Some things in life come full circle. Gathered in the office of a run down school in the outskirts of Vientiane, I heard this story for the first time:
In the fall of 2006, Agnes and Joanne (ages 8 and 10) were preparing for their first ever trip Laos. Though their parents had both grown up in Laos, Canada was the only home the two girls had ever known. To prepare for the trip, they decided to do what anyone of this computer savvy generation would do. They searched the Internet. And it was here that they learned about a community, located right next to a dump, which had been surviving for three generations by digging through the garbage and selling whatever could be salvaged. After reading this, the girls couldn't sleep. They lay awake at night thinking about the people, the children just like them, who had to grow up in such a place.
And so Agnes and Joanne talked to their teachers at school and got permission to organize a clothing drive so that they would have something to bring with them and give to the community’s school when they visited Laos. But little did they know that they would collect more than a tonne of clothes, far more than they could fit in their suitcases, and also over $100 in cash donations. The girls visited the school and met with the teachers and students to drop off their donations in November of 2006, at which time, the schools officials asked if it would be possible for the girls to raise enough money to build a washroom facility for the school as well as a place for the children to shower when they came to school after working in the dump. Back home in Canada, the girl’s church community at the Lao Canadian Evangelical Mennonite Church (LCEMC) swung into action. They raised the $2000 necessary to build the washroom and shower facility by selling thousands of spring rolls and chocolates.
Here’s where I come into the story. Many of you were present at the corn roast and concert held on my farm this summer in order to raise funds for my year in Laos and also to support the project of the LCEMC at the dump community in Laos. I must admit, I knew little about the project when I decided to support it, and I had no idea at all that it came to be because of two little girls. Anyways, my fundraiser was a distant memory when I received a phone call last week from Agnes and Joanne’s father and other friends from the LCEMC. They were back in Laos to visit the community once more and to give a donation of some sports equipment, and this time I could go with them and see the school with my own eyes.
And so, sitting in the office of that very school last Friday, it came to be that I heard the story of two compassionate Lao-Canadian girls, Agnes and Joanne, for the first time.
In the fall of 2006, Agnes and Joanne (ages 8 and 10) were preparing for their first ever trip Laos. Though their parents had both grown up in Laos, Canada was the only home the two girls had ever known. To prepare for the trip, they decided to do what anyone of this computer savvy generation would do. They searched the Internet. And it was here that they learned about a community, located right next to a dump, which had been surviving for three generations by digging through the garbage and selling whatever could be salvaged. After reading this, the girls couldn't sleep. They lay awake at night thinking about the people, the children just like them, who had to grow up in such a place.
And so Agnes and Joanne talked to their teachers at school and got permission to organize a clothing drive so that they would have something to bring with them and give to the community’s school when they visited Laos. But little did they know that they would collect more than a tonne of clothes, far more than they could fit in their suitcases, and also over $100 in cash donations. The girls visited the school and met with the teachers and students to drop off their donations in November of 2006, at which time, the schools officials asked if it would be possible for the girls to raise enough money to build a washroom facility for the school as well as a place for the children to shower when they came to school after working in the dump. Back home in Canada, the girl’s church community at the Lao Canadian Evangelical Mennonite Church (LCEMC) swung into action. They raised the $2000 necessary to build the washroom and shower facility by selling thousands of spring rolls and chocolates.
Here’s where I come into the story. Many of you were present at the corn roast and concert held on my farm this summer in order to raise funds for my year in Laos and also to support the project of the LCEMC at the dump community in Laos. I must admit, I knew little about the project when I decided to support it, and I had no idea at all that it came to be because of two little girls. Anyways, my fundraiser was a distant memory when I received a phone call last week from Agnes and Joanne’s father and other friends from the LCEMC. They were back in Laos to visit the community once more and to give a donation of some sports equipment, and this time I could go with them and see the school with my own eyes.
And so, sitting in the office of that very school last Friday, it came to be that I heard the story of two compassionate Lao-Canadian girls, Agnes and Joanne, for the first time.
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