John Micklos, Jr., Editor in Chief, Reading Today Joins Better Place! Here is what he has to say about the Ban Buamlao Laos School Book Project:
"As a longtime educational journalist, I am really pleased to learn about project to purchase books and other supplies for the children of Ban Buamlao Primary School in Laos. Learning to read is the key to all education. "
John Micklos, Jr.
Editor in Chief, Reading Today
International Reading Association
Cambodia & Southeast Asia Photographer, Photojournalist & Writer Covering Photography, News, And Social Issues Concerning Cambodia, Asia & The World's 7 Billion People, One Blog Post At A Time.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Setting The Record Straight
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
Thank you for your interest in Mr. Nou's project
http://www.betterplace.org/projects/455
There's been a few questions regarding the mechanics of book delivery and so forth and I wanted to take a moment to give everyone the complete story.
I have been working on it over 2 years now and just sent out letter number 100 today.
Here is the complete story regarding the Laos Primary School Book Project in Ban Buamlao, Laos. The person who should be thanked for this project is a man named Mr. Nou.
I am the photojournalist who first visited the site in Ban Buamlao, Laos. I am based in Cambodia. A man named Mr. Nou, a 72-year-old Lao national, took me to the school when I was in Laos on another assignment in April 2006.
Mr. Nou takes medicine to people, tries to help the kids learn English etc., but there was no formal project in place....just a person, me, observing an impoverished Lao man and his efforts to help others with his earnings of about $50 USD per month.
As a photojournalist, I normally act as a "go between". When we arrived at the school, I observed that the kids had virtually nothing and at that point, I vowed to help him. That was in April 2006.
I began compiling people's names etc who I thought might help me raise the funds and in October, 2006, David Graham posted a message on lightstalkers.org. stating "funding of assignments".
I spent several days preparing a project proposal entitled "Project Nou" that had to be submitted by the last day of 2006 to changingideas.org....emailed 5 hours before the deadline from Kratie, Cambodia.
I was then asked by changingideas to return to Laos to get more photos, which I did at my own expense.
I visited the school twice during that trip accompanied by Mr. Nou again. I photographed the situation and in May 2007, I submitted over 100 photographs to changingideas.org. In November 2007, I received a 2 1/2 minute slideshow presentation from them that utilized the photos I took.
On August 11th, 2008, David Graham's project, “Ban Buamlao Primary School” showed up on the betterplace.org website, for which I am most grateful.
In reality, this project "belongs" to Mr. Nou. He is the kindest man I have ever met and his commitment to his fellow countrymen is unbelievable. He dispenses aspirin, books that he can afford etc, all at his own expense. Further, he is a very poor man himself.
I just had a simple idea after I met him and that was to help the people of Ban Buamlao. The village is 1/2 ethnic Hmong and half ethnic Kamu and I have remained to this day committed to doing what I can somehow.
As for the hardware store Mr. Graham mentioned, I searched throughout Luang Prabang for 3 days and finally found books that were the right price. I at that time found workbooks for example at 80 cents each rather than the 3 dollars charged for them on the "tourist strip" in downtown Luang Prabang. The official Lao Pathet (communist party) English books may have to be purchased in Vientiane since they are scarce or non-existent in Luang Prabang. I will make the purchase of the books there more than likely and then continue another 9 hours on the bus to Luang Prabang.
It will actually be me traveling back to Luang Prabang, a 10 day round trip from where I am based in Cambodia. I am trying to raise funds for myself so I can afford this, otherwise all my expenses will be out of my own pocket. Neither Mr. Nou nor I have ever received a penny from anyone else.
I will arrange porterage across the Mekong river with Mr. Nou and HE will deliver the books to the kids. I will provide photo documentation but I will tell the kids MR NOU got them the books.
If this is unsatisfactory to Mr. Graham I will, after 32 months and a few hundred hours of work, bow completely out of the project as will Mr. Nou and we will start over. Mr. Nou WILL NOT be cut out of this project and HE is the Laotian here, not me, Mr. Graham or Mr. Clarke.
There is no mail delivery to this village. When I saw a post on November 17th, 2008 asking about sending materials directly
Hello David. is it possible, to send an aid package with writing utensils etc.direkt to the school? I have been to Lao to and all I can say, theses gentle people deserve our help! Thank you for the projekt! Robi
The answer is no . That's what most people would do in a developed country. I asked a Cambodian friend of mine who lives upstairs what he thought just to be sure. He had a business in Laos for 4 years and I have only been to Laos 5 times so I wanted to get a "second opinion". There is no infrastructure to speak of in northern Laos. I was the first non-Asian most of these folks had ever encountered.
Laos is a communist country full of corruption. Mr., Nou advised me not to tell anyone I was working in conjunction with a charity as even the teachers at the school would be trying to figure out how to get their hands on the money. Even if it were possible to send materials directly to the school …well let's just say the person who received the shipment may sell it all before the kids even knew it arrived. At least that is what Mr. Nou says and he has lived in Laos for 72 years.
In the photos, it appears many of the children have books but in reality, they are constructing textbooks by transcribing information from the few textbooks they collectively own to workbooks. Total nonsense.
Since Mr. Nou received no mention ANYWHERE in either the slideshow presentation or the project synopsis on betterplace, I wanted to take this opportunity to set the record straight and on behalf of Mr. Nou and the wonderful people of Ban Buamlao, Laos, thank-you for your interest.
Best Regards,
Thank you for your interest in Mr. Nou's project
http://www.betterplace.org/projects/455
There's been a few questions regarding the mechanics of book delivery and so forth and I wanted to take a moment to give everyone the complete story.
I have been working on it over 2 years now and just sent out letter number 100 today.
Here is the complete story regarding the Laos Primary School Book Project in Ban Buamlao, Laos. The person who should be thanked for this project is a man named Mr. Nou.
I am the photojournalist who first visited the site in Ban Buamlao, Laos. I am based in Cambodia. A man named Mr. Nou, a 72-year-old Lao national, took me to the school when I was in Laos on another assignment in April 2006.
Mr. Nou takes medicine to people, tries to help the kids learn English etc., but there was no formal project in place....just a person, me, observing an impoverished Lao man and his efforts to help others with his earnings of about $50 USD per month.
As a photojournalist, I normally act as a "go between". When we arrived at the school, I observed that the kids had virtually nothing and at that point, I vowed to help him. That was in April 2006.
I began compiling people's names etc who I thought might help me raise the funds and in October, 2006, David Graham posted a message on lightstalkers.org. stating "funding of assignments".
I spent several days preparing a project proposal entitled "Project Nou" that had to be submitted by the last day of 2006 to changingideas.org....emailed 5 hours before the deadline from Kratie, Cambodia.
I was then asked by changingideas to return to Laos to get more photos, which I did at my own expense.
I visited the school twice during that trip accompanied by Mr. Nou again. I photographed the situation and in May 2007, I submitted over 100 photographs to changingideas.org. In November 2007, I received a 2 1/2 minute slideshow presentation from them that utilized the photos I took.
On August 11th, 2008, David Graham's project, “Ban Buamlao Primary School” showed up on the betterplace.org website, for which I am most grateful.
In reality, this project "belongs" to Mr. Nou. He is the kindest man I have ever met and his commitment to his fellow countrymen is unbelievable. He dispenses aspirin, books that he can afford etc, all at his own expense. Further, he is a very poor man himself.
I just had a simple idea after I met him and that was to help the people of Ban Buamlao. The village is 1/2 ethnic Hmong and half ethnic Kamu and I have remained to this day committed to doing what I can somehow.
As for the hardware store Mr. Graham mentioned, I searched throughout Luang Prabang for 3 days and finally found books that were the right price. I at that time found workbooks for example at 80 cents each rather than the 3 dollars charged for them on the "tourist strip" in downtown Luang Prabang. The official Lao Pathet (communist party) English books may have to be purchased in Vientiane since they are scarce or non-existent in Luang Prabang. I will make the purchase of the books there more than likely and then continue another 9 hours on the bus to Luang Prabang.
It will actually be me traveling back to Luang Prabang, a 10 day round trip from where I am based in Cambodia. I am trying to raise funds for myself so I can afford this, otherwise all my expenses will be out of my own pocket. Neither Mr. Nou nor I have ever received a penny from anyone else.
I will arrange porterage across the Mekong river with Mr. Nou and HE will deliver the books to the kids. I will provide photo documentation but I will tell the kids MR NOU got them the books.
If this is unsatisfactory to Mr. Graham I will, after 32 months and a few hundred hours of work, bow completely out of the project as will Mr. Nou and we will start over. Mr. Nou WILL NOT be cut out of this project and HE is the Laotian here, not me, Mr. Graham or Mr. Clarke.
There is no mail delivery to this village. When I saw a post on November 17th, 2008 asking about sending materials directly
Hello David. is it possible, to send an aid package with writing utensils etc.direkt to the school? I have been to Lao to and all I can say, theses gentle people deserve our help! Thank you for the projekt! Robi
The answer is no . That's what most people would do in a developed country. I asked a Cambodian friend of mine who lives upstairs what he thought just to be sure. He had a business in Laos for 4 years and I have only been to Laos 5 times so I wanted to get a "second opinion". There is no infrastructure to speak of in northern Laos. I was the first non-Asian most of these folks had ever encountered.
Laos is a communist country full of corruption. Mr., Nou advised me not to tell anyone I was working in conjunction with a charity as even the teachers at the school would be trying to figure out how to get their hands on the money. Even if it were possible to send materials directly to the school …well let's just say the person who received the shipment may sell it all before the kids even knew it arrived. At least that is what Mr. Nou says and he has lived in Laos for 72 years.
In the photos, it appears many of the children have books but in reality, they are constructing textbooks by transcribing information from the few textbooks they collectively own to workbooks. Total nonsense.
Since Mr. Nou received no mention ANYWHERE in either the slideshow presentation or the project synopsis on betterplace, I wanted to take this opportunity to set the record straight and on behalf of Mr. Nou and the wonderful people of Ban Buamlao, Laos, thank-you for your interest.
Best Regards,
John Brown Photojournalist Cambodia
Ban Buamlao Primary School
PS:
If you would like PDF format flyers to hand out at your workplace or give to friends, just email me and I'll email them out. They are 8 x 10 or 8.5 x 11.
If you would like PDF format copy of the press release I wrote and distributed, let me know.
Ban Buamlao Primary School
PS:
If you would like PDF format flyers to hand out at your workplace or give to friends, just email me and I'll email them out. They are 8 x 10 or 8.5 x 11.
If you would like PDF format copy of the press release I wrote and distributed, let me know.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Please Help Us
Please Help Us
I am trying to get some new schoolbooks for 120 children who attend the Ban Buamlao Primary in Ban Buamlao, Laos. I would appreciate any help you can offer me. Maybe we can scrape up enough money to get the kids a volleyball and a net too!
As a photojournalist, I normally act as a "go between", but in this instance, I felt the need to get personally involved.
The village of Ban Buamlao is located far off the well-beaten Luang Prabang "tourists with money" circuit and is inhabited by Hmong and Kamu slash and burn subsistence farmers. Typifying rural education in this communist country of 6 million, four teachers who each earn $20 USD per month try to educate a student body of one-hundred-twenty with virtually no paper, pencils, textbooks, or much of anything else, including a ball to play with. The youngest children learn their lessons in a detached dirt floored bamboo bungalow.
Laos has had more bombs dropped on it than any other country in the history of our planet. It shows, but the Lao people demonstrate great resourcefulness. They turned bomb craters into fishponds and now they need a little help turning one school into a better place to learn
I am working on this endeavor with a UK registered charity, Changing Ideas.org. Changing Ideas was established by a UK based photojournalist whose own 23 year old son become paralyzed in a diving accident,
Laos has had more bombs dropped on it than any other country in the history of our planet. It shows, but the Lao people demonstrate great resourcefulness. They turned bomb craters into fishponds and now they need a little help turning one school into a better place to learn
I am working on this endeavor with a UK registered charity, Changing Ideas.org. Changing Ideas was established by a UK based photojournalist whose own 23 year old son become paralyzed in a diving accident,
The project is being hosted on the web by Better Place.org an extremely innovative philanthropy marketplace developed by a caring team of people in Germany. They were among the conference organizers at the November 1-2, 2008, Vision Summit where inspiring personalities such as Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus spoke.
When was the last time you had the chance to change the world with 1 dollar?
For more information regarding the project, please visit the website at
When was the last time you had the chance to change the world with 1 dollar?
For more information regarding the project, please visit the website at
Friday, December 19, 2008
The World Of Disability
THE WORLD OF DISABILITY
The other day I received an email from a Nepalese man with visual impairment by the name of Mr. Kamal Lamichhane who lives in Tokyo. According to his email he has worked with several organizations concerned with disability, the promotion of human rights, and overall empowerment of persons with disabilities in Nepal. He sounds as if he's quite a guy!Currently he's studying for his Ph.D at the University of Tokyo while researching the factors affecting the employment of those with disabilities. Apparently, he's comparing the employment status of persons with visual, hearing and physical disabilities of Nepal, a very poor but developing country. Further, he's researching how education levels determine access to employment and. the attitudes of employers toward employees with disabilities. The overall objective of his study is to investigate the barriers that people with disabilities encounter before and after finding employment. His professor, Dr. Satoshi Fukushima is both deaf and blind. How inspirational and amazing!
It seems that Kamal saw The World Bank publication above and decided to contact me (guess he reads photo credits…yea) because as he puts it "I often encounter a dearth of data while undertaking research in this area. I have gone through the website of The World Bank and benefited by reading some documents concerning disability; One of them was Social Analysis and Disability, published in March 2007."
OK folks, the man is looking for facts and figures….maybe you can point him in the right direction. Since I'm not an expert in matters concerning Nepal, I advised him to contact Morten Svenningsen, Nepal's top photojournalist.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thanking you in advance. JB for:
Kamal Lamichhane, Ph.D. Candidate, The University of Tokyo, JapanCell: +8180-6530-4555.e-mail: kamal@bfp.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp
While you are at it, check out Morten Svenningsen's blog and go from there. He's an extremely gifted photojournalist and writer, especially considering he works on the other side of the "digital divide". (I can relate to that here in Cambodia!)
http://www.lightstalkers.org/john_.brown
The other day I received an email from a Nepalese man with visual impairment by the name of Mr. Kamal Lamichhane who lives in Tokyo. According to his email he has worked with several organizations concerned with disability, the promotion of human rights, and overall empowerment of persons with disabilities in Nepal. He sounds as if he's quite a guy!Currently he's studying for his Ph.D at the University of Tokyo while researching the factors affecting the employment of those with disabilities. Apparently, he's comparing the employment status of persons with visual, hearing and physical disabilities of Nepal, a very poor but developing country. Further, he's researching how education levels determine access to employment and. the attitudes of employers toward employees with disabilities. The overall objective of his study is to investigate the barriers that people with disabilities encounter before and after finding employment. His professor, Dr. Satoshi Fukushima is both deaf and blind. How inspirational and amazing!
It seems that Kamal saw The World Bank publication above and decided to contact me (guess he reads photo credits…yea) because as he puts it "I often encounter a dearth of data while undertaking research in this area. I have gone through the website of The World Bank and benefited by reading some documents concerning disability; One of them was Social Analysis and Disability, published in March 2007."
OK folks, the man is looking for facts and figures….maybe you can point him in the right direction. Since I'm not an expert in matters concerning Nepal, I advised him to contact Morten Svenningsen, Nepal's top photojournalist.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thanking you in advance. JB for:
Kamal Lamichhane, Ph.D. Candidate, The University of Tokyo, JapanCell: +8180-6530-4555.e-mail: kamal@bfp.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp
While you are at it, check out Morten Svenningsen's blog and go from there. He's an extremely gifted photojournalist and writer, especially considering he works on the other side of the "digital divide". (I can relate to that here in Cambodia!)
http://www.lightstalkers.org/john_.brown
A Story I Wrote About Child Labor And The Environment At A Garbage Dump In Cambodia That Appeared In Environment Magazine
Nearly 2000 registered workers, including 600 children, earn their livings at the Stung Meanchey landfill in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. They are the among the up to 2% of the population in third world countries that The World Bank has estimated survive by recovering materials from waste.
I wrote about the Stung Meanchey dump and the conditions the people who work there have to endure while earning less than $2 USD per day. The story was published in Environment Magazine.
The story is also posted on Gaia Photos where you will find it here:
Cambodia: Poverty On Smokey Mountain
If you would like to publish this story please let me know.
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
Stung Meanchey Landfill Phnom Penh Cambodia Photographs
Friday, December 12, 2008
The Perfect Gift For Kids
The Perfect Gift For Kids!!!!
Hold Off On A Couple Of Cups Of Coffee And Help Some Deserving Kids In Laos. You Will Feel Better!
More Photos Here!
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