Visiting in the Summer

Sponsoring a book party: Primary schools are closed in Laos, or are busy with tests and year-end activities, from early May until mid-September. In some villages, we can still hold book parties, if the teacher hasn't gone away, and if the school serves only that village. However, there aren't many such villages within a 2-hour drive of Luang Prabang that we haven't already been to. If you're visiting Luang Prabang during this period and would like to sponsor a party, we can propose the following:

*Email us at least 2 weeks ahead with the date or dates you'll be here, and send the donation for a party.

*Let us know if you're willing and able to walk up to 2 hours from the road to reach the village. (Or tell us what's ok. You can say, for example, "Up to 30 minutes walking is fine.") Remember that this is rainy season. All-day downpours are rare, and probably there won't even be as much as a brief shower, but trails may be muddy. We will not attempt to go to villages that involve a lot of uphill walking.

*Tell us if it's okay to go to a village where we already did a book party. Ultimately, we would like to visit every village every year, with new books, and getting kids enthused again. (And there are always new kids coming along.) So we're happy to go back, at intervals of about a year.

*We will try to arrange something, but we cannot promise. If we can't arrange anything while you're here, we'll use your donation for a book party after schools re-open, and send you pictures and a report.

*If you do not wish to sponsor a party unless you can go, we're sorry, but we cannot accommodate such requests. This is true year-round, but particularly in the summer.

English Practice: Laos gets fewer visitors during the summer, especially May to July, than in the rest of the year. But this is when many high school and college students have the most free time. So we particularly need English-speaking visitors to come to our Wat Nong shop, 9:00 to 11:00 am, Monday to Saturday, for English conversation practice with local people. There's no need to reserve; just show up, if possible right at 9:00 a.m.