SMU graduate and former refugee Sanva Saephan in September launched a 219-page memoir of his experiences, to raise money to build a primary school back home in Laos. Just over three months later, the single-storey building in Ban Nam Tong village in north-western Laos – a 45-minute drive from Saephan's family home in Ban Bokeo village – has now been completed and handed over to the local community to run. Built at a cost of US$45,000 (S$57,000), it includes five classrooms and a library, and replaces a run-down structure which had walls that threatened to collapse. The new building can hold 250 students, up from the 95 currently enrolled.