David, from the Rotary Club of Orillia, and past visitor to Laos (last year) has been researching a different type of water filter on his own for rural villagers, hoping to supply a lower cost alternative than the one AAVIL uses.  There is a little more work in preparation of the filters themselves and certain […]

With 58 presentations completed and fundraising concluded for the most part, this year’s projects are finally underway.  It is hard to believe this is our 11th year! First off, are a number of our secondary school students shown below.  What used to be a single point of distribution and purchasing of uniforms, is now fairly […]

There was a lot to accomplish during this last trip of the season to some of the more rural villages.  First, we had a challenge when the teacher who was supposed to teach the art of weaving to a student from Ban Phone (in the distant highlands).  She moved out of the area but another […]

During this last week, we were visited by another group from Canada, just in time for the celebration of the conclusion of our second large water project at Pak Mong Secondary School. This water project was made possible from a special grant from Global Change For Children, the Kitchener Grand River Rotary Club, the Ancaster […]

Just a couple of days after our previous group headed home, the next group arived from Canada, and Thailand. First stop was to the village of Meung Xuen, a rural village across the Ou river where we had provided a permanent water supply a few years earlier.  With our pilot project to try to get […]

We have been overwhelmed by the number of urgent requests from various villages across Nambak District for permanent water supplies, significant repairs to existing ones (damage caused by the August monsoons), water filters (over 1200 in the last month), and school support for the most part.  We received 10 requests yesterday alone! As we continue […]

With so many requests coming in, each requiring a site visit, it is so easy to fall behind.  During Mike and Daniels visit, they were sent off on a boat trip to see Muang Ngoi on the Ou River.  It had been a few years since Mike had been there and it was a beautiful […]

Since arrival in Laos in December, the organization has been inundated with requests for repairs or full replacement of their village water supplies.  With over 30 requests to date, it is disheartening to know that only a few villages will receive help this year, being the only NGO in the Districts where most of our […]

We originally met Daniel Tan Cheng Leng at the airport in Vientiane, while waiting for our next flight out.  He came to see us there and buy us a quick lunch and so we would get to know each other a little bit better.  During our last multi-village excursion, he flew out to join us.  […]

No sooner had I arrived to Luang Prabang, and we were off the ground running.  We needed to complete our first village before our guests were to arrive, in order to meet the Christmas rush for pictures of the families receiving families that our generous donors had requested.  The village of Phousoung in the Nambak […]