29 Jan 2011 - Donated 100 Baht to a work colleague (Bounphasert, as his brother just passed away) and 100 Baht to another work colleague (Manosing, as his father just passed away).

28 Jan 2011 - Donated some money to a poor beggar family (a mother with a baby and a boy), and also donated some food (Kao Niaw Piing Kai) to another similar begger mother with young children.

27 Jan 2011 - Donated 22000 kip to "Kong Boun" (Merit Tradition for Buddhist temple) that was driving around in the back of a long truck in the town of Thakhek.

26 Jan 2011 - Our family donated 500,000 Kip for buying warm clothes and blankets for children living in the Province of Houaphanh (Via Phaivanh and her CONCERN crew in the field), and dad and mom also asked our colleagues to donate as well (Dad collected about 1.1 million kip from friends at work for the project, and mom collected some as well). See messages below for detail of this small compassion initiative:


Phaivanh Changnakham wrote on Jan 17, 2011:
You probably recognize the weather currently gets very cold. In Houaphanh province, the temperature is between 0-12 Celsius; the most needed at the moment is warm clothes. I am wondering if anyone know any agencies who provide this type of assistance. One of our project is still working in one of the district in this province and we can help with distribute stuff at the field.

Dad wrote to colleagues on Jan 19, 2011:
Please see Phaivanh’s message... Because of the current harsh weather condition in the northern part of Laos, there’s an urgent need to provide warm clothes/blankets to children and families in the province, living in a poorest and most remote part of the country. I’d like to ask you all to join me in helping them by making some collective contributions, so that some families will be able to keep their children warm at night. The money goes directly to buying of the warm clothes/blankets (organized by the Concern project team in the field). Due to some difficulty in shipping donated stuff like old clothes directly to the field, only money donations will be accepted at this stage. I will be collecting the donations on behalf of Concern org until Monday next week (24/01/11). If you would like to donate money, please pass it on to me. Please feel free to convey this message to your friends who might be interested in helping out.


Dad wrote on Jan 24, 2011:
My sincere gratitude to all who support this and the donations that still keep coming in. We have collected over 1.5m KIP in total so far from 19 donors. This will surely make a difference in people’s lives, particularly in helping some of those needy families in the north going through the tough period of the cold weather.


Some have asked me about whether all the donated money will eventually be spent for buying warm clothes and whether the stuff will reach the truly needy children. To be honest, I can’t guarantee that 100% of the donations will be properly distributed, though I strongly hope they will (most if not all) – we just have to take a leave of faith, but doing nothing is not helping the situation.

I have transferred the donated money I received so far and we are in contact with Phaivanh to try to get the stuff to the province urgently. I am still collecting if any of you still would like to contribute small or large, and the money will be sent later. We will do all that we can to ensure every KIP, dime, and Stang donated goes to the right hands.

Below are some pictures of the donation distribution received:

26 Jan 2011 - Papa wrote a short essay to help promote the Savannakhet Buddha image casting project. It's a brief summary for the purpose of communicating the event to the expat colleagues for their contributions to the project.

Papa wrote:
[
Inspired by one of the ancient, most significant and sacred Buddha images in Laos, known to most Lao people as “Phra Ong Tu” of the Ong Tu temple in Vientiane, the Savannakhet people wish to cast a grand Buddha statue replicating the original one.

There are now numerous replicas of Phra Ong Tu in Laos and Thailand, but the original holy Phra Ong Tu is historic and has a particularly interesting story. It began in 1566 – out of his majesty’s unshakable faith and devotion to Buddhism, King Xaysetthathiraj of the Lane Xang Kingdom (Laos in the present) made an endeavour to build the largest Buddha image in Vientiane. The bronze Buddha statue would be almost six metres tall and weigh several tonnes, and hence the name “Tu” (a Lao ancient unit for heavy weight scale). Just as King Xaysetthathiraj was about to cast the Buddha image, a Burmese king led his troops to Vientiane intending to wage a war. Knowing about the threat, the Lao king felt deeply concern at first but was reminded by his queen about the merits in undertaking the creation of the Buddha image and in having strong faith in Dhamma (the Buddha’s teachings). The great king of Lane Xang Kingdom prayed for miracles to happen and showed his compassion towards the Burmese king and his generals. What would have been a bloody war did not take place, and many lives were spared. Later, the two kings met in the Vientiane palace and avowed a strong relationship between the two kingdoms.

Since then, Phra Ong Tu has survived the long years through the time of peace and war – even when Wat Ong Tu, the temple in which Phra Ong Tu resided, was burned down during foreign invasions, the Oug Tu Buddha statue remained intact and only temple was rebuilt. For many generations, Phra Ong Tu has been an invaluable source of inspiration for learning the Dhamma of the Buddhist’s communities, and the temple has been a place where people come to worship Phra Ong Tu, dedicate their merits, and conduct religious traditional ceremonies.

MMG LXML has donated 3 tonnes of Copper for this project in advance and will be supporting the event. As part of the fund rising to meet the target, the Savannakhet Province Buddha Casting Committee is also asking for voluntary contributions from both Lao and expat employees and contractors of MMG LXML. Like the Phra Ong Tu’s story, the work and donation towards the Buddha statue casting will be a long lasting good deed that will keep contributing to the communities for many generations to come.
]

19 Jan 11 - Mom gave alms to monks (Sanga) on the occation of a Buddhist day today. Wish LeO good health and happiness.