Dream Centres – success continues... the results speak for themselves!

We are extremely proud to announce that ALL of the girls in our 2 Dream Centres this session passed ALL of their exams! Before joining the Dream Centres, all of our girls were failing at least 1 subject, more in most cases. In a credit to the girls’ commitment to their learning and to our Dream Centre tutors, the girls showed a marked improvement in their last exams. One of our girls even came third in her class, and another came fourth and another came sixth. Coming from a position of failing at least one subject, this is a fantastic effort.

Although not at all surprised, we are very excited to see the evidence of the value of the Dream Centre program coming through so strongly for these girls, and this is just the academic success they are achieving. The increase in confidence of their plans for the future and their resilience and ability to bounce back from any challenges that life throws at them is equally important and we are confident that the girls’ skills have increased significantly in these areas also.

Our second graduation!

On our recent visit to Kathmandu, we were very proud to attend the second Dream Centre graduation – a combined ceremony of the girls from both the Baneshwor Dream Centre and the second centre, the Wiley Dream Centre in Chandol. The ceremony was held at the Wiley Dream Centre in April and 24 girls graduated, the ceremony that was conducted entirely by the girls.

Two girls acted as MCs for the event, one in English and one in Nepali. The confidence and pride these 2 girls showed as they conducted the event was so inspiring. We heard from 2 other girls (one in English and one in Nepali) on their experiences at the Dream Centre and the new skills they now have. It was interesting to hear the girls explain \how they had never been comfortable showing or discussing emotions before they attended the Centres, but now they understand that emotions are an important tool that they feel comfortable discussing and controlling which makes them feel much more confident in life. It was also great to hear them express how much they now believed in themselves and the dreams they have for their futures. Prizes were also presented to the girls from each Centre who were the most creative, most improved, most co-operative, best attendance etc.

It was also wonderful to hear from one of the girls’ teachers who attended the Graduation tell the girls that he had witnessed a huge change in them over the 4½ months they had attended the Dream Centre. He now saw them as more committed in their studies and more in control of their own futures and education. The grins on the girls’ faces, from a group of girls who had all been failing at least one subject at school and in many cases more, said it all!

The majority of the girls in our Dream Centres are domestic workers. We were very surprised but honoured that a couple of the girls’ guardians attended the ceremony to show them support. One of the guardians spoke to us afterwards and expressed her gratitude for the opportunity for her workers to attend the Centre. She had noticed a marked improvement in their attitudes and also told us how she believed that it is even more important to educate these children to ensure a better future for them. This is an unusually supportive guardian and we hope more follow her lead.

Our third Dream Centre plans are underway

Our third Dream Centre will open in October this year and it is being sponsored by MLC School, Burwood. The team at MLC, led by Rosemary King, have been fundraising and preparing for their trip to Nepal in September/October to officially open the Centre. We are currently scoping locations for the MLC Dream Centre and expect to provide an update on a final location shortly.

So stay tuned as this project continues to move forward in leaps and bounds…