Kou Voravong
Kou Voravong grew up in Savannakhet and pursued a primary education there. He obtained the « certificat d'études primaires complémentaire indochinois » - Certificate of Indochinese Additional Primary Studies - (CEPCI) in 1930, went afterward to Vientiane and began his first-secondary-school year at the Collège Auguste Pavie. But because of a conflict which opposed him to French Colonial administration, his adopted father was sentenced to prison that same year. As reaction to this situation, Kou Voravong left school and returned to Savannakhet. As an out-of-school teenager, he practiced sports, especially soccer.
Marwan Koukash
Koukash was born on the west bank of the River Jordan in December 1958 in Palestine. When he was eight years old, the family farm was bombed, due to rising escalations with the Israeli military in Palestine and the family crossed into Jordan before settling in Kuwait. Eventually, he moved to Britain to progress his education, and settled in St. Helens to study at the local technical college.