparts who had their own accommodations willingly followed us to the airport to send us until departure hall but since I was in the first flight group, I did not have the luck to spend more time with them and at 1000H, I left the land Lao-PDR.

 I may be physically leaving this place and the people here but I knew that some part of me had resided in Lao-PDR. Those memories that we had created would always stay and treasured forever beneath my deepest heart’s core. I would never forget them. Another bond across the borders had been joined and this bond would not easily be broken. Farewell my friends. We will meet again someday. We will be joined again as a family and before that time approached us, let us hold dear every endearing and valuable memories of ours. Thank YSS for giving us the chance to experience this wonderful journey to be written in our diary of life. 

Beautiful and sweet Noudchalinh Thammavong

YSS Volunteers for Team Ban Soukhouma with our handsome YSS officer, Encik Shahrul

Soukhouma Sayang full members