CSU students get the opportunity to practise their flexibility!

Sabitri arguing in favour of tourism

We are very excited to have our second group of CSU students here, continuing our partnership with CSU this year. There are 10 students completing some practical training with Mitrataa for a month. They are accompanied again this year by Trisha Poole and we are very happy to have her back in Kathmandu.

The group was due to start teaching at Riviera, our model school, this week but unfortunately they arrived at the beginning of 10 days of strikes in the lead up to the election here. We had warned them to bring their flexibility and their senses of humour and they have had lots of opportunities to practise both!

Since Riviera was closed due to the strike, the group worked at our hostel, running a debating training and competition for the senior girls and some English reading and grammar and maths for the younger children. Some of the group also spent some time with class 10 at Riviera since they live on the school campus.



Preparing rebuttal!

The children have learned so much and I was incredibly proud of them during the debate competition on Friday on the topic, "Tourism is good for Nepal". We have some definite talent in our group. Thanks to the CSU group for their coaching and training, especially to Rohan for teaching them the skills of a great debate..



We look forward to the rest of their time here, with some time at Riviera and a few more days at the hostel. We really love our partnership with CSU and hope to continue to grow and expand it in future.


The debaters with their coaches from CSU

Passionate Success – the first Humani’Trail raises money in Switzerland to support Mitrataa and other organisations in Nepal

I am so lucky to have some amazing experiences working with Mitrataa. Last week was no exception. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to say a huge THANK YOU to 4 very important members of the Mitrataa family – Cedric, Sophie, Atal and Cedric’s mother.

Let me explain! I first met Cedric and Sophie in 2011 when they adopted their son, Atal, from Bal Mandir Children’s Home, which we were managing at the time. The universe is very clever and Cedric and Sophie are the perfect parents for Atal – they are very active and Atal NEVER stops!

About this time last year, I set all of our supporters the Passion Challenge – to raise money to support Mitrataa using one of their passions. Cedric, Sophie and Atal took up the challenge and this September they successfully hosted the first Humani’Trail. In Cedric’s words:

“Humani’Trail has been deeply inspired by Mitrataa’s program : “Passion Challenge”. The idea was to raise funds through a common passion, ours is Trail running. The link between this sport and Nepal is already very strong due to the geography but also thanks to our friend Dawa Dachiri Sherpa from Solukhumbu in Nepal who is an icon in his discipline with several major wins for the past 15 years and also participated twice to Winter Olympic Games where he was the first representative for Nepal. Based on these points, we decided to find a municipality in Switzerland ready to host a new race that will donate 100% of registration fees to humanitarian projects (Mitrataa being one of them). Very quickly, we got a very positive relationship with ‘Les Diablerets’, an alpine village 80km away from Geneva with typical Swiss chalets, beautiful mountain lakes and impressive views on the highest alpine peaks. After 10 months of a very strong engagement from the organization team, 400 runners finally went on September 21st to the 1st Humani’Trail which finally generated close to 30’000 AUD (25'000 Swiss Francs) !

While several top competitors were there, two Nepalese runners finally won the main 50km trail (Manikala Rai for women and Sangé Sherpa for men) which is a fantastic symbol for our action. A second edition of the race is already planned by September 27, 2014 in order to sustain our support to children in Nepal. Thanks Bec for this great idea that clearly changed our live forever !”

Last week, they visited our hostel in Nepal to give us the opportunity to say thank you so much for taking the Passion Challenge with such an inspiring result. We loved having you in our hostel and seeing how much Atal has grown! The children were very inspired to hear about your passion and the hard work you put in to achieving your goal. The money they raised for Mitrataa will be used to support our hostel which is home to a group of ex-Bal Mandir children.

Thank you to everyone who supported the first Humani’Trail event! You are amazing people and we are proud to have you as a part of the Mitrataa family! We look forward to a long lasting relationship with you and with Humani’Trail.

Happy Dashain!

Happy Rashmi Day!

I love traditions, rituals, especially when they allow us to take time to reflect on how lucky we are.

Thank you, Rashmi! We are so grateful for everything you do!

On 18^th September, with the help of our volunteer, Niki, we started a new tradition in Mitrataa – Rashmi Day! This was our opportunity to say thank you to Rashmi for everything she does for us. It’s difficult to explain Rashmi’s role in Mitrataa – basically, we would be lost without her, she is mother to us all!



Happy Rashmi Day, Rashmi!

Rashmi joined our team when we took over Bal Mandir 2 ½ years ago. She had been working with NCO for several years so knew all the kids and the ways of the home intimately. In October 2012, she was promoted to our Leadership Team. When we left Bal Mandir in April 2013, we asked Rashmi to help us open our new hostel for the kids who had been discharged from Bal Mandir into our care. We were extremely happy that she agreed and she has become our mother hen, responsible for the daily running of the hostel, for being a mother to the kids, for keeping us all in line. And always with a smile and a giggle. Rashmi Day is a celebration of everything Rashmi is to us all – a chance for her to be spoilt for the day while the kids did everything for her.

 

 

 

Rashmi, we are incredibly lucky to have you. On behalf of the kids and all members of the Mitrataa family, thank you for everything you do for us! We look forward to celebrating Rashmi Day next year too!

 

Nikita Simpson has spent a month with us, inspiring the kids with her teaching, workshops and energy along the way. Before arriving in Nepal, Niki raised over $9,000 to support Mitrataa too. We really enjoyed having her here and are honoured she is a part of the Mitrataa family. Thanks, Niki! Come back soon, we miss you already.

 
 


Niki taught the kids to tie-dye t-shirts

Fancy a trip to Nepal? or been and want to come again? Now's your chance for an armchair trip and to support Mitrataa at the same time!

Nepal is a naturally photogenic country; from majestic mountains to narrow, urban alleyways. Experience Nepal in all its glory through our exclusive new book, photographed and produced by Linda Jocelyn, the photographer who taught the girls photography through Project Snow Leopard.

In this limited edition of 100, 23cm x 23cm, individually numbered and autographed books,
you can marvel at the beauty of Nepal from the comfort of your home. For a preview, please see http://previews.onlineprogallery.com.au/gallery/?cpid=1232373&auth=51578034531396.41877661

The book costs A$100 (plus P&H depending on where you are - for Sydney, Blue Mountains, and a few other areas in NSW we will deliver it to you for free).

Please order now - once we reach 100, there will be no more! All profits from sale of the book go to directly to Mitrataa to support our work in Nepal.

To place an order or for more information, please contact email Emily - Emily@mitrataa.org - and she'll send you an order form. 

We guarantee you'll be inspired - and helping girls and women in Nepal at the same time. They make a wonderful gift too!

Thanks so much to Linda for her generous work in supporting Mitrataa's work in Nepal.

Don't miss out! Order your copy today!

 

Remember the beginning of a new school year . . . it's that time in Nepal!

Remember the beginning of a new school year with all its promises and opportunities – the new school shoes (not so pleasant with the resulting blisters!), the shiny new text books, the new exercise books waiting to be filled with lessons and learning. It’s the beginning of the new school year in Nepal and the kids are all settling in to their new classes. Most don’t get a new school uniform or stationery and for many students text books are something to be dreamed of.

Dream Catchers meets Dream Centres

Mitrataa is continuing our very successful Dream Catchers Scholarship Program this year but we have expanded it – we’ve put our Dream Centre life skills model into a school bag and now all of our scholarship girls get life coaching as well as their education support. There is a lack of career counselling and life skills support in schools in Nepal and as the girls we support get older, we believe that the best support we can offer them is to provide them with a tool box of skills to achieve their dreams. We did this for our Dream Centre graduates and now we are expanding it to cover all our scholarship girls.

Education is a tool to open doors

One of the most common myths in Nepal, started by parents and continued in schools, is that “Education is the key to success.” We disagree – education is a tool which helps us achieve success. WE are the key to our own success – it is our own actions and the way we take advantage of opportunities presented to us that determine our success or otherwise. We teach the children that we can help them to open doors, as education can, but that they have to themselves walk through the door and grab their dreams themselves. Through our Dream Catchers Scholarships, we open the door, and through our coaching program, we motivate and inspire the children to walk through it.

How you can help open doors

We now have 2 levels of scholarships:

1)   Standard Dream Catchers Scholarship

This is our usual model of scholarship program which covers school fees, books, stationery, uniforms and basic medical support for the student. This cost remains at $360 per year. In return, in addition to knowing you’re giving a girl a schoolbag full of life skills and opportunities as well as an education, you will also receive a photo of the lucky girl, some background information about her and her school reports so you can track her progress.

2)   Dream Catchers Hostel Scholarship

Since we had to end our Bal Mandir Naxal Children’s Home project, we wanted to continue to support as many of the children as possible. As a result, we successfully reunited 25 of the children with their families who agreed to discharge them from Bal Mandir. This is a wonderful opportunity for the children to escape the label that comes with being from a children’s home and allows them to be a part of their extended families again. In return, we agreed to continue supporting their education in the same schools to minimise disruption to the children’s education. We enrolled the children into the school hostels, so they live at school during the term time.

This costs more as it is residential so includes their food, lodging, extra tuition and other costs – basically it is the entire cost of taking care of the children for the year. The cost of these scholarships is $2,000 per year per child and we have 25 children who need support. You’ll receive the satisfaction of knowing you helped reunite a child with their family and supporting their education, as well as photos, background information, and report updates on their progress. We have a number of options for these scholarships:

·         Individual sponsor - $2,000 – this is obviously the best option for us as it keeps our admin of managing numerous sponsors down and covers all of the girl’s costs. It can be paid in instalments over the year;

·         “Circle of friends” sponsorship - $2,000 - some people are putting together a group of friends and raising the complete amount as a “circle of friends” sponsorship. We have seen a number of people organise a monthly get together with friends at someone’s house (taking turns around the group) and they donate the cost of the meal they would usually have eaten out to the scholarship fund to support a girl. Over the year, many groups have found they actually raise enough to sponsor 2 children! Not only does this support a girl’s future and education, it also gives you an excuse to catch up with friends for a good cause once a month!

·         Group sponsorship - $360 each - otherwise, if people want to stick with their $360 a year amount, we can put sponsors together so each girl has a couple of sponsors to cover the costs.

Don’t forget for our Aussie sponsors, this amount is tax deductible – so with FYE just around the corner, please consider giving the gift of an education to a child in Nepal. You’ll be changing someone’s world!

Mitrataa is excited to announce the International Award (Duke of Edinburgh's Award) is joining our projects in Nepal!

When Nimu and I recently attended our Award Leader training in Kathmandu to allow Mitrataa to offer the International Award (known as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in some countries), Rob Oliphant opened the training with his reason for believing in the Award as a tool for empowering young people – because it has all the ingredients required to develop resilience. I almost jumped out of my seat with a shout of “Yes!” That’s exactly why we are so excited about the International Award as a tool for working with the amazing young women we support. Thanks to Tina and CHANCE for bringing Rob to Nepal and supporting the development of the Award here.

I completed my Gold Award when I was at school, resulting in so many opportunities for me. Here are just some of the reasons I am so excited about the opportunity to offer the International Award through Mitrataa:

1)    Strengths and passions – This is what Mitrataa’s work is all based in – building on strengths and passions to inspire people to achieve their dreams. The match is perfect.

2)    Networking – The opportunity for the girls to develop their networks and cheer squads of people who believe in them and can help them achieve their dreams in future.

3)    Resilience – As Rob noted, the research shows a number of core elements to develop resilience. The chart below showcases some of the overlapping elements.

 

Click on the image to enlarge it.

4)    Level playing field – I love that it creates a level playing field between the girls we work with and young people all over the world. No matter who is doing the award or where they are doing it, the steps and the resulting recognition are the same! That gives the girls so much courage and motivation to achieve their dreams. One of the common misperceptions we see amongst Nepalis is the “we are a poor nation who needs lots of help” mentality. Wrong story, we tell them! Nepal is an amazing country with lots of wonderful natural resources, a great culture, and fantastic people. The International Award helps them to believe that they are equally amazing as many other countries!

5)    International recognition – Not only do they learn a lot, have a lot of fun and make new friends doing it, they will also obtain an internationally recognised certificate which will give them an advantage when they are applying for college, jobs etc in future.

6)    Fun! – They get to spend time with like-minded people, doing things they love and having fun!  

This week, we had a group of girls from St Catherine’s in Sydney working with our Dream Centre girls. I asked some of the visitors to help us launch the International Award with our initial group – hearing from girls their age from Australia who are also doing the Award meant so much to them. Thanks to Sarah Hatch (who has done her Gold Award) and her students for taking time out to do this. There was a definite buzz in the air as the girls brainstormed what they would do for each of their elements. (Thanks to Rob for the activity of brainstorming A-Z for the skills and physical recreation parts. The kids love that!).


Bikarna, Nimu and Khil, our Award Team

The initial group of 15 girls will be mentored by Nimu, who will be supporting the group as her Service element for her Gold Award, Khil, one of our senior tutors who will also be doing his Gold Award and Bikarna, our soccer coach and ECA co-ordinator. We have already had requests from our other partner organisations in Nepal to offer the Award to their participants too.

We are so excited about offering the International Award in Nepal. It has so much potential and we are proud that after such a long time planning, we are able to offer it.



Our first International Award participants!

The power of partnerships - COMO and St Catherine's visit

One of Mitrataa’s core values is networks and the power of partnerships. Over the last few weeks we have seen the wonderful magic that results from the strength of both.
 
COMO Ambassadors Visit

Every year, COMO selects a number of Ambassadors from its staff worldwide. The Ambassadors then choose one of COMO’s partners to visit. We were so fortunate this year to host 2 COMO Ambassadors – Ika from Malaysia and Judy from London. Judy and Ika spent 5 days with us, running various workshops and activities for our network of inspiring girls and women.

 

They taught sales and marketing techniques to our women’s network on Tuesday, made Malaysian traditional crafts with our Passion for Life girls on Wednesday, ran an intensive English workshop for 4 of our Dream Catchers scholarship girls and attended our 20^th Dream Centre graduation at the Wiley Dream Centre on Thursday, attempted to see the mountains at Nagarkot (sorry for the clouds, guys!) and helped us to run a “How to take control of your future” workshop for 35 of our older Dream Catchers scholarship girls in Bhaktapur on Friday and then hosted a Nepali New Year’s Eve Party with momos and games for the children of Bal Mandir on Saturday.

 

 

They were welcomed with open arms at each event – and they gave back their love and energy in equal parts. We thoroughly enjoyed having Judy and Ika with us – they immediately felt very much like part of the Mitrataa family and we welcome them back any time. Thank you both for everything.

 

COMO is a wonderful partner and we are very grateful for all of their support which is not only financial but equally importantly they help us to improve and grow as an organisation. We really enjoy working with them and hope to be given the opportunity to host more COMO Ambassadors in future.

 

St Catherine’s inspire our Dream Centre girls once more

 

Our partnership with St Catherine’s School in Sydney is one of our most successful, and a large part of that is thanks to the commitment, passion and energy of Sarah Hatch, the co-ordinator from the school who works tirelessly to fundraise for Mitrataa as well as to prepare and host the group of St Catherine’s girls every year. It is always a fun-filled and inspiring week when they visit and the group this year was no exception! They taught life skills in our Dream Centres over 3 days with topics varying from team work and motivation to how to work with the community to protect the environment. The week then ended with a celebratory picnic with games, friendship bracelets and a drama performed by our latest Dream Centre graduates. The Dream Centre girls hosted the picnic, showcasing their leadership skills as well as their enthusiasm for games and spending time with their new friends from St Catherine’s.

Our annual picnic with St Catherine’s is the highlight of our Dream Centre network’s year and they are already planning next year’s event! But it is not only the annual visit which makes our relationship with St Catherine’s so valuable. In addition to their fundraising support which we really appreciate, many of their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award students work with us as part of their community service element. This year, 3 girls from St Catherine’s plus Sarah Hatch helped us to launch the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (known as The International Award outside of Commonwealth Countries) for Mitrataa. We look forward to continuing this as our girls in Nepal embark on their International Award journeys also! Watch this space for news of our launch and our plans for the award in Nepal.

 

Thanks to our wonderful partners, COMO and St Catherine’s for your support in enabling us to empower the networks of amazing girls and women we work with in Nepal. We are excited about the possibilities for continuing to grow these partnerships in future!

 

We tailor all of our partnerships to ensure that they are mutual and that we build on each other’s strengths, passions and needs to create powerful, inspiring and fun-filled partnerships. If you or your company are interested in discussing a partnership with Mitrataa, please do not hesitate to let us know. We would love to work with you!

 

 

Wiley visits us - and dream sparks fly!

Our partnership with John Wiley & Sons Publishers began over 3 years ago and is one of our most successful, exciting partnerships. Wiley’s support has enabled us to run 2 Dream Centres plus a Women’s Centre as well as contributing to our tuition team at Bal Mandir. We were very excited to welcome 5 members of Wiley’s staff for a 6 day visit to Kathmandu so they can see first hand the results of their hard work fundraising. A competition was run to select the lucky staff members and 5 staff were selected to come and spend time with Mitrataa.

We put them to work so they really had an opportunity to interact with all the people who had directly benefited from Wiley’s support over the last 3 years. They began with a workshop on confidence and interview tips with the women from the Wiley Women’s Dream Centre. A couple of the women also explained how their lives had changed as a result of being a part of the Mitrataa program. Laxmi shared how she was now able to read signs and felt much more confident in following her dreams now she could read and sign her name in English. After the workshop, she commented that “It was nice to meet some people from Wiley and to teach them a dance as a thank you for their support. They have changed my life.” We had a fun filled morning, ending with our women teaching the visitors a Nepali dance.

Then it was on to Bal Mandir Children’s Home to run a workshop on how to teach grammar through games for the tutor team which has also been supported by Wiley. The tutors work with the 100 children in the home who attend school so their role is very important. Sarita, one of the tutors who home schools one of the children, commented – “I have a list of new ideas to try with Mishra which will really help engage her and make my lessons fun.” Bipana, our Dream Centre and Training Coordinator, also attended the workshop and was brimming with ideas at the end which she plans to share with all of the Dream Centre facilitators.

The next afternoon was spent in the Wiley Dream Centre in Chandol with the current batch of girls from class 5. They taught the girls some games and conducted a drama with them. Swastika Dangal, one of the girls in the centre commented after the workshop – “Our visitors from Wiley taught us so many useful things and games. Out of all the things they taught us, I found one of the stories named ‘Two little shy pandas’ was really motivating. From that story too I understood the actual importance of avoiding shyness and fear. I always myself to build confidence. When we have speech at our centre I mostly speak first.”

The final day was spent with many of the graduates from the Wiley Dream Centres. Wiley taught the girls about what a publisher does and then the girls developed their own book about living in Nepal. The girls were so happy to be able to thank Wiley representatives in person and to learn about what Wiley does. “I thought Wiley was an old man with white hair and now I know how many people at Wiley care about us. It’s a big family. Thank you, Wiley!” shared one of the girls after the program.

Wiley surprised us with a big cheque for $11,500 at the end of the last session. We really appreciate Wiley’s wonderful support.

Mitrataa means friendship in Nepali and our friendship with Wiley has had a direct impact on over 300 people in Nepal over the last 3 years. Thanks so much, Wiley family! And thanks so much to Lisa, Maya, Cat, Angelo and Janis for your energy, passion and laughter! We really enjoyed having you here. Please come again!

 

Happy International Women's Day!

I had the honour of being awarded NSW Rotary’s Inspirational Woman of the Year Award today. What an incredible way to celebrate the girls and women of Nepal on this special day.

Below is the acceptance speech which my father read on my behalf since I was in Nepal and was not able to attend the ceremony in person.

Happy International Women’s Day everyone! Don’t forget to contact an amazing woman in your life to remind her how grateful you are for her inspiration. It will put a smile on your face as well as theirs.

With love and gratitude
Bec

 
* * * * * * * * * *
 

I have the best job in the world. I have the privilege of working with the amazing women and children of Nepal to give them the tools and opportunities to make their dreams come true. It doesn't get much better than that!

One of the secret weapons we share with the people we have the privilege of working with is the power of having a Cheer Squad – we can achieve anything we set our minds to if we believe in ourselves. But having a cheer squad of people who believe in us, who are always there to remind us of our dreams when the inevitable tough times and lessons come to challenge us, gives us an added advantage. Mitrataa’s role in Nepal is to be the cheer squad for the girls and women we work with – to believe in them, to inspire them, to show them how amazing they are.

We have been incredibly fortunate to count Rotary District 9700 as part of Mitrataa’s Cheer Squad. We love working with Rotary – the volunteers who have visited Nepal and shared their skills, time, passion and energy with our children and team members; the projects our Rotary friends have enabled us to do in the home, ranging from providing solar electricity for the children (in a country where there is up to 20 hours a day of no power, this is wonderful!), providing first aid training, painting rooms, providing new bed bases to rid the home of bed bugs (giving new meaning to the saying “Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite!”), teaching some of our team and children to use a sewing machine, maintaining stairwells and lights, building a guard house, providing love and hugs for the kids, the list goes on. But above and beyond that, they have continued to believe in me personally and to inspire me constantly. This belief humbles me.

The women and children in Nepal teach me as much as I teach them. One gift they have given me is the power of gratitude. It’s impossible to feel any type of negative emotion while you are focused on being grateful for the wonderful things we have in our lives, rather than focusing on what we don't have or what frustrates us. Seriously, try it!

My Gratitude List includes all the people in Rotary who have supported us, especially to Graham Tyson and Irene Jones. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I wish I could be there to thank you in person - thank you to my Dad for accepting this Award on my behalf. I appreciate it.

I am so honoured to receive this award – and I dedicate it to the girls and women of Nepal who inspire me every day. They are amazing – and I really do have the best job in the world.