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Comment by 1laochild on June 22, 2009 at 8:31pm

Kemp Inthisorn wroteon June 23, 2008 at 11:05pm
Dear Khon Lao,

While doing research on NGOs in Laos I came upon: The Chi-Ki Children's Charity. The Chi-Ki Children’s Charity is an international charity started by Sylvia Charczuk a Toronto resident and York University graduate.

The Charity's aim is to give Laotian "children the opportunity to accomplish their dreams and attain their higher purpose, while enriching their lives by funding social programs including education, economic development, health awareness, agriculture and basic sanitation."

Please read Sylvia Charczuk's bio this lady is absolutely amazing! Considering , she had started out with only a few dollars saved and having no real knowledge of the Lao language or culture.

Sylvia is not Lao, but I think from her remarkable work and contributions to the children of Laos, to me, she is an even better Laotian than most of us. Imagine what this lady has accomplished for the children to Laos even though she really doesn't have any "real connection" to Laos like we do.

Anyway, I would urge everybody to visit the charity’s website and support them any way you can. There are also volunteer opportunities available as well, and if you’re in Toronto here is their HQ address:

The Chi-Ki Children's Charity
675 Cochrane Drive East Tower, Suite 503
Markham, ON
L3R 0B8 Canada

For volunteer opportunities please contact: sylvia@chiki.ca

http://www.chiki.ca/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-KsoA9kQJQ
http://ca.youtube.com/user/sylviachiki

Comment by 1laochild on June 22, 2009 at 6:55pm

Comment by Thei on June 22, 2009 at 10:38am

Pookie, I am really glad you asked question. Thank, you. You’ve just totally set me up for another lengthy post. It was the same question I asked myself when I starting to think about wanting to do my share for some Pro-Laotian charities.

Bear with me but I’m going to continue to talk about Big Brother Mouse and how you can help them specifically. It’s only been a week since started trying to find Pro-Laotian charities and BBM is all I’ve read up on so far. Also, they involve things I like; guiding children, inspiring creativity, and encouraging education. That edge-jama-cation thang is purty neat and is becoming the new hotness, I hear.

If y’all know some other Pro-Laotian charities (emphasis on Laotian), post them in this group page. I’d love to read up on them as I’m sure our fellow members would too.

Ok, on with what you can do for BBM. They mentioned on their site numerous ways a person can help. I’ll pretty much sum up what I’ve read from it.

Spread the word!
One of the easiest things you can do is learn more about them and just spread the word about their work. In fact, for you web dev savvy folk, you can add a BBM banner to your page that is linked to them.

Donate new or used educational toys, books, and equipment!
The educational toys could be things as telescopes, microscopes, skeleton models, Lincoln logs, Legos, etc. Just think of toys you played with in kindergarten.

The books could be whatever you loved as a kid or “how to…” art books. In fact, they have a wish list on Amazon.com. I ordered some of the books there for them but they still have plenty more.

The equipment such as old laptops you don’t need with at least 2 USB ports and 128 RAM which means that you bought it after 2002 or around there. An old digital camera you don’t need. The cables, accessories, and the manual will be a plus. You can send old computer parts that they can recycle or give for educational uses.

Give money!
You can have them use the money in a couple ways:

Sponsor a book party ($250-$400 U.S)
Here they host a party for children, provide food & drinks, set up games, talk about books, give books to all the children that attend, usually 80-250, and then give 50 books to the village teacher. One cool thing about this is that they pack all the books on and elephant that carry the books to the villages. That’s the just dope, instead of a Santa and reindeers bring gifts, it's teachers and an Elephant! Straight Lao style. That's pretty much a future Laotian fairytale waiting to be written by one of these kids.

Sponsor creation of a new book. ($1000-$3500 U.S)
This is pricey, I know but, it's just the cost of doing things I guess. I wish I can swing that much but that's out of my league at the moment. Apparently it’s what it cost them to create a new book. Here’s the list of books along with the subject matter of the books and the cost of printing.
http://www.bigbrothermouse.com/literacy/books_to_sponsor.html

I, myself, would like to be able to sponsor the World War 2 book.

Comment by Pookie on June 21, 2009 at 5:07pm

hi tq so much for thr invite, i just love what your doing for the childrens from the 3rd worlds country, how do you that? please give me an advise i would love to help out

Comment by 1laochild on June 21, 2009 at 9:54am

One of the good book to read is Laos Mystery fiction "Curse of the Pogo Stick" by Colin Cotterill. You can check out from the Library in your area.

Comment by 1laochild on June 20, 2009 at 9:14pm

Here are the website I am supporting:

http://www.friends-international.org/gallery5.html
http://www.aideds.org/english/livre-antecedentsAIDEDSeng.pdf
http://www.aideds.org/english/mission2.html
1. http://www.goodsearch.com (Search the web to support your charity)
2. http://www.care2.com ~ Just a CLICK! ~ (You donate your kindness for the disadvantage children and others cause, global warming, save animal life, support and promote humanity for peace and justice : )

Comment by Thei on June 19, 2009 at 10:26pm

Oh, wow! 22 members in this group after a day of starting it. Thank you, everyone for joining and thanks in advance for those that are going to join in the future!

Since, I started this group, I feel I'm obligated to lead by example. Basically, to show that I'm practicing what I'm preaching and not talking out of my ass, I'm going to show one of my latest contribution to an organization that I found very much deserving of help. These people deserve every ounce of help they can get. I really wish I can contribute more for them. I can't even begin to express the gratitude I feel for this organization and the work they do for the Laotian children. http://www.bigbrothermouse.com/

Before I explain what Big Brother Mouse does I want you guys to think about what children in America has in terms of childhood heroes and inspirations. Just off the top of my head, in America we had Sesame Street; teaches numbers and alphabets, Muppet Babies; teaches kids to use their imagination, and The Mr. Rogers; teaches I don't know, something positive for kids. I mean, it's been about 15 years since I watched a G.I. Joe cartoon and I'm still saying, "...And knowing is half the battle!". I, myself, grew up watching The Princess Bride like a gazillion times as a kid which is why I'm such a hopeless romantic, but that's another story... In Laos, the children don't have any childhood heroes and inspirations. I "eithown" them to be deprived of such mental childhood luxuries.

Ok, what Big Brother Mouse does is try to provide such childhood heroes and inspirations for the children in Laos. They translate all kinds of appropriate children books to Laos, Laotianize the heroes and the setting per se, and distribute them to Laotian children. They are careful in not Westernizing the books so much and orientate the stories around Laotian culture so that the children will be instilled early on with Laotian pride. For instance, they translated the Wizard of Oz to have a Laotian Dorothy . Now how awesome is that, right? One day one of these kids that received one of these books may grow up to create a Captian Kowneo or The Kuba Kid or something for future Laotian children. Oh, I like to add that the charity I previously listed "Books for Laos", that charity is basically a sub charity for this Big Brother Mouse.

Without further a due, here's my latest contribution a Pro-Laotian Charity. I also like to add that within 2 hours I got a prompt correspondence from Sasha Alyson, head of Big Brother Mouse, thanking me. I smiled for a while from that.

Comment by 1laochild on June 19, 2009 at 12:50am

I agree with you. You have a kind heart and very thoughtfull. Allow me to share my opinion. Even though Laos is poorest country in Southeast Asia but many civilized Western Countries jealous of Laos' Natural Beauty.

Comment by Thei on June 18, 2009 at 11:40pm

I've been pretty much an American boy most of my life. I've left Laos at the age of 10 months and lived in places where my interactions with other Laotians were very limited. On top of that, my Laos is horrible! I mean, when old folks talk to me, I'll just smile through my teeth, nab a few words I understand, and say "Doih" when they stop talking. I've been slowly trying to learn more about my Laotian side and I come to find Laos is one of the poorest countries in Asia. I mean I know it was bad, but the the fact that it was one of the poorest was sort of heartbreaking...

So I thought I might do my small part to bring more attention to charities trying to help Laos. They live of very little means so a little of what we can give goes a long way in Laos.

If you know of any charities dedicated to help Laos, please post them here to share with us. Also, if you can, write a short bio of the charity. I'll kick start with two I quickly came across by searching the net.

Books for Laos
The title of this charity sums up the purpose. It was started by a gentleman name Colin Cotterill that writes books with Laos as a setting.
http://www.colincotterill.com/booksforlaos.htm

Sengsourigna Children Music and Cultural Center
Headed by singer Sengsouriya Phonkaseumsouk. You should help her cause she's hot and that her charities provides helps to needy Laotian children and teach them music and dance
http://noiscmcc.com/