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.

For the past week I have been spending time in Dario, Nicaragua formalizing our first partnership in Latin America with an incredible organization called Seeds of Learning. We share a common approach to community development, which is grounded in the belief that each village must be deeply entrenched participants in the construction of their school, library or community center.
These structures we build neither “belong” to Seeds of Learning nor Pencils of Promise. They belong to the community; we are merely facilitators towards this end. Sustainability lies in local ownership, not …