Saengmany Ratsabout is our guest blogger for this week’s series on Lao New Year, so LLOTP caught up with him to chat about his work.  Saengmany Ratsabout has been part of a new generation of emerging Lao community builders in Minnesota. He’s volunteered and supported numerous events and activities nationally and locally. With many years of experience working in the non-profit sector, he has coordinated programs such as Southeast Asians Living Chemically Free, and served as board member for the Center for Lao Studies and the Asian Pacific Endowment Fund. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from St. Cloud State University in 2004, where also co-founded Asian Students In Action. He received a Master of Arts in Southeast Asian Studies from the  University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006 focusing on “Continuity and Changes of Buddhism from Old State to New State of Lao People’s Democratic Republic.” He is currently pursuing a Master of Liberal Studies at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with an expected graduation date of 2014. Saengmany Ratsabout has worked as a …