Help Library For Laos raise $5000 in 5 days

Most of us have seen things in our travels that make us want to help the people and places we visit. Whether it be extreme poverty, oppressive governments or even slavery, the world is not always a pretty place.

Traveler Allen Burt went a step further than most of us and set up a small nonprofit to address different social causes while he was traveling around the world.

Burt’s current project is Library for Laos which is kicking off a fundraising drive this week to raise $5000 in 5 days. All of the money will go to Big Brother Mouse, a literacy organization that’s trying to get books in the hands school children around Laos.

Rural Laos is full of remote villages, many accessible only by long and grueling bus rides over some truly horrific road (I loved Laos, I spent two months there, but I have nothing positive to say about the roads). Other villages can only be reach by riverboat and only then when the water is high enough and still others are reachable only on foot.

Because many people in Laos live so far from what we would call civilization, books are a rarity, which what Big Brother Mouse and the Library for Laos fundraiser are trying to change.

The fundraiser kicks off today and runs through May, 1st. If you’d like to donate, head over to the Library for Laos site and click the donate button. You may donate any amount you’re comfortable with and keep in mind that a mere $50 can supply over 25 books to a school that currently has none.

All money raised will be donated to the local Laos based charity, Big Brother Mouse to fund children’s book purchases and reading programs. Big Brother Mouse writes, publishes, and distributes children’s books written in the native Laos language (a rarity, especially in rural areas of Laos). For more info, check out the Big Brother Mouse website (also see Matador’s excellent write up for some background on Big Brother Mouse).

It only takes about five minutes, and even donating just a few dollars can change the life of a child forever. For those of you on the road, Big Brother Mouse has offices in Vientienne and Luang Prabang where you can buy some books and pass them out as you travel around the country.

[image courtesy of Big Brother Mouse]