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Year-End Thoughts from Laos

  • Adam Braun
  • PoP Culture
  • December 26, 2010

A Note Home, from PoP Founder Adam Braun

I’ve now been on the ground for the past month in Laos, the same place that two years ago I landed with a backpack and a dream to build just one school. The breadth and depth of programs that have now been established by our incredible team here and at home are nearly impossible to describe. But I’ll try.

Let me take you into my eyes:

  • I’ve seen Phik Nyai village work as active partners to help build our 15th PoP school, with 8 more currently under construction
  • I’ve seen a local woman who was looked down upon two years ago as a guesthouse laundry attendant now confidently lead a PoP staff of 20 others
  • I’ve seen our office manager master excel and email, after growing up in a village without electricity or running water
  • I’ve seen kids run from school to our Children’s Learning Center to devour book after book
  • I’ve seen bricks laid on our Champhet Dormitory to ensure 150 of the highest performing girls from the nation’s poorest district can stay in high school
  • I’ve seen countless communities with children craving education, but without schools to learn in
  • I’ve seen over 100,000 people join an impossible movement to rectify this
  • I’ve seen a proven model of community-focused sustainability, an extraordinary team on the ground, and an organization that’s ready to enable education for thousands more in the developing world

This didn’t happen because one person wrote a big check, it happened because many individuals gathered checks of all sizes. It didn’t happen at a lofty convention under shiny lights, it happened in a tiny room crowded with way too many people and way too much passion.

So what happens next you might ask? What happens next is no longer in my hands.

It’s no longer about what I’ve seen.

It’s no longer about whether I believe.

It’s now about whether you believe.


Visit www.seasonofpromises.org to join the movement.

NextUpdate: Turning Mountains into Schools in XongjaNext

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