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!