LAOS

LOCATION:  LUANG PRABANG, LAOS

FOCUS:  CHILDREN'S LITERACY

LOCAL PARTNER: LUANG PRABANG LIBRARY

TOTAL DONATED:  $7,850 - for a summer program for 200 students, and a year's worth of school supplies for six village schools!

VOLUNTEERING:

Two weeks at the Luang Prabang Public Library working with kids, and books, and crafts, and Legos, and village visits = Heaven!

This library holds a special place in my heart, mostly due to the spectacular librarian - Chanta Souliyasak! I met Chantha in 2008, when I walked into the library asking her if she needed my help with anything, and the rest is history!

I contacted her a few months ago, telling her I was getting back on the road for a while, and asked her if I could help her with anything. She was ecstatic, as she was hoping to create a summer program for local students who were out of school, and that's how this all came to be!

THE SUMMER PROJECT!

I spent two weeks volunteering with Chantha, loading trucks for village visits and driving to the villages, packing books, supervising the Lego room, and just running errands for her. She was stretched very thin this summer, not to mention going through cancer treatment, so I loved to be of use to her, as she's one of the most remarkable people I know!

Even though she's battling cancer, Chantha created a 10 week summer literacy and skill building program - for 200 kids!! Can you even imagine that? I still can't wrap my head around her ambition!

She wanted to make the library a place for kids to come to give them something to do during the summer, and created a full schedule. She developed a hygeine program, along with songs and skits, and English classes, and dance classes, and reading programs, and free time for art and legos (my job). She also created a program for the community to come skits the kids created from what they learned, as well as a fashion show utilizing typical trash - with a 14 year old boy destined to win RuPaul's Drag Race!

It was just spectacular - and even though I was very late because of my hospital stay in Bangkok, I still got a little over two weeks to help with the program. We were also able to fund and facilitate 6 village visits - outfitting each school with school supplies, books, and a few of the summer lessons. THAT was my favorite part - being out in the villages hauling things around so they could do their work.

I said on my Instagram post - my heart grows each stop I make, because it has to - as I leave a big part of it everywhere I go. There's an enormous part of my heart left here in Luang Prabang with these wonderful people.