In Japanese folklore, the folding and presenting of 1,000 origami cranes signifies long life and happiness. An additional meaning to the 1,000 origami cranes comes from the story of Sadako Sasaki, a courageous child afflicted with leukemia as a result
Laguna Blanca Students Support Lao UXO Victim’s Children April 2012
Barbara and I were very fortunate (and we thank our good friend Fred Branfman for the introduction) to have met Ms. Alethea Paradis. She’s an attorney, turned teacher, turned entrepreneur who started a tour company, called Friendship Tours World Travel.
Every Lao Village Has A Temple April 2012
Coming to Laos for over ten years, I’ve learned that every Lao village (village is “ban” in Lao) has a temple. (Ethnic villages have different customs and practices.) No matter what the economic circumstances of the village are, the villagers
Give Children A Choice Signs MOU for a Model Preschool in Namyen Village February 2012
On February 14, 2012, Give Children A Choice’s Barbara Shimoda signed an MOU with Xieng Khouang’s Provincial Education Head Mr. Boualee to build a model preschool in Namyen Village. Namyen Village is located deep in Mok District in south east
A picture is worth a thousand words. A video is worth a thousand emotions. Thachok Village January 2012
The videos below were taken at Thachok Village, a Hmong Village located 45 minutes east of the Xieng Khouang Province capital city of Phonsavan this past January 17, 2012. Give Children A Choice was there to distribute daily multiple vitamins
Thank You Facebook Voters for the Dindam Preschool February 2012
We traveled to Dindam Village to formally handover our/their new preschool to the district education department and to the Dindam villagers. We celebrated the handover. We gave vitamins to the Dindam village preschool-aged children. We were warmly embraced (in some
Vitamin Walk to Fight Chronic Malnutrition February 2012
Ban Phakeo secondary school children walk twelve kilometers back and forth twice each day to school. Some come home for lunch; others bring lunch to school. The children take one hour to walk six kilometers. We took six hours going
Boating Kong Lor Cave for 4.5 Miles February 2012
Laos is a globally recognized tourist destination. Tourism is a key revenue generating sector for the country. UNESCO World Heritage site Luang Prabang has been named the top tourist destination site in the world for three years in a row
If You Want To Be Happy, Take Your Vitamins
Background Note from Dori Barbara traveled on January 15, 2012 to Xieng Khouang to continue Give Children A Choice’s efforts to distribute over nine million daily multiple vitamin tablets to 25,000 preschool children. The vitamins were donated by Santa Barbara,
Baeng An Update
Last December 2011, we visited old friends at Aine Savanh Village. We found Baeng being carried by his Mom. Baeng’s leg was badly burned. Click here to read his story. Two months later, we visited Baeng again. His legs