Over the past year thousands more children and adults in remote villages of impoverished Laos are living healthier lives with clean water filters and increased education, thanks to the Adopt A Village Laos program. For the past 15 years the program, supported by the Rotary Club of Ladner and its individual members along with 60 other Rotary clubs in Canada, has been providing improved school facilities, education supplies, sanitary napkins to keep girls in school, clean water filters and water delivery systems over long distances no longer requiring children and adults alike to take long periods out of days out of school time and daily routines. Ladner Rotarians Mike and Kathy Storey shown delivering a water filter to a woman and family in village of Laos.
Founder and President of Adopt A Village Laos Steve Rutledge, a member of the Rotary Club of Whitby Sunrise in Ontario, gave an update to Rotary Club of Ladner on November 4, 2025. Ladner Rotarians Mike and Kathy Storey have joined Steve and other Rotarians travelling to Laos on numerous occasions over the years to deliver water filters and supplies to the villages.
Lack of hygiene is perhaps the most serious issue facing rural villagers in Laos, from lack of education and access to clean water. Contaminated water throughout rural areas is the common cause of diarrhea plus short term and long-term sickness along with other crippling diseases which demand a major portion of villagers' meagre average income of $2,150 per year to be spent on healthcare.
This video shows the different types of projects Adopt A Village has sponsored in 2024-25 in different villages.
link to video
Interactive map showing the 103 villages of Laos and their many thousands of residents receiving support of Adopt a Village over the past 15 years, produced by Beau Brennen, friend of Rotary Club of Ladner.
Adopt A Village in Laos is a Not-For-Profit Canadian Registered Organization, incorporated in 2010. Its primary purpose is to raise financial support for clean water filters and education. Water projects bring permanent water into villages, hygiene training with water filter distribution and hygienic toilets. Education includes the construction of schools/classrooms where none exist or where current schools are simply not adequate for learning plus sponsorship of poor children who would not be able to go to school without help.
