Quick Update

Just a quick post to share some of the fantastic things going on both here in Nepal and in Australia.

The trivia night hosted by Kirrawee High School raised around $4,000! This is a fantastic effort and our thanks must go to everyone who supported the event and especially Micaela and Jodie for their hard work in bringing it all together.

At the end of this week it is Dream Centre graduation time again. This will see the third group of girls from Baneshwor and second group of girls from the Wiley Dream Centre complete the 'skills for learning, skills for life' program.

On Saturday (2nd October) we will be hosting the first event for all girls in our Dream Catchers Scholarship program. Around 200 girls will be travelling to Panauti for a day of fun, games, food and award presentations!

Next week we start the training program for three new Dream Centre facilitators who will be joining us to work in our third Dream Centre, sponsored by MLC School, which will be opening towards the end of October. On that note, a group from MLC will be visiting us for 2 weeks in mid-October to work on various projects as well as officially opening the MLC Dream Centre.

So lots happening as always. Stay tuned for updates on each of the events as they happen!  

2nd Wiley Run for a Dream

Last weekend I traveled to Singapore to take part in the second Wiley Run for a Dream.

Last year the team from John Wiley & Sons’ Singapore office raised SG$12,500 for Mitrataa which was used to establish the Wiley Dream Centre, our second Dream Centre situated in Chandol in Kathmandu.

This year they set their sights even higher. So at 7am on Sunday morning (19^th September) I arrived at East Coast Park in Singapore to join the eager group who were taking part in either a 10km run, 5km run or 5km walk. It was fantastic to see so many people come out to enjoy the fun, a number of companies helped through sponsorship of the event and they had sent representatives to run with the group too.

I joined the 10km run group which was a killer. After a few months spent in Australia for winter I was not at all accustomed to the heat and humidity in Singapore! I crawled to the finish and took the rest of the day to cool down!

Once everyone had made it back to our base tent and had a chance to recover it was time for the presentations. Each of the event sponsors were presented with a trophy in recognition of their support. Whilst final calculations were being made as to which teams won each section of the competition, it was my turn to receive the cheque on behalf of Mitrataa. I went up on stage and was excited enough when Ian Garrard from Wiley told me that they had aimed to raise SG$15,000 this year. However Ian then revealed that this year’s event had in fact raised SG$22,000 (over AU$17,000)! I was completely blown away. What an amazing effort!

I gave a thank you speech including a little bit of news about 1 girl in particular, one of our Dream Catchers scholars, as an illustration of the impact education can have on the lives of women and girls in Nepal. This was followed by the medal presentation. It was great to see that so many people had obviously been training hard in preparation for the event and it clearly had a positive impact on morale within the company.

So the next morning it was back to Kathmandu for me so that Bec, I and our team here could start plans on how best to use this donation. We are immensely grateful to everyone at Wiley and their partners for this support. Thank you to all who made it happen and those who took part! Looking forward to next year…

Children's Day @ the Dream Centres

Tuesday, 14^th September was Children’s Day in Nepal and at both Dream Centres it was time to celebrate.

I visited the Baneshwor Centre with a volunteer from Scotland, Katya, and her daughter Clover. The girls at the centre first had a discussion about child rights and some of the things they need to know in order to keep themselves safe in the sometimes difficult situations teenage girls face in Nepal. It was a very interesting discussion for us and a sobering reminder of the challenges faced by girls in the developing world.

The discussion was followed by a quiz contest which brought out the competitive streaks in the girls! I was invited to ask some questions but was unable to trip them up as someone even knew the capital city of Australia was Canberra (most people here think it is Sydney!). Clover delivered chocolates to all the girls for their correct answers.

Some of the girls then sang songs for the group that they had been working on. This was a wonderful display of their improved confidence. Then it was time for the real fun to begin with the whole group singing and dancing.

At the Wiley Dream Centre in Chandol, Bec attended the party with the other half of our Scottish volunteer team, Rufus and Fern. There the girls had each prepared a short speech about some aspect of child rights which they presented to the group. As always it was touching to see girls so young talking about issues of abuse and exploitation, often from personal experience.

It was then time for the ‘candle game’. Candles are placed around the edge of a table and each person must try to light all of them with just one match. Ok, so this probably wouldn’t pass OH&S policy at home but the girls had a lot of fun trying, Fern even had a go!

As with the Baneshwor Centre, the final activity on the program was a round of singing and dancing! A fitting way to end a day of celebration for these amazing girls.

More photos from the day can be found at our facebook page.

Dream Catchers an inspiration

Bec recently attended a meeting with 17 of our Dream Catchers scholarship girls. Organised by our partner organisation, CWISH, the meeting was a great chance to see how the girls were progressing and gave them a chance to share their feelings and experiences since attending school on a regular basis.

All of the girls in the group came from families with poor economic situations and many of the girls had to work as domestic workers to support their families. In this situation, the challenges of completing their school work become even greater.

It was inspiring to see that the girls had big dreams for their futures. Amongst the group we had 5 aspiring doctors, 4 teachers, 3 dancers, 2 nurses, 2 singers and 1 pilot! One of the areas we focus heavily on with our scholarship girls, and through our Dream Centres, is encouraging the girls to look beyond the constraints of their current situation to really dream big for their futures. With this group of girls that is obviously working!

When asked why they thought they had received educational support, one of the girls responded that she thought we must believe they are capable of making a great success of their future. She was so right and it is wonderful to see what these girls can do when they know someone believes in them. The sky really is the limit.

If you would like to change a Nepali girl’s life with the gift of education, visit our website. It costs only AU$320 per year and is tax deductible in Australia. Monthly payments can also be arranged. Email me for more information.