Seeking help

This posting is a request for help – plain and simple. In the last year or so we have been fortunate enough to receive significant donations of books, toys and children’s clothes. I particularly want to thank Randwick City Library Service and MLC School as they have both given us so many fantastic resources for use in Nepal.

But here’s the catch, transporting things to Nepal is extremely expensive! We have recently been given 100kgs of free air cargo by DHL and this was very helpful but we still have 27(!) boxes sitting in our storage shed waiting to go to Kathmandu. One of the challenges in sending things to Nepal is that it must go by air. If we ship the boxes they arrive in Calcutta in India and then travel by truck the rest of the way. As you can imagine, there isn’t much if anything left of the cargo by the time it arrives in Kathmandu!

We have had some success with various Rotary Clubs contributing funds for shipment of goods and we are hoping that perhaps some of you may have similar contacts and/or ideas for ways to help. It is a shame to see so many great resources sitting Sydney and we will get them to Nepal one way or another but hopefully with your help it can be sooner rather than later.

If you think you can help us to put these resources in the hands of the children of Nepal, please get in touch. We have some simple resources such as letters or Powerpoint presentations that we can send you to use too.

Back to Riviera

Friday was the final day of the volunteer program for our visitors from Australia and after two extremely chaotic picnic days I think they were very relieved to be returning to the relative peace of an afternoon spent at the Model School with the teachers and some students!

Some of the group continued with their workshops from Tuesday but there were some new workshops on offer this time as well. We had a workshop for Social Sciences, a workshop for primary teachers, but the star of the day was Heather from Flinders St Primary School in Adelaide who hosted a fantastic art workshop for around 20 students. In less than an hour the group were churning out all kinds of colourful works that were used to decorate their classroom! It was obvious that as well as brightening up the place the kids were really enjoying what they were doing.

A group of Year 9 and 10 boys joined the Science workshop as word had got out from Tuesday's workshop that Science could actually be fun! And as I walked past the English workshop I was sure I heard them reading a story about a platypus?! There was much excitement in the Maths workshop as not only did we have electricity but someone actually got the internet to work. This was important as Keith from St Catherine's School in Waverley had arranged for the school to be given user codes for HOTmaths, an online Maths education program. The teachers were instantly engrossed in trying to complete the questions online and were amazed at the way the system would enable them to track their students' progress - a lot more fun than learning from a textbook! We must thank Keith and HOTmaths for organising the licences for us.


With visitors, teachers and students all having so much fun the afternoon passed far too quickly and it was soon time for our farewells. It was clear the advances the school had made since MLC's visit a year ago so it is exciting to think of how this trip will have benefitted them even further. After a quick thank you speech from the principal and the presentation of a 'token of love' in the form of Riviera school badges for everyone, it was time to once again board the bus and return to Thamel.

This concluded the formal program for the group. However that evening there was a quick trip to the tailor to collect some traditional outfits that some of the group had ordered. Then on Saturday morning I took a small group to visit Kathmandu Animal Treatment (KAT) Centre, where street dogs are taken in and 'cleaned up' before being adopted or returned to the street. This was of course a confronting experience for the group but by the same token it was great to see that things can and are being done and that there is hope. Those who did not join the visit to KAT no doubt spent the morning doing last minute shopping in Thamel, hunting for that 'special morning price'!

On Saturday afternoon I waved the group farewell as their bus left for the airport. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone in the group for the amazing contributions they made throughout the week, all of the programs ran like clockwork and gave some insights into life in Nepal and how we can help. I would particularly like to thank Rosemary King from MLC School who organised the trip and did a great job of keeping everything in order for them once in Nepal!

Day 3 - Another Crazy Picnic Program!

On Thursday morning the majority of the group were starting to look a little weary from all the running around with kids here, Nepalese kids seem to have unlimited amounts of energy no matter how hot and/or dusty the conditions are! We therefore did allow everyone a bit of a sleep in as the day's program was only a short bus ride from their hotel in Thamel.

When we arrived at Sankha Park in Dhumbarahi a huge tent had already been erected and about 60 kids were enjoying a breakfast feast! They were extremely excited to see the interesting group of foreigners arrive and before long breakfast was forgotten as it was much more fun to be singing and dancing with the visitors.

The program for the day was organised by our partner CWISH, and we hosted about 120 kids from around Kathmandu. Almost all of the children in attendance were child domestic workers that we have been assisting through CWISH. They attend CWISH's drop-in centres to receive non-formal education which after 9 months will have them at a level where they can commence proper schooling. Thursday was especially exciting for more than half of the kids as it was a celebration of them having completed the non-formal classes and they would soon be going to school for the first time. This became very real for the kids when a tailor arrived mid-morning to take their measurements for school uniforms!

In a previous post I have mentioned some statistics that show the disturbing situation for many children in Nepal. In particular, there are about 21,000 children working as domestic workers in Kathmandu and around 100,000 across the country. The children attending the program last Thursday were part of these statistics. I think this really brought home the harsh reality of life as a child in Nepal for the visitors from Australia. It made the day even more special because we knew these kids did not normally get the opportunity to play or have fun.

So with these sobering thoughts in mind the Aussies lead the kids into a frenzy of games and activities. We had all kinds of things happening at the same time including hot potato, the hokey pokey, captain ball, balloon races, 'what's the time mr wolf?', skipping with possibly the biggest rope we had ever seen, and so on. It seemed as though the kids' energy would never wain but after a solid couple of hours of playing faces started to look tired and the announcement that lunch was ready was welcomed by all. Thankfully the play area was situated under some lovely big trees so there was some respite from the midday heat which has been quite severe here recently.

Lunch was a huge feast of dahl bhat cooked by a mobile catering group and the kids all ate huge plate loads, much to the amusement and sometimes horror of the visitors. Part of the reason for the enthusiastic eating was that the kids knew what was happening after lunch - presentation of their books and pencils to start school! This would be exciting enough for kids in Australia let alone for the kids here who in some cases had not been to school before.

Once all of the visitors had finished their lunch we preceded to the presentation area where all of the kids were already sitting, the anticipation in the air was palpable. Each of the people from Australia had a turn at presenting some of the kids with their packs and before long the anticipation was replaced by sheer joy as the kids tore into their packs to see what they would be taking to school each day! As the last packs were presented it was time for the visitors to leave. As we looked behind us we were surprised to see that an impromptu disco had commenced on the grass. I'm not sure where the kids found the energy but it does remind us that kids are ultimately the same the world over.

Day 2 Adventures

After a relatively gentle introduction to their work on Tuesday it was full steam ahead for the visitors from Australia on Wednesday as we travelled by bus to Phulbari to meet around 60 of Mitrataa's Dream Catchers scholarship girls.

The bus ride took almost 3 hours due to some traffic and a very rough patch climbing the hills into the village but it was worth it when we finally arrived at the top of the ridge to be greeted by most of the village, a lovely cool breeze and some fresh air! First stop was a visit to the local school where we each received a garland and walked through a tunnel of clapping students. It was fantastic to see that the school was as clean as we had left it after last year's clean-up campaign by MLC. We had a quick look around the school and showed the visitors the murals MLC had painted last year - it was great to see that this had inspired the school to start putting more of the students' art on the classroom walls.

We then proceeded up a hill to our lunch destination, a lovely courtyard at the entrance to a big organic fruit and vegetable garden. Lunch consisted of mostly local produce from the garden and was as good a dahl bhat as you would find anywhere in Nepal. As everyone then had tummies full of rice and curry we decided to wait a while before starting the day's activities - the Phulbari Olympics!

At the top of the hill inside the organic garden was a shaded area where we all sat and were treated to some singing and dancing by the local girls. This was a great way to get the normally shy girls warmed up and it didn't take them long. Of course it was then expected that the Australians would also perform so they hastily made plans and sang fantastic renditions of Kookaburra, Waltzing Matilda and Home Among The Gum Trees. The last one was particularly popular thanks to the entertaining actions that go with each line!

It was then time for the real fun to begin. We divided the girls into 5 groups and they each had to choose a country as their team name but they were not allowed to choose Nepal or Australia. Canada, Korea, USA, China and Singapore were chosen and with that the games began.

The 5 teams had to move through 6 stations covering cup stacking, three-legged race, wheel barrow race, balloon race, 'beach' flag sprint and captain ball. It was hilarious to watch the chaos that ensued as most of the girls had clearly never seen any of these games before. They all gave it their best shot however as their team pride was at stake. In some cases it was even more entertaining when the Australians tried to demonstrate the activities as in the case of the three-legged race!

After a good hour and a half of craziness in the hot afternoon sun the Phulbari Olympics drew to a close and it was time to present the winners with their prizes. All girls received a participation certificate and a gold medal sticker however there were extra prizes for the top 3 teams. Canada was in 3rd position, Singapore came in 2nd, and perhaps no surprise the USA finished on top! The afternoon was a great success and demonstrated to the kids and their teachers that you can have a lot of fun with very minimal amounts of equipment or resources.

We finished with some group photos before making our way back to the bus for the bumpy ride back to Kathmandu. There were clearly some cases of heat stroke as some very ordinary joke telling, trivia questions and singing took place to pass the time as the bus crawled through a traffic jam on the outskirts of the city. I'm sure the group slept very well that night!

Volunteer Teachers Get To Work

Tuesday saw the beginning of a 4 day volunteer program by a group of teachers from schools across Australia. Organised by Rosemary King from MLC School following on from their wonderful visit last year, and with the help of the IB Organisation, we welcomed a group of 13 to Kathmandu. The group included 3 parents and 2 students from MLC, the remainder being teachers from MLC as well as schools from Perth, Orange, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. The group had spent a week trekking so they were already very rapidly coming to terms with some of the bizarre and wonderful aspects of life in Nepal!

On Tuesday we spent the morning visiting the stupa at Boudha and then having lunch there whilst discussing everyone's plans for the afternoon which would be spent at Riviera, the Model School. Then it was a quick walk down the road to Riviera so the real fun could begin!

Our visit started with an introduction to the school by Milan Dharel, director of the school and also director of our partner organisation, CWISH. This was followed by a quick tour of the school including the much expanded library. The teachers then divided themselves into 3 groups covering Maths, Science and English. It was then up to the Riviera teachers to choose which workshop they would like to do for the afternoon.

All of the workshops went very well with a lot of involvement from the Nepalese teachers and loads of new teaching methods and ideas being shared by the teachers from Australia. Science was of particular interest as Judy, a science teacher from Ravenswood in Sydney, had brought a plethora of interesting and easy to source items that could be used to create experiments. Science in Nepal is typically taught by simply studying the experiments from the textbook, learning the hypothesis, methods and expected results. In some cases the teachers may demonstrate an experiment but this would still not allow the students any practical experience themselves. Judy opened the teachers eyes to numerous fun and exciting experiments that the students could easily do with some guidance from their teachers, making Science more meaningful and enjoyable for everyone.

It was a similar story with Maths where teachers were learning to make models with plasticine and matchsticks as well as fun and easy ways to quickly solve apparently difficult calculations without the use of a calculator! In the English workshop the Australian teachers were really put to the test as the Riviera teachers demanded to know how it was possible to incorporate more interesting and learner focused teaching methods whilst still covering the curriculum. Fortunately, the teachers from Australia were prepared for this and were able to share a lot of great ideas with the enthusiastic Nepali group.

As always happens with these programs the afternoon finished all too soon however the group will be returning to Riviera on Friday to spend another afternoon with the teachers and some of the students from the school. Updates on the other adventures of the group coming soon...

Najani Starts School!

I just wanted to quickly share a real feel-good story that Bec and I have been lucky to be a part of…

About 4 years ago through a good friend here, we met a women who was living on the streets of Thamel, the main tourist area in Kathmandu. She had just the week before given birth prematurely to a daughter, Najani. As she did not have enough to even feed herself the daughter quickly became malnourished and was rapidly deteriorating towards death. Fortunately our friend had realised the severity of the situation and took the woman and newborn to a nutritional centre set up to deal with this type of case. It was on a visit to this centre with our friend that we met the woman and her daughter for the first time. Whilst the girl’s condition did not look good she had improved and the doctors were reasonably confident that she would survive.

Well she did survive and she and her mother were taken in by Sabilla, a woman who is a bit of a grandmother to many of the street people and beggars of Thamel. Most tourists would know Sabilla as she is one of the most persistent sellers of little hand bags there is! Sabilla herself can only manage a small room to live in but she was happy to share this with Najani and her mum and over the past few years we have watched them become a sort of family. Najani’s mum continued to beg on the streets but with Sabilla’s help she has done well and Najani has thrived.

We subsequently learned that Najani was most probably the result of her mother being raped by her father, which lead to her fleeing the Tarai area in southern Nepal to beg on the streets of Thamel. The father is no longer in the picture which is good news as Najani’s mum understands the importance of family planning and so shouldn’t get herself into this predicament in the future. Still, this situation is a common one and again highlights the importance of education as studies have shown there is a direct correlation between literacy, basic education and smaller family sizes and pregnancies that are more planned for.

A very exciting day arrived yesterday when I took Najani, her mum and Sabilla to the boarding school where Najani would be living and studying! Although she is only 4 years old it is much better for her to be living in a school hostel environment than begging on the streets of Thamel with her mum. The hostel she will be living in has only 20 children so she will be well looked after. Also, one of Sabilla’s young sons stays there and he has become a big brother to Najani and will take good care of her. Having Najani stay in the hostel also relieves some of the pressure on her mother in terms of worrying about feeding her etc.

Although this is the story of the life of only one girl that has been changed forever, it has been amazing to watch it unfold literally from the beginning and exciting to think that we will be able to follow Najani’s journey into a future of exciting possibilities.

In Kathmandu Again

I arrived here again on Tuesday and am frantically checking everything is in order for a visit by a group of teachers from IB schools in Australia, lead by Rosemary King from MLC. After such a fantastic week with MLC here last year Rosemary has inspired a new group of teachers to come and see for themselves just how far their help can go. The group also includes 2 students from MLC and 3 of their parents, so whilst it is a much smaller group than last year it means each person will be able to have much more personal involvement in each of the activities. Look out for more postings and photos as the activities unfold next week!

The new school year starts in Nepal from Sunday (19th April) so it is a busy time for the Dream Catchers project too. Thank you to all of our sponsors who have recently renewed their contributions and to those who may have forgotten - there is still time so... We expect to be significantly increasing the number of girls receiving scholarships this year which is very exciting and is thanks to the generosity and support of so many.

I will be checking on all of our other projects whilst here as well, especially the new ones we are planning to start this year so stay tuned for updates on that too. Just a short post this time as electricity is still limited and my laptop battery is running low!

While I think of it, Mitrataa is now on Facebook as a 'cause' so take a look and become a member if you are a Facebookphile!

More soon...