Sombath somphone biography of barack obama

Lao civil society member

Sombath Somphone (Lao: ສົມບັດ ສົມພອນ, pronounced[sǒm.bǎtsǒm.pʰɔ́ːn]; born 17 February 1952) is an internationally acclaimed community development worker and prominent member of Lao civil society.

Sombath was abducted from a Vientiane street in 2012 and has not been seen since.^[1]

Early years

Sombath Somphone was born into a poor farming family, the eldest of eight brothers and sisters.

He attended high school in the US state of Wisconsin. In the early-1970s he received a scholarship to study at the University of Hawaiʻi where he received a bachelor's degree in education (1974) and a master's degree in agriculture (1978).^[2]

Career

Returning to his home country after the Vietnam War and the establishment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Sombath's earliest work was to demonstrate methods of sustainable farming that contribute to food security.

He also pioneered the use of participatory rural ap