I've just arrived in Kathmandu and already have a pretty hectic 5 weeks planned out. 15 students and 2 teachers from St Catherine's in Sydney will be joining us to work in the Dream Centres for 4 days. Linda will be returning to conduct the first workshops and launch Project Snow Leopard. Our second round of Daisy Chains women's groups will be graduating, as will our second round of Dream Centres girls. Somewhere in this time we will be checking on all of our Dream Catchers scholarship girls as they start the new school year, and awarding a number of new girls with scholarships.
We are now up and running on Facebook and Twitter so I will try to keep the updates coming as regularly as possible, electricity availability permitting! To become a Mitrataa fan on Facebook, find us by clicking here. To follow us on Twitter, just click here.
I have also recently added another movie to our YouTube channel. It was created by MLC student Olivia Simpson after her trip to Nepal in April 2009. You can watch the movie by clicking here.
So stay tuned as the fun begins...
31 March 2010
16 March 2010
Bec speaks at MasterCard Luncheon in Singapore
Yesterday MasterCard hosted a luncheon at the Four Seasons Hotel in Singapore to celebrate women's advancement (part of a series of programs surrounding International Women's Day on 8th March).
As part of the event, representatives from 3 of MasterCard's partner organisations for its Corporate Citizenship program were invited to give brief presentations on their work. MasterCard has been working with us since July 2009 and now sponsors 2 groups of women in our Daisy Chains project. The first of these groups will be graduating in the next month or so and embarking on their business with a small loan from the project!
Presentations were given by Saleemah Ismail, the President of UNIFEM in Singapore; Wendy Morris, the General Manager of Hotel de la Paix in Cambodia; and Bec representing Mitrataa. It was wonderful to listen to the amazing work other organisations are doing in conjunction with MasterCard's support and judging by the reactions I think people were equally as interested to hear about our work in Nepal.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank MasterCard and in particular Georgette Tan, for their support and encouragement. It is thanks to supporters such as these that Mitrataa can continue to grow and reach more women and girls in Nepal.
As part of the event, representatives from 3 of MasterCard's partner organisations for its Corporate Citizenship program were invited to give brief presentations on their work. MasterCard has been working with us since July 2009 and now sponsors 2 groups of women in our Daisy Chains project. The first of these groups will be graduating in the next month or so and embarking on their business with a small loan from the project!
Presentations were given by Saleemah Ismail, the President of UNIFEM in Singapore; Wendy Morris, the General Manager of Hotel de la Paix in Cambodia; and Bec representing Mitrataa. It was wonderful to listen to the amazing work other organisations are doing in conjunction with MasterCard's support and judging by the reactions I think people were equally as interested to hear about our work in Nepal.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank MasterCard and in particular Georgette Tan, for their support and encouragement. It is thanks to supporters such as these that Mitrataa can continue to grow and reach more women and girls in Nepal.
10 March 2010
New Project starting in April - need cameras!
During our last trip to Kathmandu in November we were joined for a week by our friend and amateur photographer, Linda Jocelyn. We had been discussing with Linda for some time the idea of running a program to teach photography to some of the teenage girls we support, the idea being that the program would give the girls a useful skill as well as teaching them about creativity, self-expression and interpretation of the environment around them.
In November Linda spent some time familiarising herself with Nepal and its quirks as well as meeting some of the girls from the orphanage at Bal Mandir. It is from here that we will be selecting around 10 girls to take part in the project which will be run over the next 2 years. You can read more about the project at our website.
Linda has committed to 3 to 4 trips to Nepal in the next 2 years, the first coming in April this year and as a result, Project Snow Leopard has been born! In April Linda will be meeting the girls and the first workshops on photography basics will take place. This first stage of the program will be run over 5 days and will include some field trips for the girls to have a chance to explore some of the more popular destinations in their country.
Having done photo essay exchanges before with kids from the Model School and schools in Australia, I am really looking forward to seeing what the girls come up with as a child's view on things is often quite different to ours. We will be asking the girls to keep a journal of their work including explanations and background to why they took certain shots. It promises to be an exciting journey for everyone involved!
By the end of the project we aim to have collected sufficient photos to compile a coffee table book which will be a wonderful memento of the project for the girls and will be a useful fundraising tool for Mitrataa.
How YOU Can Help...
In the lead up to the project we need to collect 12 'point and click' digital cameras for the girls to use. If anyone has an old digital camera they could spare please get in touch. Of course as always, financial contributions will also help with purchasing memory cards, batteries, notebooks etc.
To set the scene for the project we will be holding a photo exhibition in Sydney in mid-April. Linda will be showing a range of shots from her first trip to Kathmandu, providing a wonderful insight into the people and daily life of Nepal. Larger prints will be available to purchase through a silent auction and we will also be providing smaller and postcard-size prints to purchase too, with all funds going to this and Mitrataa's other work in Nepal. Stay tuned for updates on when/where this will happen...
Our sincere thanks goes to Linda for the dedication and commitment she has shown to this fantastic new initiative!
In November Linda spent some time familiarising herself with Nepal and its quirks as well as meeting some of the girls from the orphanage at Bal Mandir. It is from here that we will be selecting around 10 girls to take part in the project which will be run over the next 2 years. You can read more about the project at our website.Linda has committed to 3 to 4 trips to Nepal in the next 2 years, the first coming in April this year and as a result, Project Snow Leopard has been born! In April Linda will be meeting the girls and the first workshops on photography basics will take place. This first stage of the program will be run over 5 days and will include some field trips for the girls to have a chance to explore some of the more popular destinations in their country.
Having done photo essay exchanges before with kids from the Model School and schools in Australia, I am really looking forward to seeing what the girls come up with as a child's view on things is often quite different to ours. We will be asking the girls to keep a journal of their work including explanations and background to why they took certain shots. It promises to be an exciting journey for everyone involved!
By the end of the project we aim to have collected sufficient photos to compile a coffee table book which will be a wonderful memento of the project for the girls and will be a useful fundraising tool for Mitrataa.
How YOU Can Help...
In the lead up to the project we need to collect 12 'point and click' digital cameras for the girls to use. If anyone has an old digital camera they could spare please get in touch. Of course as always, financial contributions will also help with purchasing memory cards, batteries, notebooks etc.
To set the scene for the project we will be holding a photo exhibition in Sydney in mid-April. Linda will be showing a range of shots from her first trip to Kathmandu, providing a wonderful insight into the people and daily life of Nepal. Larger prints will be available to purchase through a silent auction and we will also be providing smaller and postcard-size prints to purchase too, with all funds going to this and Mitrataa's other work in Nepal. Stay tuned for updates on when/where this will happen...
Our sincere thanks goes to Linda for the dedication and commitment she has shown to this fantastic new initiative!
08 March 2010
International Women's Day
Today, Monday 8th March, is International Women's Day. As an important day for Mitrataa and the women and girls we work with in Nepal it gives us a chance to stop and think about the amazing stories of courage, determination and hope we have encountered in the past 10 years.
This year the girls in our Dream Centres have been working hard on preparing portraits of women who have inspired them. This afternoon in the Dream Centres the girls' mothers will be visiting them for a short program where the girls will present these drawings. The afternoon will also include some information about the Dream Centres and the work we are doing with an emphasis on the importance of the girls attending on a regular basis.
Below is a card put together by the Dream Centre girls with the help of our Nepal Project Manager, Chetana.
This morning Bec and I had the pleasure of talking on air on 938Live's 'The Living Room' in Singapore. We spoke for about half an hour on Mitrataa and our work in Nepal as well as commenting on the importance of the work we do particularly for women and girls. The segment will be played again this evening at 11:10pm Singapore time but we will also try to get a recorded version that we can share with you all. Thanks to Pamela Ho and 938Live for their support and interest in our work.
Please take this opportunity to recognise the many important women in your life.
We want to express our heartfelt thanks to the many of you who have contributed to Mitrataa over the years and enabled us to help touch the lives of so many women and girls in Nepal!
This year the girls in our Dream Centres have been working hard on preparing portraits of women who have inspired them. This afternoon in the Dream Centres the girls' mothers will be visiting them for a short program where the girls will present these drawings. The afternoon will also include some information about the Dream Centres and the work we are doing with an emphasis on the importance of the girls attending on a regular basis.
Below is a card put together by the Dream Centre girls with the help of our Nepal Project Manager, Chetana.
This morning Bec and I had the pleasure of talking on air on 938Live's 'The Living Room' in Singapore. We spoke for about half an hour on Mitrataa and our work in Nepal as well as commenting on the importance of the work we do particularly for women and girls. The segment will be played again this evening at 11:10pm Singapore time but we will also try to get a recorded version that we can share with you all. Thanks to Pamela Ho and 938Live for their support and interest in our work.
Please take this opportunity to recognise the many important women in your life.
We want to express our heartfelt thanks to the many of you who have contributed to Mitrataa over the years and enabled us to help touch the lives of so many women and girls in Nepal!
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