Celebrating Earth Day 2013

While visiting a poor village nestled in the mountains of northern Laos with the Canadian charity Adopt a Village in Laos in December 2012, I took this photograph of two hill tribe boys moments before sunset.

Yesterday afternoon I selected and submitted this image to The Face of Climate Change mosaic gallery in celebration of Earth Day 2013, which officially takes place all over the world on Monday, April 22.

Accompanying this image, I included this caption:

Hill tribe boys from a remote mountain village in northern Laos, Southeast Asia. How will climate change shape their future and the generations who follow them?

Happy Lao New Year 2556

Since today marks the start of Lao New Year (Boun Pi Mai), a big and colourful celebration in Laos, I decided to use this image of the lotus blossom, which I photographed while staying at a small guest house in Luang Prabang in December 2012, to honour this special time of year.

New Version of Water Filter Brochure

A couple of days ago at the request of Steve Rutledge, Adopt a Village in Laos president, I revised the water filter brochure, which I had originally created in 2011.

I must confess that this is the most beautiful iteration of the brochure to date, particularly with the choice of background colour. It simply ties everything together quite nicely and makes the presentation very visually appealing.

The above image shows the first panel of the international edition of this brochure, which only differs from the Canadian edition by incorporating the flags of Canada and Laos and a link to this blog.

Along with these revisions, I am hoping to have this publication translated into Lao this year.

Celebrating Lao New Year (Boun Pi Mai) 2556

 

From April 13 to April 15, 2013, Lao people the world over will be officially celebrating Boun Pi Mai (otherwise known as Lao New Year).
  
In my home city of Toronto, Sabai Sabai, a Lao-owned and operated Thai restaurant, which only opened its doors a few months ago, will be having festivities of its own to mark this special time of year.

On the evening of Saturday, April 13, this restaurant, according to its own web site, states that:

Sabai Sabai will be celebrating this occasion with great food and company. We invite you to indulge in some of the tastiest dishes from Thailand and Laos.

Chef Nuit will be creating a unique culinary experience with traditional Thai dishes and a very special tribute to Lao dishes.

The grand finale to the eight course dinner will be a spectacular dessert buffet featuring classic favourites. 

Since I have never experienced Boun Pi Mai, this will be a tasty introduction. However, I am hoping that one day soon I will have the opportunity to experience the real thing in Laos.

Love Laos Project

Logo and mobile gallery display mockup

Shortly after attending the GET LAO'd FOR LAOS fundraiser in February, a wonderful idea began to coalesce in my mind. Basically, it was the creation of a special project to educate the general public about several organizations, specifically ADOPT A VILLAGE IN LAOS (for which I volunteer), LEGACIES OF WAR, UXO LAO and MAG, and COPE,  each of which is striving to make life better for the people of Laos. After some deep reflection, I decided that this project would be best conceived as a traveling exhibition. In this form, it could make a greater impact because it could exist in a variety of locations and thus reach out to a larger audience. Photo galleries, brochure displays, maps, slideshows and videos would all contribute to making the experience rich, dynamic and engaging.

Once this idea has been transformed into a full-fledged reality, the LOVE LAOS PROJECT, as it has been so named, will be officially announced and then begin its first tours in my home city of Toronto.

(Note: Click on the above image to enlarge it. In doing so, you will be able to see LOVE LAOS PROJECT written in Lao just above the letter E in love.)