City employee Lena Stevens leaves today for two weeks in Laos as part of the ICMA Professional Fellows Exchange Program. In May, the city hosted two international fellows, Thongvone Sosamphan from Laos and Ngan Ngyuen from Vietnam.
Lena will be writing about her experience in Laos for the ICMA blog. Here’s an excerpt from her first blog post:
Why Am I Going?
Perspective is key to keeping your eye on the ball when working for local government. It’s not hard to find examples of government employees who have lost sight of what matters as a public servant. People everywhere have the same needs- food, clean water, safe shelter, jobs, education. I can’t wait to see another corner of the world where these needs are met in ways that might be dramatically different from the service delivery strategies I’m used to.
Laos (pronounced ‘Lao’ – the ‘s’ is silent) is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia. Its neighbors are Vietnam, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Cambodia and China. Lao is the official language of Laos.
The Flag of Laos
