In case you were wondering, our very own AB – Adam Braun, PoP’s founder – has been backpacking in Southeast Asia and conducting field work in Laos for the last few months.  Between visiting the adorable kids PoP is helping, checking out the construction site, and discussing partnership opportunities with local organizations, he has managed to write us an update from the field. So here is the first message from Adam, just in from Laos:

Today I found myself being laughed at. A lot. It’s rained almost nonstop for three straight days here in Laos due to the start of monsoon season. Without proper shoes, my entire day was spent barefoot, walking up and down thick muddy footpaths, awkwardly slipping and sliding to the friendly delight of the Laotian locals watching under the cover of their bamboo huts. Regardless of the rain the Pencils of Promise work continues, so we hired a tuk-tuk to check-in on the progress of our first school in Pha Teung and drove out to several remote villages to scout locations for future projects.
The Pha Teung preschool looks absolutely amazing. The Lao builders have done a great job in working with the local community to jointly construct a proud structure of cement, wood, plastic and steel that will stand for 30+ years. It was also extremely gratifying to see some of the kids I’d spent several weeks with during the groundbreaking and early construction stages in March, tanned from the recent warm months and eager to offer a smiling “Saibadee!”

We then visited the villages of Kok Ngiew and Champet. At Kok Ngiew we spoke with the village’s academic director who stressed their need for additional primay school classrooms. One bamboo hut was apparently used as a classroom for 45 students that couldn’t have been more than 15ft x 10 ft! We then entered the CLI Library, one of the few in the entire region, where about 10 children were independently practicing their reading, writing and drawing skills on a day when no classes were in session. Really inspiring stuff. The promise of every child’s intellectual capacity was on display in that room for sure.

To get to Champet we took a local boat across the Mekong and once again struggled barefoot up a steep muddy hill. From there it was a 2km walk to the district’s only high school, nestled into a beautiful field surrounded by lush mountains. The major issue there is student dormintory housing- There simply is none. Some 200 students walk weekly for 3-4 hours from the countryside to attend classes, living in 4-person bamboo huts that they themselves construct and maintain. Considering how tightly packed these huts are, it’s clearly only a matter of time before a heavy wind carries an open fire onto a single reed and a major disaster ensues. We documented this dire situation as best as we could and began discussions aroud ways to help…

Tomorrow it’s off to the Education Ministry to continue discussions regarding testing metrics and sustainable development programs on hygiene, nutrition, personal health, farming and environmental concern in the schools we help construct… we’re about more than building building, we’re about building education.

-Adam

Check back for more real-time updates and phots from the field as more of our members embark on trips to PoP sites. Leave a word of encouragement in the comments – they appreciate it!