STORY: Young couple weave dreams, love at Belt and Road project in Laos
DATELINE: July 8, 2023
LENGTH: 00:02:26
LOCATION: Vientiane
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the hydropower plant
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Lao): PHAVADY NALATHONE, Staff member, Nam Ou 1 hydropower plant of the Nam Ou River Cascade Hydropower Project in Laos
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (Lao): PHAVADY NALATHONE, Staff member, Nam Ou 1 hydropower plant of the Nam Ou River Cascade Hydropower Project in Laos
4. SOUNDBITE 3 (Lao): PHAVADY NALATHONE, Staff member, Nam Ou 1 hydropower plant of the Nam Ou River Cascade Hydropower Project in Laos
5. SOUNDBITE 4 (Lao): NOUPHET THONGSAKDA, Phavady Nalathone's husband
6. SOUNDBITE 5 (Lao): PHAVADY NALATHONE, Staff member, Nam Ou 1 hydropower plant of the Nam Ou River Cascade Hydropower Project in Laos

STORYLINE:

Phavady Nalathone, a 22-year-old Lao, has been working at a hydropower plant of the Nam Ou River Cascade Hydropower Project since 2020.

She said that this has been her dream job since she was a kid because she had a childhood memory with a dam and she took her father as a role model.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Lao): PHAVADY NALATHONE, Staff member, Nam Ou 1 hydropower plant of the Nam Ou River Cascade Hydropower Project in Laos
"My father has been working at the Nam Ngum hydropower 5 plant for over 10 years. I lived and grew up there. I learned about working on the project from real experience while I was staying with my father. Then my family sent me to China to study, and after I came back, my father encouraged me to work with PowerChina."

After graduation she applied to work with PowerChina, which developed the Nam Ou River Cascade Hydropower Project on the largest tributary of the Mekong river in Laos.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Lao): PHAVADY NALATHONE, Staff member, Nam Ou 1 hydropower plant of the Nam Ou River Cascade Hydropower Project in Laos
"Now I can make a living and support my family. In addition, working with Chinese colleagues helps me improve my Chinese."

Besides fulfilling her childhood dream, Phavady also met her life partner here.

SOUNDBITE 3 (Lao): PHAVADY NALATHONE, Staff member, Nam Ou 1 hydropower plant of the Nam Ou River Cascade Hydropower Project in Laos
"I first met him (my husband) when I came to work here. At that time, I had just graduated and my Chinese was more fluent than his. So, whenever we were free we would meet and I've been teaching him Chinese."

SOUNDBITE 4 (Lao): NOUPHET THONGSAKDA, Phavady Nalathone's husband
"My friends told me about the project. I heard that the successful applicants will be sent for professional training in China. So, I decided to apply. This opportunity means a lot to me, because I was unemployed and didn't have income for half of the year then. I was very happy to be selected."

SOUNDBITE 5 (Lao): PHAVADY NALATHONE, Staff member, Nam Ou 1 hydropower plant of the Nam Ou River Cascade Hydropower Project in Laos
"Because of cooperation between Laos and China, we met and fell in love and now we have a lovely daughter as a witness to our love. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for all cooperation projects between China and Laos, which allow us to have a better life and become a married couple."

The Nam Ou River cascade hydropower project was built under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and put into full operation in September 2021, which supplies electricity to the China-Laos Railway.

It has a total installed capacity of 1.272 million kilowatts and an average annual generating capacity of 5 billion kilowatt-hours.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Vientiane.
(XHTV)