Adopt a Village in Laos Fundraiser: Amazing Attendance

Bev Korasack (Sieng LaoRadio) and me

The Adopt a Village in Laos fundraiser at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Port Hope, Ontario this past Saturday, September 17 was an absolutely amazing success. It was an evening filled with great presentations (from Steve Rutledge and Mike Yap, Ted Amsden and me, Roland Drake), live musical performances from a local band, a silent auction and delicious food from the local Thai restaurant, Buluai A Taste of Thai. Over 150 people, including six of my friends from Toronto and Bev Korasack from Fairchild Radio's Sieng Lao Radio program in Toronto, attended this event.



Uwe Meyer, the artistic director of the Capitol Theatre, kicked off the evening by introducing Steve and Mike. After they briefly spoke to the audience, they introduced me as the first presenter of the evening. Never having attempted anything like this before, I found myself unusually calm and centred. During the intermission, I received praise for my presentation from some of the guests.

For my 10 minutes in the spotlight, I began with a short PowerPoint presentation illustrating some general and sobering statistics about Laos. Then I shifted to the piece de resistance of my presentation, a video titled, "The Dark Days of Laos", which I had created from archival audio and movie sources. Set to the song "Nella Fantasia" ("In My Fantasy"), it focused on the bombing of Laos from 1964 to 1973 and its deadly legacy. After the video ended, the audience sat there in stunned and sombre silence.

 The video's message had definitely made an impact on them.

The mood then quickly shifted when Steve Rutledge and Mike Yap returned to the stage and did their first presentation of the evening. As always, they did not disappoint. They kept the audience engaged and entertained.

After the intermission, there were a couple of more segments, including a beautiful video about Adopt a Village in Laos by Northumberland Today photojournalist, Ted Amsden, who had ventured to Laos in December 2010.

 The evening wrapped up with a slideshow showcasing the work of Adopt a Village in Laos accompanied by the song "Nella Fantasia".

The Seven Day Countdown

It's now exactly one week and counting down to the big Adopt a Village in Laos fundraiser at the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope, Ontario.
If you happen to read this post on or before Saturday, September 17 and are interested in attending this event, please get in touch with us as soon as possible to get your tickets.

Adopt a Village in Laos Capitol Theatre Event

On the evening of Saturday, September 17 starting shortly after 7 pm, Adopt a Village in Laos will be holding a special event at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Port Hope. Hosting that night will be organization founders Steve Rutledge and Mike Yap. Among the guests lined up for this special evening will be Ted Amsden, the Northumberland Today photojournalist who visited Laos in December 2010 and later wrote a three-part series in that local paper about the organization, and myself, Roland Drake, who will be doing a short presentation and will be honoured for my own small contributions to the organization.

If you're interested in learning more about this event, please email:

Roland Drake  at myjourneytolaos@gmail.com

or

Steve Rutledge at adoptavillageinlaos@gmail.com.

Saturday Visit to Port Hope

This coming Saturday my friend Andrew will be driving me to Port Hope for a meeting with the president of Adopt a Village in Laos, Steve Rutledge. A number of important items will be on the table for discussion that day all of which are listed below. Hopefully, we will be able to attend to all of them.

1. The presentations.
2. A real web site.
3. Facebook.
4. Twitter.
5. My trip to Laos.
6. Advisory committee.
7. Marketing ideas.

If time allows, I am hoping to take Andrew on a little tour of Port Hope.

To finish off the day, all of us will be dining at the exquisite Buluai A Taste of Thai restaurant, which is owned by Sammy Minc, who grew up in a small village on the Laos/Thailand border. Afterwards, Steve will take Andrew and myself to see The 39 Steps, which is playing at the Capitol Theatre - just steps away from the restaurant.

In 400 Words

Earlier this month I submitted material for an article about Laos to SNAP, a community publication which covered my "To Laos with Love" event at the beginning of  March. A few days ago, I received an email from SNAP indicating that the material had to be pared down significantly. Immediately, I set to work trying to condense what I had to say to meet their requirements of 400 words. I realized that by doing so I could only hope to give potential readers a glimpse of what Adopt a Village in Laos is all about. Finally, after several revisions, I managed to create something which did meet their requirements and with which I was satisfied. I made certain to embed it with relevant web links, providing potential readers with access to additional information to broaden their understanding. The final revision turned out to be just over 400 words in length.

After having had virtually no success in breaking through the mainstream media in Toronto, I was very happy that SNAP was interested in publishing this story. I am hoping that this article will be a major stepping stone to increasing awareness of Adopt a Village in Laos and the wonderful work which this humanitarian organization is doing with the hill tribes of rural Laos, taking it well beyond the confines of Port Hope and Cobourg.

The article appears in their May issue.