End of Year Report

The Needs or Wants blog has now been running since September and I want to thank everyone who has shown an interest and donated some money towards the little projects that I have been involved with.  In a little over 3 months we have raised a total of $1178.75, broken down as follows:

Santi's Soccer Academy:         $422.50

Language Lessons for Kheua:  $356.25

A Book for Every Child:          $400.00

Total:  $1178.75

This may not seem like a lot of money - in fact it is not a lot of money - but it has made a direct impact to quite a few people over here in Laos and I plan to continue helping out these guys and also finding new little projects to get involved with and help out where I can.  Following is just a quick wrap up/summary for each project for the year...

Santi's Soccer Academy

Raised a total of $422.50 which has been used to purchase sporting goods and equipment - soccer boots, balls, marker cones, socks, goal keeping gloves and shin pads - for a group of at risk kids who live in a village on the outskirts of Vientiane.

With the assistance from all of the Australian volunteers currently in Laos, we organised an end of year BBQ/Christmas Party out at the village where we gave the kids a pair of new soccer boots each, and then played a friendly soccer match against them in which they quite convincingly kicked our butts - the training and guidance they have been receiving from Santi is certainly evident!

A fun day was had by all and a an extra big thanks to the Australian volunteers for participating and coming along.  Check out photos here - End of Year BBQ Photos

English Language Lessons for Kheua

We raised a total of $356 with the target being $500 which pays or Kheua to attend English lessons to prepare her to apply for and undertake an overseas scholarship in the hopefully not too distant future.  Part of the deal with Kheua was that she had to achieve and maintain high marks with the course, which I am happy to say she has done, maintaining above average results for all units.  

Well done Kheua and good luck for next year.  Many thanks to all who have helped Kheua out thus far.

A Book for Every Child

In a relatively short period of time the target $400 was achieved and I have been told that there is more donations on the way from fund raising activities in Australia.  Note that just because we reached the target does not mean that we don't want any more money!  The $400 funded a single book party in one village, and there are plenty more villages in Laos that can benefit so please keep the $ coming in.  Every time we accumulate $400, we'll organise another book party.

Thanks again to everyone that has helped out.  I hope you all have a great break over Christmas and enjoy the holidays. 

Thanks, Joe.

End of Year BBQ Photos at Santi's Soccer Academy

 

Santi's Soccer Academy in Action

Last weekend saw the first training match of the season being played by the "Dream Team" from Santi's Sports Academy.  The kids on the team were presented with all the gear that we bought the previous weekend with the money raised through the Needs or Wants blog, and then had a practice match which was won 1-0 by the Dream Team.

Many happy faces and many "Khop Jais" (Thankyous).

Following are some photos from the day - The Dream Team are wearing the orange shirts with black shorts. Thanks again to everyone that contributed. Cheers, Joe.

Progress Report 2

SANTI'S SPORTS ACADEMY - Hit the $200 Mark for Mr. Santi's SOccer Academy so we went shopping and picked up the following:

• 10 x soccer balls
• Marker cones
• Team shirts and shorts
• Goal keepers shirts and gloves
• Shin pads
• Socks

I have been invited out to the village for a friendly soccer match next weekend (22/10/2011) where I hope to get some action shots of all the gear in use.

Thanks again to everyone that contributed to this project - note though I want to raise a total of $300 for Mr. Santi, so still about $100 to go. The remaining funds wil go towards getting a good supply of nutritional supplements for the kids.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LESSONS FOR KHEUA - Currently sitting at the $196 mark, which is great because it means that the tuition fees for the current term are covered. Big thanks to everyone that has helped out thus far, Joe.

Progress Report 1

Apologies in advance - just playing with the layout of the blog a little and have decided to post progress reports instead of making them as stand alone pages, just means that people following the blog will be notified when I post up a report.... 


THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2011


This is the first of what will be ad-hoc updates, the frequency of which will be largely driven by the activity at both the donor and project level, so the more funds I can raise and the more projects I get involved with, the more updates I will provide.


A big thanks to everyone that took the time to visit the blog, and an extra huge thanks to those of you who went the the extra step and donated some funds. Some of you may have noticed that I have dusted of my FaceBook account and ceased my self-imposed FaceBook exile, but due to the fact that I am a bit of a social networking Luddite, I have not yet quite figured out how to convert FaceBook "Likes" into actual $...? (You know who you are - actually, so does everyone on FaceBook - don't fight it, just succumb to social pressure and send me some money).


Progress thus far...
The guys on this end are not surprisingly very happy and thankful for your contributions and interest which will make a big difference to them and the people and organisations that they are involved with - a few dollars goes a long way here.


Santi's Sports Academy - raised $132.50AUD, and I am planning on going shopping either this weekend or next with Mr. Santi to purchase some sporting equipment, and then deliver to his home village.  Stay tuned.
English Language Lessons for Kheua - raised $96AUD, so we still need another $29 for another term of study, and $404 to complete the course.


Thanks again for your assistance, and please feel free to add comments, suggestions etc.

I Want Your Money...

Despite my best intentions, I have come to the sad realization that I cannot single-handedly save the world, reform the government and eradicate poverty - not during the course of my 18 month volunteer position anyway.  So I have decided with heavy heart and much regret to abandon my goal of being the first western president of the Lao PDR, and have began to focus my efforts on helping individuals directly.

Consider this - Laos is a developing country, and one of the poorest in the world.  The average wage of the people that I work with here is a little over $1100USD per year.  Not per month. Per year. This works out to be around $42USD a fortnight - take a second to compare that to your current fortnightly salary.  Note also that I am working in the capital city, Vientiane, where things are considerably better off than in the provincial areas of the country where infrastructure and services and access to basic health care and education are lacking.

Yes, the cost of living here is dramatically lower compared to Australia, but no where near enough to enjoy the lifestyle, benefits and opportunities that us lucky westerners do living in a developed country such as Australia.  Far from it.

The purpose of this blog is to provide friends, family and anyone else that is interested, with a way making a small contribution to something that will have a big and direct impact to people I have personally met whilst living and volunteering over here in Laos PDR. This blog will showcase a few small needy projects that I have either came across or started myself, that would benefit from a few extra dollars to help cover the costs for equipment, materials or tuition fees.

How does it work?

The the idea is  simple - read over the project descriptions that are listed on the top right hand side of this page, and then throw me a few dollars towards the one that takes your fancy.  The suggested donation amount is $5 which is just a little more (perhaps less?!) than most of you would spend on your morning coffee break.  Once enough money has been accumulated for a specific project, I will then personally purchase and deliver the goods to the recipient and then monitor to ensure that all remains in order.  

Throughout the whole process I'll keep this blog updated with progress and photos so you will be able to see where your contribution is going.

What's in it for me?

A warm fuzzy feeling inside that comes from knowing that I have made a difference to someones life. 

What's in it for you?

A warm fuzzy feeling inside that comes from knowing that you have made a difference to someones life.

What's the catch?

There isn't one. The only thing you have to lose is your next cappuccino or Boost Juice.

Note that the people I am wanting to help out are by no means poverty stricken as such, but they are people that I know personally and that I feel are worthy of a little assistance to provide them with an opportunity that they would not easily have access to under their current financial circumstances.

So if you are interested in helping out, arrange a morning tea at the office and pass the hat around, then use the Donate button to get the funds to me.  Be sure to sign up as a follower of the blog as well so you can keep track of how the projects are going.

Thanks, Joe.