Geoff and Martin Collins

Off road motorcycle adventures have taken Geoff and Martin Collins to some of the more remote parts of Laos, a landlocked country in South East Asia. The Mekong River forms a large part of the western border with Thailand, and it was a trip along the Mekong that first brought the Collins brothers in contact with school children from Ban Hatteu village.

Ban Hatteu is situated on the banks of the river. It is very isolated – there is no road access, no cars, phones or electricity. Families are extremely poor; they survive by trading fish, crops and hand woven cloth. Geoff and Martin were appalled at the condition of the village school. They decided the best way they could help to break the poverty cycle was by improving the standard of education at the school. They initially supplied pens and paper and textbooks, then desks and chairs (click on the link below to see them being delivered), and finally materials for the villagers to build a new school. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iVmxjHW2xc Success with this project has encouraged the Collins to build more schools. Ban Lad Khammune school was completed in 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_G-w2ZtYjE