Laos
Having first visited Laos back in 2011, and discovered some wonderful non-profit organisations and projects that are helping the Lao people, AidforAll has returned each year ever since, with funds to help, and made a few good friends along the way.
Big Brother Mouse
Big Brother Mouse (BBM) is an organisation started by retired US publisher Sasha Alyson in 2006. Shocked by the fact that books were so rare in Laos and that teaching at school was mainly by rote repetition, he undertook to start publishing children's books in the Lao language. 16 years and over 400 books later, the organisation is thriving and now has classrooms and school buildings around Laos. AidforAll has done many school trips into the countryside with BBM, buying supplies for the village, books for the schools visited and standing back in admiration at the improvement BBM is bringing to young people's lives now and for their future.
Luang Prabang
AidforAll have made and will continue to make regular trips to Luang Prabang (using personal funds only, never Association funds) to help those living in very poor conditions in any way we can.
Our main point of contact in Luang Prabang for general support is Andrew Brown.
Andrew is the founder of Supportlaochildren. The work of Supportlaochildren includes Luang Prabang but now spreads much further, supporting villages with weekly fresh fruit and egg deliveries, bringing in medical support annually, covering medical costs, and being the main financial supporter of the 500 child Luang Prabang central orphanage. He has now been tasked by the local government with opening a nursery for the orphanage, which until now only took in children as of age 5. AidforAll has been proud to support Andrew and his work in person during many trips to Luang Prabang, spending your donations on whatever he thinks the most important : from paying for weekly village food trips, to sponsoring older orphanage children in higher education, to contributing to construction costs for new buildings.
We have also regularly worked with the dynamic Ruth Borthwick, another Australian and long-time resident of Luang Prabang, in providing medical equipment for the local public hospital and small village clinics deep in the jungle.
