This week meet PoP Director of Marketing and Branding, Brad Haugen, who says “I hope everyone who reads this realizes that no matter who you are, what your age is or how much money you have, you can truly have an impact on this world. It just takes heart.”

So today village elders tied me up and got me drunk, then sent me off to shoot the monks, until I discovered that the monks were, in fact, shooting me. Oh, and I crashed my motorbike.
The awesome part about all of this is that I’m not even kidding.
Thanks to the underground marketing campaign of a pair of friends (I owe you, Wilsher/Johnson), I have been granted the extreme privilege of shooting documentary materials for Pencils of Promise in Laos as they get set to turn over control of several …

A while ago I spent the afternoon with Kua, a 13-year-old at Pha Theung school. I waited for her to finish her morning class, dutifully pack away her homework and clean up her desk, then take me down to the river for an adventure.

It’s impossible to understand the Lao people until you meet them. They are hardworking and content. This is their life, and they are happy to be here and enjoy it as often as possible with family and friends. The children, complete with runny noses, dirty clothes and big smiles, light up every room in which they sit. They will crush your heart with cuteness, and pictures cannot do them justice.

Read the third update from the field from Adam Braun, who is currently visiting Haiti with Project Medishare, a non-profit partner that is providing medical relief in Port au Prince. Adam will be updating us on his experiences in Haiti with the Project Medishare team over the next few days.

Photo: PoP Photographer Michael Trainer, ReckoningStudios.com