Joyce and I had the most wonderful experience today! We learned about a Lao organization called Big Brother Mouse (Ai Nu Noi in Lao) that writes and publishes books in Lao and English (and occasionally Hmong and Khmu) and gives them to Lao children. Their info said that most Lao kids have never owned a book (!!!) and that they don’t know that reading can be fun. They’re trying to change this, by selling books, giving them to kids and by encouraging tourists to take books to rural villages. We thought that this was a great mission, so we bought some of their books and took them on our trek in Laos (more about that later). They were a big hit in the village where we stayed, and that spurred us on.

Big Brother Mouse goes out to rural schools and has book parties, where they play games with the kids, and then give them each a book, and leave lots more books, so the kids can swap their book for another. We loved this idea, so we decided to sponsor a book party ourselves. We went to the Luang Prabang office, and set it up in no time; it was easy. It was only $250, but to put that into perspective, a whole year’s college education costs $60! Yup, our book party could have paid for someone’s entire college education! Nuts, huh? Makes you appreciate just quite how much we have.

Anyhow, we woke up this morning at 6:00am, to get ready and meet The Mouse (as we’ve taken to calling the organization). Around 7:00am, Joyce, a Canadian journalist who was writing a story about Lao NGOs, four Mouse staff members and I all got into the van and headed off to the village of Hua Kang, about an hour’s drive away. Lao roads, and driving, for that matter, are an experience unto themselves, and the best strategy is just not to look. (This, we’ve found, is true in more places around the world than not.)

We passed several small villages, all of which basically look the same: houses on stilts, to avoid flood damage and create a shady place to sit; half-clothed children wandering all around; dogs EVERYWHERE; and lots of women carrying things to and fro. (Where are the men? Really, what are they doing all the time while the women are working?)

Hua Kang is a bit bigger, but its main differentiating features were the monks wandering about, in their bright orange robes, and the elementary school. This was  nice school, for Laos, new and well constructed. (Probably the best constructed building in town, in fact.) We all piled out of the van, and unloaded, and then the onslaught began.

As soon as the children (There were about fifty of them, in an older and a younger classroom.) saw us, the excitement in the air was tangible. The first thing we did (Well, Joyce and I actually didn’t do it; we don’t speak Lao.) was call out all of the kids, and play some games. That just got them even more excited. Then, we went back inside and drew some pictures. The excitement level lowered slightly, but only slightly. Then, shooting the excitement level through the roof, we played “The Tooth Decay Game,” which is tag, but with three-legged race teams playing. It’s crazy! And, unfortunately for “The Teeth,” the two boys playing germs always won. Where’s toothpase when you need him?

Next came snack, an inveterate favorite with children. And then, as the icing on the cake, came story time. Now, we had no idea what the guy (Sone) telling the story was saying, but he was so good at it, that it didn’t matter at all. We were laughing away with the kids, who thought that our presence was almost as funny as “The hungry giant and the goat,” as we learned one of the stories was called. (You can imagine what the theme of it was.)

And then, the coup de grace. Each classroom lined up, and the kids got to pick a book of their own! First, The Mouse-team explained what all the different books (There are thirty of them in all) were, and then, the kids came up and picked which one they wanted. We were so happy to see all of the kids with their books, and so proud to know that WE made that possible. It was a wonderful feeling.

But, then it was lunchtime, and all the kids went home. (not as easy as it sounds, as some of them have to walk several miles to get home) Fortunately, it was also lunchtime for us, and the teachers and villagers hosted The Mouse-team and us to a nice meal, with, of course, sticky rice