My Journey to Laos Newsletter

After creating the new newsletter, I emailed a copy to Steve. In his reply he said that he liked it but he was nervous about my travel fundraiser part. He explained that, "the newsletter is supposed to be about Laos, its culture, our progress and all kinds of things but it shouldn't be about fundraising for yourself to go." He had a perfectly valid point with which I could not disagree. I revised the Adopt a Village in Laos newsletter, which remains in production, and created another newsletter, My Journey to Laos, which exclusively focuses on me, extracts from this blog and my travel fundraiser updates.

Travel Fundraiser Update

This afternoon I got together with a friend at the local cafe. Earlier she had phoned me and requested that I meet her there because she had something special to give me. Shortly after I arrived, she very discretely slipped something into my hand. When I looked down, my eyes widened for in my hand was a crisp $100 bill. She explained that this was toward the cost of my flight to Laos, whereupon I hugged her and thanked her from the bottom of my heart.


-- Post From My iPhone

New Newsletter Distributed

Yesterday morning I gave one of my friends a copy of the special issue of Adopt a Village in Laos newsletter, which you can download for yourself from the sidebar at right. That afternoon he made fifty copies and went out on the street to distribute them. When we got together this morning, I asked him how the newsletter was received. Of the three locations where he distributed the newsletters, the people in Yorkville reacted in an overwhelmingly enthusiastic and positive way.

Chatting with Steve and Mike

Currently renting a house, which serves as his base of operations until April 2011, in Luang Prabang, the second largest city in Laos with a population of about 103, 000, I caught Steve eating breakfast when I connected with him via Skype just after 8 PM Eastern Time Friday evening (8 AM Saturday morning in Laos). Surprisingly, considering a distance of 13, 000 km, the connection was, for the most part, good. On a few occasions the audio or video would momentarily cut out, distort, or freeze.

Steve related some details about what's been going on there with the projects, certain government officials and dealing with some bureaucratic issues with respect to his visa. He said that he would expand on these aspects via email in the next few days. As soon as anything does become available, I will post it here.

On Sunday, when Mike, Jennifer Hawthorn, Jennifer Mercer, and Ted Amsden arrive, they will be staying at this house with Steve.

Later that same night I called Mike to wish him a safe journey. In order for them to make their Air Canada flight later that morning, Mike said that one of the Jennifer's family members would be chauffeuring these Laos-bound travellers from Port Hope to Pearson International Airport in the wee hours of Saturday morning. While our household is hosting a special holiday party next Saturday, I informed Mike that I would try to call him, Steve and the others on Skype to wish them all the very best of the season. Presuming we can connect then, this will provide an excellent opportunity for me to introduce the people at the party, most of whom have only heard me talk about what I am doing or read the newsletters, to the people who are actually involved in this humanitarian campaign.

Revised Newsletter Published Today

In this special issue, which is now double-sided, I have tweaked the text a little bit, added a small, black-bounded box at the bottom of the page titled, My Journey to Laos: Travel Fundraiser. Inside the box it states how much money has been raised so far and asks if you would like to contribute something to help me reach my goal. I also put a starburst beside the masthead to advertise the video of the Adopt a Village in Laos fundraiser at the Capitol Theatre this past October.

On the reverse side it includes information from the first edition and a sidebar containing some quick facts about and a small map of Laos.

Created New Skype Account

Before I retired for the evening last night, I created a new Skype account, myjourneytolaos, specifically for my trip to Laos so that I can stay in touch with friends and family while I am there next year.

Lao Hill Tribes: Traditions and Patterns of Existence

Last night before heading off to bed, I decided to go online see and what historical information there is on Laos. In short order I found a cornucopia of information, including a 152-page essay on History of Laos by Maha Sila Virarong, which has been translated from the original Laos. Much of the online information I encountered I have bookmarked for future reference. I have also added a couple of these links to the Laos Links section of my blog.

In addition to online sources, I perused Indigo's online store and stumbled upon a fascinating book, Lao Hill Tribes: Traditions and Patterns of Existence, by Stephen Mansfield. Originally published in 2000 by Oxford University Press, the publisher describes this book thusly:

This highly distinctive cultures and ethnic diversity of the Lao hill tribes - and the fact that so little has been written about them - make these groups and their fragile micro-cultures some of the most fascinating minorities left in the world. Lao Hill Tribes is the first book to look exclusively at the subject.

Sadly, I discovered that this book is not only sold out, but no longer in print. Undaunted, I checked out a couple of options in used books. I hit gold when I visited Amazon, where, much to my delight, I found copies of this book. With little discrepancy between currencies, the U.S. outlet has several copies at a price more reasonable than its Canadian counterpart. Over the holidays one of my friends will be visiting family in the U.S. He said that he will have his partner order a copy and have it shipped to where they will be staying. He will bring the book back when he returns to Canada and present it as a gift to me.