Do you see our little tickers up there?
They will track our progress at raising funds to support the work being done in Laos by the guys at Big Brother Mouse. Our first goal is to be able to sponsor a book party. What’s a book party? Well, first of all you need to imagine that you’ve never owned a book before, perhaps even not seen a book other than textbooks. Then a few people trek to your probably-remote-obviously-rural village carrying a box of FUN BOOKS. They sing some songs with you about books, they play some games, give you an art lesson and even let you choose a Book Of Your Very Own. You get to keep that book, and what’s more, there will be a box of another fifty or so books left in your village for you to go and swap with. A mini-library Just Like That.
Our family could wear the label *book-a-holic*, and so when we heard about this project we just knew it was something we could get excited about getting involved with. We changed our travel plans and decided to add Laos to our itinerary. We are hoping that by the time we arrive in Luang Prabang we will have at least raised enough money to sponsor a book party. We are really really really hoping we will have raised even more and be able to sponsor the publishing of a brand new book.
Our two major initiatives for raising money are going to be holding a silent auction (we can’t take roller blades or a baby stroller with us and we’ve got new sleeping bags so there are eight still-perfectly-good-summer-weight ones looking to be re-homed….along with lots of other new and used items……books, toys, reusable shopping bags, craft gear, computer gear, homemade chutney, mountains of clothing and even two hot water bottles) and doing a sponsored 16km Coast to Coast Walk as a family.
Do you want to join with us in taking literacy to Laos? Feel free to leave a comment if you do.
