What is this?

On the first working Monday of every month (Monday is one of my busiest days) I will donate the daily income of Chocolate Tortoise to a selected charity, and post to this blog detailing the charity chosen. This blog is not intended to tell the world how generous I am. I am less generous than many people. The blog is intended to firstly log who I have donated to, and secondly to hopefully inspire others to do the same, or similar. For more information, see my first post.

Wednesday 20 July 2016

June 2016 - Big Brother Mouse

The chosen charity for June 2016 is Big Brother Mouse. This has been a selected charity in the past, exactly one year ago in fact, but it is a charity I follow closely - they are very proactive about not only letting people know what they are doing, but also in trying out new ideas. I find them refreshingly down-to-earth in their approach, as well as obviously doing great work.

During our travels in 2010 we loved pretty much every country we visited. I especially liked Laos. Possibly partly due to the fact that we were able to spend a month looking after bears at a sanctuary there, but also because of the very friendly people and the laid back way of life. Luang Prabang was a lovely town that we got to know well, as it was there that we looked after the bears for a month. There was also a charity based there called Big Brother Mouse, which aims to get more kids in Laos able to read, and enthusiastic about reading. We spent an enjoyable morning helping some Lao kids read English and really liked the ethos of the charity.


Since our return I have kept in touch with what the charity is doing, and they have been great about keeping me informed, without pressure for continued donations. I really like what the charity is doing, and their approach. I try to give them some money each year when I can and thought it was about time they appeared on my Donate a Day radar, so they get this month's donation.

They spend their money visiting schools and holding "Book Parties" where kids get to look through some of the very basic, but fun books that they bring along, and as well as books left for the school, each kid gets to take a book home to own - which is a big thing for them. The charity is also very active in trying out new methods to encourage the kids, and more importantly the schools and teachers, to hold reading sessions where they can improve their reading. The project manager in me likes the fact that they try things out, then test to see if it has worked, and adapt accordingly.

They also publish their own books, since there are so few books in the Lao language aimed at getting kids to read. A previous donation of ours has helped to publish a couple of books which they kindly sent me and sit proudly on our bookshelf. I can't understand a word of them!

Oh, and I love their logo and their name! As the owner of "Chocolate Tortoise" I like companies (and charities) with original names :-)