Big Brother Mouse Turns Five
This year marks the fifth anniversary of Big Brother Mouse (BBM), a literacy project in Laos.
BBM publishes books in Lao language and distributes them across the vast rural areas of the country, where kids usually do not have proper access to books.
Looking back to the beginnings of BBM their first books appeared in March 2006, by that time still co-published as they were waiting for a publisher license. The first own BBM shop and office was opened soon afterwards in June 2006.
Since then the project has come a long way, publishing 30 books a year on average and counting an ever increasing number of book parties. At those book parties kids in remote villages receive their very first own book, which they then can swap at a mini-library that is set up by BBM and run by a local volunteer.
For 2010 BBM was able to double the amount of book parties compared to the previous year up to a total of 510 parties.
To organize these book parties BBM started out with part-time staff and now employs four full-time teams, enabling not only a broader distribution of books across Laos but also providing employment and income to an increased number of people.
Over the years BBM gave more than 25 young writers the opportunity to improve their skills and publish their work. In total 134 new titles have been published until now.
Apart from their publishing activities and book parties, BBM’s latest project is the set up of reading rooms in the villages; 150 of those have been set up so far. More reading rooms will be added slowly in the future as BBM is currently focusing on finding ways to make them most effective.
For the future BBM plans to create more opportunities for an exchange of knowledge and experience with organizations working on similar projects. A first workshop is scheduled for 4-6 days in March 2012 and interested organizations are invited to join.
We are impressed by BBM’s many achievements and happy to support their work.
Happy 5th Anniversary Big Brother Mouse! Keep up all the good work!
For more information please contact info@exofoundation.org