Sao Darly

A very inspirational message that is worth sharing with you. Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple and Pixar gave a Commencement speech on June 12, 2005 at Stanford University. He urges the graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks and even death itself.

I hope you will find his message useful in your life.

Connecting the dots: Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

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It was a few minutes after 9:00 AM when I headed back to the house and told my Aa that I would be walking to Dannavieng Elementary School to take some more photos. The temperature was rising fast and my Aa told me it would be 40 degree Celcius or higher today. I put on my shades and went off to the school to make more photos and video clips.

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After my visit to Dannavieng Elementary School, my Aao took me to Nongdong Elementary School, which is a home to one of our book box library. We arrived a few minutes before the students ran out the doors for their last break of the day. I made a dash for the first grade class after saying hi to the superintendent of the school and the teachers and let my Aao doing all the talking before joining them later to talk about their book box library and the school building project.

Nongdong started to build a new school at the same time as Dannavieng Elementary School and has made more progress with having a smaller size building and additional village helping with the funding. But unlike Dannavieng School, this school has no office for the administration and share the same fate with being stuck where they are with what they have. In the end, it is koy phen koy pai or one baby step at a time.

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After cashing the check at Lao Development Bank in Ban Muangkao, we rushed off to Ban Dannavieng to drop off my stuff and then made a dash for the school. The students are back from their lunch break and are busy with their hourly lesson. My Aao and I went to see the superintendent of the school first to have a discussion about the Book Box Library and the school building project.

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I got on the moped with no helmet and went to Phonsikhay Elementary School. We took the back road, which is a new road between Ban Houaylao and Ban Phonsikhay. Since Pakse Airport is expanding all the way to Ban Phonsikhay a new road was made to connect Ban Houaylao to the main road.

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While I was finishing up breakfast Aunt Pik came by walk me to Houaylao Elementary School. The students were taking their first morning break at 9:00 AM when we were walking to the school. By the time we arrived they were back in their classroom and were busy with their lesson. I was glad to know the school is teaching AIDS to the fourth graders. The government of Laos is very supportive of NGOs with promoting AIDS awareness.

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After we left Ban Phonsikhay, we went to buy some kanom kok Pakse to take to the relatives at the hospital. It was too early in the morning and the vendor was just setting up the place. Since we were on a tight schedule we went to Champasak Hospital to visit Grand-Mama before heading out to Muang Phonethong.

Driving across Sedone Bridge to go get Kanom Kok Pakse

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After breakfast we headed off to Houaylao Elementary School. This is a school that received one of our Book Box Library in the previous year. I met with the superintendent of the school and a few teachers and asked about the status of the Book Box Library. I told them the book box was donated by a friend (mou in Lao language, without giving the name of that person) from Laovoices.com. I also informed them of the possibility that she might be visiting the school with me in the November.

The superintendent and the teachers told me they have been making good use of the book box library. They also told me the condition of their school and how difficult it is to get help for anything. Many NGOs in the area forget their existence. Those parents who have the means to transport their children to a better school in the near by area take their kids elsewhere and so the ones left behind are the poor ones. Those teachers who love their village so much refuse to teach at a better school. They are the ones that are the heart and soul of the village and keeping the candle of education burning bright and shine.

Office building of Houaylao Elementary School

Getting ready for teachers’ appreciation day

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I sent Sidney a learning toy awhile back to train her brain a bit. It was a Fisher-Price Shapes and Numbers Cookie Jar. She loves to play with it and likes it when it makes noise giving her prop in Dutch when she puts the shape and number in its slot right. She is so smart and stubborn and at a stage where she copies everything around her.

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Last Friday I went to Leiden University Faculty of Social and Behavior Science (Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen) building to make final arrangments for my graduation in October of this year. There were few students there to check out the place before the new school year. For those that arrived early they can take part in the early orientation which started yesterday. Inside the FSW building there was a renovation project going on and I had to be careful walking in the middle of all the construction.

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