Logo of Big Brother Mouse, publishing books in Laos
 

Big Brother Mouse's diary

This year, our "Discovery Days" gave many high school students a chance to experience hands-on learning, in a way they'd never done before.

November 2012

A solar telescope at use during Discovery Day in Kiu Kajam, Laos"It has horns!"

That was the first comment from a young person looking at the sun through our new solar telescope, donated by the U.S. Embassy for use at our Discovery Days. When we went to Kiu Kacham high school, high in the mountains south of Luang Prabang, there was always a line of students eager for a view. Indeed, two solar flares were shooting out from the sun at that particular time, one flare on the left, one on the right. Through the heavy filters of the scope, the sun has a bright red appearance, with solar flares and sunspots clearly visible.

At Discovery Days, we combine hands-on science, interactive activities, and colorful displays, with colorful and informative books that tell more. It's a new way to experience learning for these students, and they're eager for us to return.

October 2012

The Readathon tree, before it filled with leavesThis tree filled with leaves, each leaf representing one book read by a student, as part of the Year 2 Readathon at Melbourne Girls Grammar School. We've already put these funds to use to visit two rural schools, and soon we'll get to nine more.

Students asked family, friends and neighbors to sponsor them as they read books during the Readathon. The donations were used to sponsor an astounding 11 book parties at rural primary schools in Laos, with more than a thousand children getting their first book. Can you match what they did? Please come see the tree full of leaves, and read more about the Melbourne Readathon

Yatai, the food cart in downtown Denver (USA) has sponsored 6 book partiesFood and literacy in Denver: Thank you to everyone who has enjoyed the food at Yatai, the food cart in the financial district of Denver (USA), and to Brittany Bisk, who runs it. Yatai shares 10% of its profits with those in need, and they've just sponsored 6 book parties for children in Laos.

September 2012

Sonesoulilat Vongsouline brings The Joy of Reading to children in Laos, through book parties and village reading roomsSonesoulilat got kids excited about reading back in 2006, at our very first book party. He's run more than 2,000 of these events since then. Now he manages five teams that travel to rural schools through our "Joy of Reading" program. More than a quarter of a million Lao children have had the thrill of getting their very first book, thanks to Sone's efforts.

He's also found time to write 8 books, including Traditional Toys, What's In The Market? and a book about reading aloud, also called The Joy of Reading.

He organizes our training workshops for village reading-room volunteers, and for teachers. And this year, he celebrated his 22nd birthday.

So we're proud, but not entirely surprised, that Sone is a finalist to be a youth delegates at the Terre Des Hommes convention to be held in Germany next year. Terre Des Hommes is an international organization that has provided support for many organizations world-wide, including Big Brother Mouse, that make life better for children. UPDATE! At the end of October, Sone was selected as the youth delegate from the Southeast Asia region.

August 2012

Learning about the body, from a book and a modelAt our "Books and Discovery Days" festival we had booths for reading, for listening to stories, and for learning to read aloud. We had fun and educational toys and games. We also had exhibits that linked various types of displays to the content of our books. In this photo, several girls use both a model, and a book, to learn about the human body.

Two honored guests came from Vientiane and spoke: Duang Sai, the most prolific and famous writer in Laos; and Sivienkhek, head of the Publishing division at the Ministry of Information and Culture. Both had the same comment: "Please have a festival like this in Vientiane!"

Duang Sai has dedicated his life to writing, and to providing encouragement for new writers. He met several times with small groups of enthusiastic young writers and would-be writers from Luang Prabang.

In the fall, we'll take this festival to several Luang Prabang provincial high schools. We're also at work to see if we can do it in Vientiane.

Kids reading in a Phou Khoun villageVillage Reading Rooms: We've worked with local volunteers to set up reading rooms in nearly 200 rural villages. These volunteers are eager to help their villages and to promote reading and education, but they grew up without books and have no skills or background in doing such work. So we regularly look for opportunities to support them.

This month, our teams visited villages in mountainous Phou Khoun district to take more books, and to work with the volunteers to get more children reading. They came back with lots of photos of just that, as well as using books to initiate other activities. Our Photo Album reports on some of these visits.

July 2012

Kids enjoy their books, after listening to stories from teachersTeachers who love to read: We've always felt it was important to help teachers gain better skills to use books in school. They grew up in homes, and schools, that didn't have books. But for our first five years, simply creating high-quality books occupied all our time. Now, we're able to give some attention to teacher training. In July, we held workshops for 600 teachers, from more than 500 villages throughout northern Laos, who came to Luang Prabang to improve their skills at the Teacher Training College (TTC).

Having seen our previous work, the TTC administration invited us to offer four 1-day workshops, with a group of 150 of these teachers each time. We followed the model we had already been using, with a strong emphasis on encouraging teachers to read aloud. Then they got some live practice, reading to children in nearby villages.

At the end of each day, we gave 70 books to every participant.

Now, there's a highly motivated teacher in each of Lao 500 villages. They're excited about reading, they've got books to read and share, and they've learned skills for transmitting their excitement to students. Many of them, in fact, asked us to come to their village and provide this training for other teachers. We're looking for ways to cover the costs of that.

We've illustrated this news item by showing a few of those kids absorbed in their books, because after all, that's what it is all about.

The Mouse Experience, at the Living Land farm

June 2012

The Mouse Experience: Several years ago, we created the first "Mouse Experience." It was an opportunity for our book party teams, who spend much of their time on the road (or on the river) going to rural schools, to do something different. For a week, they enjoy and benefit from the range of experiences that young people take for granted in western countries, but that are rare in Laos: Playing board games, conducting science experiments, speaking before small groups, using a digital camera, and much more. We continue to offer Mouse Experience weeks for our staff, four or five times a year.

This month, for the first time, we offered a 3-day version of The Mouse Experience for other young people in town. We invited several organizations and projects to send a few members of their staff; The Living Land, an organic farm on the outskirts of Luang Prabang, generously provided space. Participants used a microscope for the first time, watched a movie and discussed how the plot and characters were developed, and learned some tips for reading aloud. On the last day, children from a nearby orphanage school came for a story time.

A well-rounded education has many components. These workshops give young people a range of new experiences that will help them become better citizens in the new Laos. They also get more exposure to books, and learn read-aloud skills, that help with our goal of getting books into every home.

Children enjoy their books, at the end of a book party

April 2012

A BIG 200: A small school in a rural village in Udom Xai province was the site of a particularly notable book party. It was the 200th book party sponsored by our long-time supporter, Manoj Paul of the U.S.A. By choosing to live thriftily and share what he earns, one person has made it possible for more than 20,000 children to get their first book, and 200 schools to get a small library.

Manoj has told us that his greatest reward is seeing the photos of kids with their books, so we've added some extra pictures of children reading to our photo album page for this school. Please come have a look. Will you help us reach more children in more schools?

Auction at Dunannie School Peter Rabbit Visits Laos: Students and parents at Dunannie School in Hampshire, England already have sponsored a book party in Laos, and The Slow Loris, a book about Lao animals. Now, they're helping again. An art auction raised money for the new printing of The Tale of Peter Rabbit.Then the fundraising continued, and the school will sponsor at least 2 rural book parties in Laos, as well as the book!

Things like this don't just happen. Somebody makes them happen, and we'd particularly like to thank Samantha Wade for her work to help children in Laos discover the joy of reading, and Alison Pike for holding a successful fundraising art auction at school.

Helping Children Develop book cover Helping Children Develop: Children need play, just as they need food, shelter, and love. But the need for play isn't as obvious as the other needs. Four years ago, we published "Baby Care," our first experiment to see if people in rural villages, who had no tradition of getting useful information from books, would find it help. They did, and they eagerly asked for more. This booklet, adapted from work by the Child-to-Child Trust in England and by Save the Children, explains the needs of babies up to the age of 15 months. It offers suggestions for parents, older sisters and brothers, relatives, and others, about how to stimulate a small child's mental development through play.

East Timor group presents their edition of New Improved Buffalo to Big Brother Mouse

March 2012

Literacy in Timor Leste: Several organizations have translated and published Big Brother Mouse books for distribution in their countries. At the beginning of March, we held a "Literacy, Libraries, and Books" seminar in Luang Prabang, to share ideas and experiences. Big Brother Mouse staff described techniques for writing short, fun books; and for establishing reading rooms. The Ermera Library in Timor Leste (East Timor) told about a special program they've developed, to encourage parents to enjoy books with their children, even if the parents themselves cannot read. Here, while observing a book party at the local high school, the Timor Leste group presents their edition of New Improved Buffalo to Big Brother Mouse.

Khamla reads from the alphabet book that he wrote.

February 2012

Recognition for Khamla:This month Khamla, the head of Big Brother Mouse, became a finalist for the prestigious Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize.

This award was created two years ago to recognize "individuals under the age of 40 who have demonstrated leadership in their fields and who show creativity, commitment and extraordinary accomplishment in effecting positive social change." He was nominated in November by the Global Fund for Children. Then, from hundreds of highly qualified young people worldwide, he was one of 25 to become a finalist.

Three young people will be chosen to receive the prize, which comes with a $100,000 cash prize as well as participation in a week of related activities. We of course are eagerly awaiting the decision. Whether or not he is among the final winners, we consider it a great tribute to his leadership and work, and that of everyone at Big Brother Mouse.

(Update, June: Khamla was not selected as one of the award recipients, but we are still very happy that he was a finalist... and he's still eligible for another decade.)

Discovery Days give kids an opportunity for a wide range of new experiences Also in February: For two years, our "Mouse Experience" has provided opportunities for our staff to get new experiences and learn in new ways. From those events, we've built up a repertoire of more than 30 games, puzzles, activities, educational toys, displays and other ways to encourage learning and creativity.

This month we held our first Discovery Days, where we shared these opportunities with a larger audience. They were a great success. Children (and some adult participants) had fun, learned new things, and got experiences. Our staff was thrilled to have a chance to share the new experiences that they'd taken part in. Click here to jump into our Photo Album to see pictures from our first Discovery Days.

Eglih practice at Big Brother Mouse in Luang Prabang

January 2012

Every morning, we invite visitors to come to our shop in Luang Prabang, and help young people in Laos practice their English. It gets quite full some days. Morever, because of jobs and school schedules, many students can't come in the morning. So we've expanded the hours for English practice: It's now 7 days a week, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., and again from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. It's a drop-in event: We encourage everyone to come promptly at 9 a.m. or 5 p.m., but if you can't come until later, that's okay. Stay for the full 2 hours, or leave earlier if you need to.

We've been offering these sessions for 5 years. As you travel in northern Laos, you'll probably meet young people working in restaurants or shops, or as guides, who learned their English at Big Brother Mouse.

Archived News from 2006-2007. From 2008. From 2009. From 2010. From 2011. From 2013. From 2014.