Pilot Dream Centre Flying!

After many months of planning, finding a location, training facilitators, preparing activities and course materials, and selecting girls (from so many candidates), our first Dream Centre is up and running! We visited this pilot Centre a couple of times on our recent visit to Kathmandu and also had a chance to run some workshops for the facilitators.

It was fantastic to see what the facilitators and Chetana, our Nepal Project Manager, had achieved in such a small time. The room was wonderfully decorated with the girls' artwork and there was a real atmosphere of fun and learning in the place. When the girls arrived we were very impressed with their confidence and the manner in which they got on with their work - the Centre was clearly already having an impact!

During one visit to the Centre we delivered some very special children's books that had been donated by the authors in Australia, who also signed the books. The girls could not believe that they were holding copies of books actually signed by the authors! It was great to see them so eager to open the books and start reading too. English is one of the subjects that the Dream Centre facilitators have been focusing on as many of the girls have been struggling with it. Books such as these will provide great additional learning material as well as a lot of fun for the girls.

This Centre will serve as the pilot for future centres with at least 1 and possibly 2 more to be opened by the end of the year. With already a long list of girls waiting to attend this Centre we will really need to get the next ones opened as quickly as possible as word spreads so will the demand!

Books & Fruit Delivery

Last Saturday (8th August) Bec and I delivered two very special surprises to the kids at the orphanage at Bal Mandir. The first was a box of books we had collected from various donors in Sydney and Singapore. The second was a crate full of delicious fruit including mangoes, bananas, apples, pineapples and pomegranates!

We arrived around midday and the kids were all playing in the courtyard, unaware of the pending excitement. As Bec and I walked in carrying two very big boxes we quickly acquired a big group of curious followers. We first opened the box full of books and after an initial frenzy of squealing and grabbing we managed to get everyone to line up so that they could choose a book to take and read.

It was amazing to see all of the children so enthusiastic about reading and learning new things. It was also very touching to see the older children helping the younger ones to read their books. Bec got in on the act too with some fantastic facial expressions and sound effects to add to her reading, making her easily the most popular sideshow! Another favourite was a book all about Transformers, which kept the boys very busy as they debated which of the ‘robots in disguise’ had the best powers.

We spent about 2 hours with all of the children reading book after book and just as everyone appeared to be getting tired the fruit, now chopped up and ready to eat, arrived. Another frenzy ensued but somehow all the children ended up with their fair share of fruit.

As everyone settled down to eat it was our queue to leave. We were exhausted but also invigorated by spending the time with such energetic and inspiring kids. Thanks to all those who have donated books after the past year, they are being well used and loved!

Our first Summit!

Yesterday Bec and I had the great privilege of hosting the inaugural Mitrataa Summit in Kathmandu. The event was a full day mix of team building activities, workshops and brainstorming sessions attended by 13 representatives from our various partner organisations and projects.

The day started with each participant being given a chocolate – either Freddo, Caramello, or Strawberry Freddo (thanks Cadbury!). Depending on their choice they had to either share something about which they were passionate, someone they admire and why, or 3 things for which they were grateful. As this was the first time many of the attendees were meeting each other, this activity was a great ice-breaker as well as setting a positive tone for the day.

It was then time for the serious work of the day with Bec taking the group through an interactive workshop on project management and in particular, preparing project proposals. Some of our partners obviously already had some experience in this field whilst for others it was the first time they had been exposed to these concepts. Each person had to progress through the workshop by preparing their own ‘make believe’ proposal and it was interesting to see some of the wonderful and unusual projects people were creating! We had projects covering everything from organic tea farming to micro-hydro-power schemes to after-school support for students struggling with Maths and English.

There was a quick break for a delicious dahl bhat lunch in the middle before we continued into the early afternoon completing the proposals. By the end of the session each participant had created a complete draft proposal for their dream project. Many of them had even included a proposed budget and timeline!

Next we turned our minds to a quick brain-storming session on some of the challenges being faced in relation to collection of report cards from schools hosting our Dream Catchers Scholarship girls. This was a great opportunity for partners from different parts of Kathmandu and its surrounds to share their ideas on how best to manage the program. It was really rewarding for us to observe new networks of support being formed amongst like-minded individuals.

The next session was another brain-storming around sourcing suitable candidates for the Defying Gravity program – a new initiative to provide scholarships and support for extraordinary women to realise their dream business. It was agreed that as a concept this was quite new in Nepal and so the first step would be to host a number of workshops on dreaming, ambitions and passion. Each of our partner organizations will be sourcing women they see as potentially being suitable for the program and we expect by the end of the workshops to have determined the first recipients of the scholarships!

After a quick afternoon tea break it was time for the final session of the day which was a group discussion regarding options for our Dream Catchers scholarship girls once they have completed school. We have one such girl this year with 5 more currently in their last year of school now so it is an issue we need to be prepared for. There was an amazing amount of suggestions on what we could do and by the end of the discussion we had a long list of action points and plans to put in place. Suffice to say, the girls will not be forgotten and we will be creating opportunities and ways to support them for as long as they need it!

As the summit drew to a close it was so inspiring and encouraging to see all of the people we work with in Nepal working together to create solutions and plans for our future work. The day was a real affirmation of the individuals and organisations we work with and we both felt so proud of all we as a team have achieved in the last few years.