Big Brother Mouse

We spent several hours last evening volunteering at Big Brother Mouse, a center that promotes literacy for Lao children. English speakers come to have conversations with Luang Prabang students to help them gain language proficiency. David worked with a young monk called Phan while I worked with Her, a Hmong young man of 16. Her is very bright and wonderfully motivated. He told me that there are 9 people in his family: 6 children ranging in age from 40 to 16 (he was the youngest), his father, and as was the custom, his father's 2 wives. Her also said his religion was animism, which he didn't like because he didn't like to hurt animals. He told me that a month ago he sacrificed a pig and that he had hated the experience. However, it was part of their culture and he was expected to do it. I asked if he was going to have to do it again and he said that he hoped not.Her and I worked together on writing a thank you note to the Smile Foundation for financing his English teacher, who works at a local monastery. Her's goal is to learn English well enough to pass the TOEFL exam (Test of English as a Foreign Language) in two years so that he can study abroad. This is a dream shared by many of the young men who come to practice English (no young women, unfortunately, because their education seems not to be encouraged by the culture).David had a more challenging time with his monk because the young man spoke so quietly it was almost impossible to hear him, much less understand what he was saying. His goal was to go to university to study information technology. What impressed David was that Phan walked 25 minutes each way three times a week to attend the sessions at Big Brother Mouse. Both young men had beautiful penmanship and an excellent mastery of spelling. Their dedication was truly inspirational.David and I are thankful to our son Max who showed us that the best way to travel is to visit fewer places and spend a longer time in each place. Spending two weeks here allowed us time to meet and have thoughtful conversations with people, and a chance to really connect with young Lao students in a way that we couldn't have done if we had been 'just passing through.'