Key Furniture: None

I am sitting on the back of a motorbike in central Laos. It is 95 degrees, the sun is blazing down from above, and the fine red dust adamantly finds its way into every possible crevice. We have just turned down another dirt road when we encounter our first flat tire of the day. Fortunately, there is a repair shop just a short walk away, and while a Laotian mother squats to fix our tire, we talk about why we are out here.

I am sitting on the back of a motorbike in central Laos. It is 95 degrees, the sun is blazing down from above, and the fine red dust adamantly finds its way into every possible crevice. We have just turned down another dirt road when we encounter our first flat tire of the day. Fortunately, there is a repair shop just a short walk away, and while a Laotian mother squats to fix our tire, we talk about why we are out here.

When I first walked through the doors of Digital Divide Data’s office in Vientiane I found myself in what looks like any other bustling IT business. Computers line the walls and the operations floor is full of young computer technicians working away on data entry projects and digitization of books and newspapers, while managers are meeting about estimates and quality evaluation. But I know that what sets DDD aside from the thousands of other IT outsourcing companies in Asia is the organization’s social mission.

DDD employs disadvantaged youth in Cambodia and Laos, providing them with education, training, and real on-the-job work experience, so that they, after four years, are able to hold better jobs and provide for themselves and their families. While DDD in Cambodia partners with a French NGO for the work of identifying and recruiting the students who are most in need as well as qualified, DDD in Laos handles the recruitment of new employees without help from third parties.

When a new student applies for employment with DDD they are enrolled in a careful selection process where one of the key steps is an unannounced visit to their family home. Thongkham Soumaloun, DDD’s Training Coordinator, and I are on our way to our first family visit of the day when the tire blows up. Thongkham tells me that for this round of recruitment he interviewed more than 60 young Laotians and he aims to hire just under 40. Today, we are visiting five families; the first one is the family of a 23 year-old girl named Noy.

Once the tire is repaired we continue for another 45 minutes before we end up in a small village. All the houses in the village are on stilts, mostly built from bamboo and wood. There are no road signs or house numbers, so the only way to find the right house is to ask around. Not long after we arrive in the village the girl’s mother shows up to greet us. She has already heard of our arrival.

We sit down at a table downstairs, shaded by a few trees and Thongkham pulls out the evaluation form. Do you own or rent your house? Rent. Do you own or rent your land? Rent. Average annual income? $700 USD. I go inside the house to take a few pictures for documentation. Key furniture? None.

We also ask if the girl has any siblings and if they are in school. It turns out that the student’s brother is already employed at DDD in Laos. This is a key piece of information since it is part of DDD’s selection criteria to only accept students from families where other immediate family members are not already employed by DDD. Because her brother is already employed by DDD she doesn’t qualify.

We finish the questionnaire and ask for directions to the next house. It is another long ride on dirt roads. We get on the motorbike and set off and I yell to Thongkham over the noise from the engine and wind: “It’s too bad, they could really use some help”, and he responds: “But her brother is already making a salary and sending money home to his family. There are other families who are not as lucky.” He is right, and we continue on to the next visit.