About a week ago I sent out an email to our internal team of 100+ members across the country to share all of the recent progress that PoP has gone through. Based on that response, I figured it would be best to share it with all of you as well.

(Photo Credit: Bryce Eriksen)

One of the first questions we ask is what they want most for their community. We won’t be giving it to them; we’ll be helping them create it for themselves.

5 years ago I started backpacking across the globe, and the seeds for what would one day become Pencils of Promise were sown. They came in the form of questions, most specifically What do you want most?

When you first see Kua, she’s at the blackboard, the teacher admiring her work. She’s sporting a baseball cap and t-shirt with her school skirt and is undoubtedly smiling.
When they break for lunch, her classmates fall into a familiar stride behind their friend and leader. Kua knows everybody in Pha Theung school and village.
And everybody knows Kua. She is a confident, intelligent and friendly female who loves her village and her school.
As they file out the door, she announces to all of them that they’re going to take the falang, …