Mitrataa Foundation

Libby Hathorn inspires our girls with poetry

2012-01-30T08:21:00.002+08:00

Well-known Australian children’s author, Libby Hathorn, has been a wonderful supporter of Mitrataa for a long time now, beginning with her support of 100 Views Kathmandu in 2008. She visited Kathmandu again in November, with her friend Sandra, to again share her creativity with us. In addition to working with the illustrator of her children’s book called Sangita’s Singing which was inspired by her first visit in 2008, she is also exploring a short film based on the book to help raise funds for Mitrataa. She managed to fit in time to run a poetry workshop for some of the girls at Bal Mandir and we were very happy (but not surprised!) to discover that we have some budding poets in our midst! The girls all threw themselves into the workshop as they imagined themselves as a river flowing down through the Himalayas and then explored the sounds, smells, sights of the river’s journey to write poems.

Thanks, Libby, for all your support and energy. You are an inspiration!

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-23T05:28:00.001+08:00

Just a quick Christmas note to let you know of some fantastic last-minute gift ideas. Visit our online store or contact us directly to find out about ways in which you can make a real contribution to the children and women in Nepal as a very special gift for friends or family.

Bec reports that all is well in Kathmandu but it’s freezing cold with 10 hours a day of load shedding (no electricity) which is expected to increase for Christmas. They're having a Christmas party and 'Bal Mandir’s Got Talent' show for the kids tomorrow (Christmas Eve) so watch this space for updates ...

So don't forget, if you are looking for a present for loved ones that means a lot why not make a donation in their honour?!

Best wishes for the holiday season and 2012!

Wiley Runs for the Biggest Dream Yet!

2011-10-24T10:13:00.000+08:00

John Wiley & Sons is one of our closest partners and we love working with them so much. They embrace everything that Mitrataa stands for – following dreams, creating friendships and networks and building on what is already working to become even better.

Over the last few years, Wiley has sponsored our Wiley Dream Centre in Chandol, our Wiley Women’s Dream Centre in Gyaneshwor and our soon to be Resource Centre at Bal Mandir Children’s Home.

Every year they hold a wonderful fundraising event for us called “Run for a Dream”. They invite all their Singapore employees to get involved as well as all their local partners, so it’s a complete Wiley family event and so many volunteers really make the event happen (the team are in the photo in their red shirts with the Executive Director). They provide opportunities for other offices to get involved too – through online auctions and opportunities to pledge support for the Singapore team.

This year they outdid themselves, raising S$32,000 for Mitrataa! We were so excited! Unfortunately, Bec was unable to attend at the last minute so Gemma Glynn stepped in to receive the wonderful cheque. Thanks, Gem! The money from this year will be spent on education and tuition facilities at Bal Mandir Naxal Children’s Home, in line with Wiley’s commitment to education.

Thanks so much to Eleanor and Lisa for all their wonderful work – you inspire us constantly with your passion, energy and commitment to Mitrataa. And thanks to all the Wiley team for continuing to believe in Mitrataa and our partnership with Wiley. We look forward to continuing to work with you and to updating you on the latest developments in Nepal!

Update!

2011-10-19T05:16:00.001+08:00

It is about time to update all our wonderful supporters on our progress at Naxal Children’s Home. Apologies for the lack of postings recently – we have had our heads down and tails up for the last few months, topping it off with Dashain Celebrations recently. So, firstly, you can read our “3 Month Celebrations” here which gives you a flavour of what we’ve been focused on for the first few months. As you can see, our priorities have been nutrition, hygiene, security and education for the children.

We recently had a team from Spain visit for a month – they come every Dashain to teach the kids dance and do various activities with them. They left on Sunday after a wonderful celebration of dance and shadow puppets stories. Jose Luis, the team leader, commented on how much energy and enthusiasm have this year and that he can really see the difference in them which was lovely to hear. Thank you to the team for all your passion and energy – the kids had so much fun!

We also took 6 of our 2 year olds to the Garden of Dreams for their first outing. They loved every minute of it and were so good. It’s good to get them out of the home and into the world and we hope to organise more of these activities for them.

Lastly, many of our supporters have asked how they can help. We would love some help with fundraising and there are easy ways to do this – you could start by giving up one cup of coffee a week and encouraging 9 friends to do the same. In a year, you’ll then raise enough to cover a salary for one of our wonderful house mothers. More details by clicking on the image on the left. Or with Christmas around the corner, you could set up an Everyday Hero page and ask friends and family to donate to Mitrataa rather than buying presents. Let us know if you need any more information – we’re here to support your fundraising efforts however we can!

Thank you all for your wonderful support. We couldn’t do the work we do without you and, on behalf of the kids and the Mitrataa team, THANK YOU!

Happy Dashain!

2011-10-04T05:07:00.002+08:00

St Cath's and Mitrataa in the Sun Herald

2011-08-03T05:38:00.001+08:00

There was an independent schools section in last Sunday's (31st July) Sun Herald and it included an article on St Catherine's in Waverley and in particular their work with Mitrataa.

The school has sent a number of groups to Nepal so far with more in the planning. The trips always provide an amazing opportunity for the girls to see a different side to the world and I'm sure they always come home changed forever.

Our thanks go to St Cath's and in particular Sarah Hatch, the teacher responsible for the service program and organising the trips, and for the wonderful write-up in the paper.

You can click on the image below to enlarge it to read, or email me and I will gladly send you a copy of the article.

First ever inter-Dream Centre Quiz Contest!

2011-07-21T05:32:00.000+08:00

On Friday, 8th July, all the girls from our 4 Dream Centres descended on Bal Mandir for our first ever inter-Dream Centre Trivia Quiz Competition. Each Centre selected 4 competitors to represent them. With Diwakar (facilitator in Baneshwor Centre) and Kamal (facilitator in our Wiley Dream Centre) playing Quiz Masters for the day and Bipana from the new Gyaneshwor Wiley Women’s Dream Centre playing the role of score keeper, the day got off to a great start. Cheered on by their fellow Dream Centre girls, the teams battled it out on questions ranging from Nepali history to child rights.

After a close competition, the MLC Dream Centre won followed by the Gyaneshwor Wiley Women’s Dream Centre team. Well done to all the girls! They all played very well.

It was great to get all the girls from the 4 centres together to swap stories and to meet new friends. We hope to make this a regular event. Thanks to Diwakar for taking the lead on this and to all the facilitators for their organisation and participation. A great example of the power of strong team work!

Time to get your walking shoes on ...

2011-07-03T19:28:00.001+08:00

After such fantastic support last year I have once again signed up to do the City2Surf in the name of Mitrataa.

However this year, rather than running on my own, I invite all of you to join me in walking the course, raising funds for our work at Bal Mandir at the same time.

You need to register to do the work by going to the City2Surf website. You then need to go to our team page - Mitrataa Meanderers - and follow the link to join the team. The password to join the team is ajrdo1. Once you have done this and created your own fundraising page, simply email it to all your friends asking for their support. You will be amazed how quickly the support adds up! (In case the above link doesn't work, our team page can be found at http://www.fundraise.city2surf.com.au/mitrataa_meanderers )

We want to get a good-sized group together to enjoy the walk and a well-earned bite to eat afterwards so please join us.

Of course you can simply sponsor me to complete the course too. My fundraising page for this year's event can be found by clicking here or going to http://www.fundraise.city2surf.com.au/adam_ordish_2011 .

Thanks in advance and hope to see many of you on August 14th!!!

Mitrataa Shop Now Online

2011-06-23T07:16:00.001+08:00

Mitrataa's online store is now up and running. You can see the shop by clicking here or visiting http://www.mitrataa.org/mitrataa/shop/.

The shop sells a range of products including greeting cards containing photos taken by the girls in Project Snow Leopard, and a range of items designed to support the children living in the children's home at Bal Mandir.

Happy shopping!

Bal Mandir Revisited – Be careful what you wish for!

2011-05-17T20:54:00.001+08:00

As many of you know, we had to cancel our planned project to take over the management of Bal Mandir Children’s Home late last year and we were very disappointed as it was a fantastic opportunity for both Mitrataa and for the children and staff at Bal Mandir, as well as for the head organisation, Nepal Children’s Organisation. We continued to work closely with the 40 Dream Catchers’ girls at Bal Mandir, the Project Snow Leopard girls and the Mitrataa Rising Stars Child Club, including on their recent Nepali New Years Eve Party to support them as best we could.

Well, very unexpectedly but excitingly, NCO approached us in late April with a revised proposal which overcame our major concerns when we walked away from the project earlier. So officially from 1 May 2011, Mitrataa took over the management of Bal Mandir, Naxal Children’s Home, with 250 children (aged from 15 days to 16 years) for 5 years with the view to set up a sustainable model and a world class children’s home.

We are under no illusion that this will be a challenging project but we are very excited about the possibilities. Rather than feeling despair at the challenges and lack of progress for the children, we are now able to really focus on the possibilities and the opportunities ahead to create real, sustainable change, not just for the current 250 children and 35 staff but for future generations as well as for the children in NCO’s 10 other homes and potentially for the 600 other children’s homes in Nepal. The opportunity is fantastic and we are honoured and humbled to be able to take on this challenge.

The project is a very strong fit with Mitrataa’s core values of creating sustainable models to development through a train-the-trainer approach. We will also be able to use our learnings from our existing projects such as our Dream Centres project – we will be setting up a Dream Centre within Bal Mandir – our Daisy Chains program which we will be running for the house mothers and our model school approach where we will be using our experience and trainers to help train tutors and other teachers at Bal Mandir.

Since the handover on 1 May, we have been busy with a number of exciting initiatives:

· Clean Up Day! - As any of you who have visited Bal Mandir know, it needs a bit of love and attention! It is housed in a beautiful old Rana Palace and is an incredible building. But it has been left uncared for for a very long time and it is very run down. So we had a huge clean up day on which we scrubbed the place from top to bottom – every inch has been scrubbed, debugged and disinfected. The campaign was led by the Child Club, in particular by Asbini who was boss for the day. Asbini, Saraswoti and Sabitri Thapa in particular showed amazing leadership skills in organising everyone. The kids all got involved and were already well into the clean up when we arrived having been up since the crack of dawn! The house mothers were all cleaning madly too. We definitely have a long way to go with getting the place clean and tidy but the best thing was that the kids and the house mothers all got in and were so excited to be taking pride in their home. The day created a real sense of community and we were so grateful that some of our core supporters attended – Dinesh from Creating Possibilities (supported by Bruce and Susan Keenan’s Himalayan Children’s Charities) sent his team of children who had all lived at Bal Mandir at one stage, the girls from NGCC who all grew up at Bal Mandir and moved to NGCC when they finished school came, and Arun, a wonderful woman who was adopted from Bal Mandir 20 years ago and who is back at the moment visiting and providing support to Bal Mandir came with a crowd of people. We also had a couple of Aussies who joined us as well as our great volunteer, Fleur (more on her later!). It was a fantastic day, the energy was amazing and I was so proud of everyone. We had a party in the evening with lots of dancing and singing and celebrations too. We have a long way to go with the cleaning but it’s a start!

· Listening and Learning – We didn’t want to make too many changes to start but we wanted to really listen and learn from the staff, the children and other stakeholders first. So we have been spending time one-on-one with all of the house mothers and other staff. This has been a fantastic opportunity and we are very grateful that they have been so supportive and open to Mitrataa’s management of the home. As we finish these meetings, we will be preparing our strategic plan to move things forward.

· Establishing the Management Committee – As this project is a 5 year plan and sustainability is at its core, it is very important that we work closely with NCO. So we have established a Management Committee with 2 NCO members and 3 Mitrataa members to help us share experiences and to guide the overall strategy of the project. The day to day management, responsibility and costs of the home rest with Mitrataa. We are really pleased with NCO’s willingness to listen and learn in the initial stages of the project and we are confident of being able to deliver our objectives with the support of the NCO board.

· Schools – The new school session started in Nepal in April and due to lack of funds, many of the kids were not enrolled in school or didn’t have their uniforms and books so weren’t attending school. We have now resolved this and all the kids are happily in school and studying hard! We are putting in place a tutoring/homework system to ensure they get the support they need to really achieve their goals in their studies.

· Nutrition – Milk, eggs, meat and fruit had been removed from the menu for the last several months due to funding issues. The first thing we did was reinstate these very important items onto the menu as the kids need these to grow big and strong! I have never seen 250 kids so excited as when they found they had an egg for breakfast last week! Their smiles were enormous!

So it’s exciting times ahead! To all of you who offered to help us fundraise for this huge project last year, thank you. We now really need you! Feeding and educating and housing 250 kids and 35 staff costs a lot of money and we are about to kick off a huge fundraising drive. So please get involved and support us as we begin to really change the lives of these kids. There will soon be a fundraising info pack available on our website which will have a bit more information for you and how your money will be spent.

On behalf of the wonderful kids at Bal Mandir, thank you so much in advance for your support and we look forward to updating you on our progress!

St Cath's models leadership and motivation in the Dream Centres

2011-05-04T10:22:00.000+08:00

From Bec in Kathmandu:

Our friends from St Catherine’s in Waverley sent another wonderful group of 12 girls from years 10 and 11 to spend a week in our Dream Centres recently. The girls were accompanied by teachers Sarah Hatch (who was returning for the second year) and Julie Park (who was on her first trip) and by Mitrataa board member, Sarah Bartram. After a few days trekking, the girls went straight to work attending our Dream Centre Picnic for all our recent and past Dream Centre graduate girls. We had almost 100 girls on the day which got off to a great start with lots of games organised by the St Cath’s girls. We then had a slight mishap as a huge storm rolled in and we sheltered under the marquee. The girls engaged in some singing games as the mud rolled down the hill and through our sheltering place. As the roof collapsed for the second time, we decided it was time to move everyone to the buses where we continued with some singing including the teaching of Home Among the Gum Trees and some Nepali classics. After our improvised bus party, the rain cleared and we all headed back for some well-deserved lunch followed by an afternoon of ball games. At 3pm everyone loaded onto the buses exhausted but having made some great new friends and had lots of fun. These picnics, as well as being a great opportunity for our girls to interact with the Australian volunteers and practise their English, are a rare day for the girls to just be kids and run around and enjoy themselves. Many of the girls in our Dream Centres are domestic workers who do not often get a chance to relax and enjoy themselves like this.

The team from St Cath’s then ran a workshop on leadership in each of our 3 Dream Centres. This is one of the most difficult life skills for the girls to grasp so it was fantastic for them to have some interesting and varied new activities to practise with. The girls started with a game of “Guess the Leader” before brainstorming leadership qualities and examples of great leaders. They then identified their own strengths and leadership qualities to share with the group. They then settled in for some reading aloud before finishing with a game of Human Knots which is always popular.

On the Saturday, we held a combined session for all our most recent graduates from the 3 Centres at the Wiley Dream Centre in Chandol on the very important topic of Motivation, another one of our crucial life skills. Watching both the St Cath’s girls and our Dream Centre girls grow in their confidence over the week together was inspiring and is what I love the most about these programs. Some fantastic friendships were made and there were some tears as the groups farewelled each other.

For their last day, St Cath’s group hosted a trivia competition for classes 1-10 at Riviera, our Model School, to free the teachers for a training session (more on this shortly). It was a good opportunity for the volunteers to see a different type of school where students’ English and general knowledge is far better than those in the Dream Centres who are studying in government schools which teach in Nepali. Their energy on this last challenging day was fantastic.

We always enjoy having the St Cath’s girls here and this year was no exception. Their energy and enthusiasm for trying new things and dealing with difficult situations not only inspired me but really impacted the Dream Centre girls. Thanks to Sarah Hatch and Julie Park for leading the group and to the girls for their wonderful work. We look forward to continuing to grow our relationship with St Cath’s.

More photos can be found on our facebook page.

It’s not only our Nepali girls who achieve their dreams!

2011-05-02T11:47:00.000+08:00

From Bec in Kathmandu...

Tori McCarten and Amelia Baker from Lithgow, NSW, are true leaders – they were inspired by a challenge I set when I gave a presentation at Women’s College last May. I challenged all the girls present to follow their dreams and to step forward and take action to change the world. By the time Tori and Amelia had reached home on the train, they had made the decision to come to Nepal and recently they took 2 weeks out of their busy Year 12 schedule to come to Nepal and work with Mitrataa and fulfilling that dream. They were accompanied by Jo Reeves. The trio began by attending the Dream Centre graduations where they taught the girls Incy Wincy Spider which was a popular choice! They spent some time with the girls at Bal Mandir teaching them volley ball, they stepped in to help facilitate the Fashion Workshops when our fashion expert fell ill.

Then their true colours shone through when they ran 3 workshops for a mixed group of our girls – 3 girls from each of our Dream Centres, 3 of our Project Snow Leopard girls and around 8 of the girls who are studying at Riviera, our Model School. The workshops were run at Riviera for 3 half days. The first was on “Accepting and Understanding Yourself” and the girls learned about how to respect and like yourself for your star qualities. The next workshop was based around team work and, with a game of basketball and writing of poems, the group really cemented some new friendships. The final workshop was “Creative Story Telling” and the girls wrote some fantastic stories in groups, practising their teamwork skills from the previous workshop. We’ll be publishing some of these stories on our website shortly. All of our Mitrataa girls loves the workshops and came away with new confidence, new inspiration and having had a lot of fun!

I am really proud of Tori and Amelia for following their dream. They definitely faced some challenges in Kathmandu but they really stepped up and I know they had a huge impact on a lot of people during their time over here. Thank you, guys. You were amazing! Keep dreaming big!

Dream Centre Graduations Galore!

2011-04-17T12:01:00.001+08:00

Posted by Bec from Kathmandu...

I love Graduation Days at the Dream Centres – the excitement of the girls, the sharing of their experiences, their dreams for the future and the celebratory songs and dances never fail to put a smile on my face and this latest batch was no exception. The fifth batch from our Baneshwor Dream Centre graduated on Thursday 31st March. Joined by volunteers Tori, Amelia and Jo, I was inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of the girls. There were 2 highlights for me of this graduation – the drama which the girls did on “Appreciating Differences”, one of the core Life Skills we teach them. It was about a disabled girl who was not in the Dream Centre and was teased by the other children. Some of the girls stood up for her. The girls ended the drama by requesting that Mitrataa ensure that we include disabled girls in our next batch to lead by example. I love this challenge to us! We definitely have some budding Bollywood stars in this batch too. The other highlight was watching the girls teach the volunteers a dance. Their patience and energy was infectious. The Australian girls then taught the girls Incy Wincy Spider with the actions and I was amazed at how quickly they picked it up. Credit to our facilitators for this Centre, Bipana and Diwakar, who have done a wonderful job with this batch.

This was a hard act to follow but the third batch of girls from the Wiley Dream Centre did a wonderful job at their graduation on Friday 1st April. This was the weakest batch of students we have taken into our Centres and our facilitators at this Centre, Ganga and Kamal, did an amazing job with building up the confidence of these girls. Some of the girls who stood and shared their experiences were so shy when they first joined the Centre that it was a while before they spoke at all. Now they stood in front of their family and friends and spoke with a new found belief in themselves and their dreams for the future, sharing the lessons they had learned and the skills they would take forward into their lives. They can now do anything!

The very first batch of graduates from the MLC Dream Centre really went out with a bang at their graduation day on Wednesday 6th April. This group has an amazing energy and passion for their futures and their graduation reflected this with songs, dance and expressions of gratitude – one of the core Life Skills we focus on in the Centres. Ruby and Sabita, our facilitators in this Centre, have had a huge impact on these girls – from teaching them meditation skills to help them get control of their minds, to inspiring one of the girls to sing a solo at the graduation ceremony, the difference in the girls is wonderful. Most of the girls in this Centre are domestic workers and it was lovely to see several of their guardians/employers attend the ceremony, 2 of them sharing their experiences of the changes in the girls’ behaviour and approach to school since they joined the Dream Centre program.

Welcoming these new graduates to the network of Dream Centre Graduates was a pleasure! I look forward to keeping in touch with them as they visit the Centre every month to share their progress towards their dreams. Keep dreaming, girls!

Sincere thanks to Wiley and MLC for sponsoring a Dream Centre. You have changed the lives of so many girls already, with many more to come!

Our next batches of girls will start at the Centres in late April.

Happy Nepali New Year!

2011-04-14T06:51:00.002+08:00

Happy Nepali New Year!

Welcome to 2068! Today is the first day of the Nepali New Year and, on behalf of the whole Mitrataa family, we wish you all a wonderful New Year.

The Mitrataa Rising Stars Child Club at Bal Mandir celebrated the new year last night with a wonderful party, organised entirely by the girls. They set the menu, did the shopping, made the decorations, organised the children, led the dancing and the fun of the party. We definitely have some skilled party planners in the making! Thanks to all the organising committee – you guys did a wonderful job!

I haven’t seen the kids have that much fun in a long time! The evening started with a special dhal bhat and vegetable curry with pickle which was delicious. This was followed by cake and soft drink for everyone. Then the fun really kicked off with some celebratory cheers for the New Year and then everyone hit the dance floor for some serious dancing. The laughter and screams of excitement said it all. The evening ended with New Year chocolates for everyone. Happy New Year, kids. You certainly started the New Year with a bang!

More photos at our facebook page.
(from Bec)

Meet the Team - Chetana

2011-04-06T18:34:00.002+08:00

With so many projects needing daily management and attention in Nepal, it is no surprise that we have come to rely heavily on our fantastic team there. As they are such an integral part of our work we wanted to share something about them with you and so below is a snapshot of our Senior Project Manager – Chetana.

Education: Bachelor of Arts in Social Work.

Favourite colour: all shades of pink, purple, blue.

Hobbies: I like reading books as they open up my imagination. It’s like watching movies with more action, drama and you get to make up how the characters look. My other hobbies are to learn new things especially to do with music and arts.

Favourite subject at school: I liked English, Music and sports.

What makes you happy?: Spending time with my sisters and friends. I like talking to them about different things in life. Having delicious food always brings smile to my face. Also, watching the sunset, the sky or being near beautiful trees, monuments, peaceful environment always makes me happy. Recently I realized that being able to bring smile on someone else’s face makes me feel happy too.

Tell us a bit about your family: I have my father, mother, two younger sisters a younger brother and a dog in my family. So in total, there’s seven members if you count me as well. My father and mother own a small lodge and we have occasional visitors. My sisters are both studying Fine Arts at Kathmandu University. My brother is still in school and my dog loves to sit in the sun (even in summer). I live at New Baneshwor. It was so quiet back when we had just moved here but now its grown into a big business area. My house is yellow in color. My father loves flowers so we try to grow as many as we can of different kinds according to season.

Thank you Chetana for all your hard work and for sharing these interesting things about yourself!

2010 Annual Report Online

2011-04-05T06:42:00.000+08:00

Just a quick update to let you know our Annual Report for 2010 is now available on our website. Last year was another big one for us and it is exciting to see the progress Mitrataa has made in impacting the lives of women and girls in Nepal.

Bec is back in Kathmandu now hosting volunteers and a school group, and getting things organised for the new school year. Updates on these happenings will be coming in the next few weeks...

More good news...

2011-03-13T18:48:00.000+08:00

Below is the second edition of our Good News newsletter from some of our fantastic team in Nepal. Enjoy!

Great way to become involved - become an Everyday Hero!

2011-03-06T06:20:00.002+08:00

We had a wonderful problem (if there is such a thing!). People kept asking us how they could help us with fundraising. So we have joined forces with Everyday Hero to make it even easier for everyone to contribute to our work through fundraising.

Through Everyday Hero you can set up your own fundraising page so that if, for example, you take part in the upcoming Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon, it is easy for you create your own web page which can then be emailed to all of your friends asking them to sponsor you with their donations going to Mitrataa. Everyday Hero make the collection of donations easy as people simply follow the links from your page and enter their payment details. The site collects the donations, automatically issues the receipts, and then passes the funds on to Mitrataa.

Your fundraising page is personalised with a photo as well as whatever information you would like to put there, including the reasons for your participation. You are able to set yourself a fundraising target and then log in from time to time to see how you are going.

From my own experience doing this for the city2surf last year I can honestly say that asking people for support and monitoring my fundraising target was also a great motivator to keep training for the big day!

Some upcoming events you might consider joining include:

The Sun-Herald Surf Swim at Dee Why on 13^th March
The Canberra Times Canberra Marathon on 9^th & 10^th April
The Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon on 15^th May
Run Melbourne, presented by The Age on 17^th July

Or perhaps there is a smaller event in your local area which you could join.

You don’t need to be running a marathon though to help fundraise for us! You can set up a personal fundraising page for anything eg. if you are having a birthday and want to encourage your friends and family to donate to Mitrataa rather than giving you presents. Or if you have a goal that you want to achieve and need some motivation to help you get there!

2010 was a very successful year for us but we still have so much more work to do. With your help we can continue to reach more and more of the amazing women and girls in Nepal who just need that little bit of help up to really spread their wings and follow their dreams. Every little bit you raise helps!

Visit the Everyday Hero site to see how you can create your own fundraising page (remembering to add Mitrataa as your chosen charity!) or email me (adam@mitrataa.org) and I can help you with the set up or any questions you may have. Don’t forget, all donations to Mitrataa are fully tax deductible too.

Thank you in advance for your support,

Adam.

Child Club Achievement

2011-02-15T15:25:00.002+08:00

One of the projects our team in Nepal have been working on recently is the establishment of a child club at the children’s home at Bal Mandir.

The club meets fortnightly on Saturdays and is a way to engage the older girls in the home and teach them about leadership, community and team building. Through the club we help the girls to devise and lead a number of fun and useful activities in their local area.

Recently, the club embarked on the ambitious undertaking of cleaning up all of the rubbish in the backyard at Bal Mandir. Bec had introduced them to the concept of an Emu Parade whereby everyone forms a long line and together they comb the area with each person responsible for picking up the rubbish in front of them. The child club decided this was exactly what Bal Mandir needed so they rallied an impressive team of 55 children and even 4 staff members joined in!

If you have visited Nepal and seen the amount of rubbish strewn everywhere you will appreciate the challenge the girls had set themselves. And of course such a program would be futile if the children were not taught to use the rubbish bins placed around the home. So first the girls gave a short talk to the children on the importance of placing rubbish in the bins and taking pride in the appearance of their home. Once everyone agreed and committed to keeping the place tidy, the Emu Parade began.

The children were given gloves and plastic garbage bags and there was a prize for the team who collected the most rubbish. There were lolly wrappers, plastic bags, bricks(!), broken toys, food scraps everywhere but the team collected it all. By the end of the day the yard looked like a new place and the children were rightfully very proud of their achievement.

We visited the home last week and whilst there were a few wrappers lying around the backyard still looked pristine compared with the front area which is like a public park. We are so proud of all the children and especially proud of the girls in the child club who led this fantastic initiative. Hopefully their example will spread to their neighbours and local community and we can see more of this type of activity in the future!

Good news to start 2011

2011-02-10T17:19:00.001+08:00

We work very closely with our staff in Nepal to help them set objectives in their work that both stretch their skills and also enable them to focus on the things they love. Two of our staff members had been set the task of starting a good news newsletter - something to focus on the positive rather than the negative that 'normal' news promotes.

Chetana and Diwakar have come up with the first edition of 'Good News' and they have done a fantastic job! You can read the newsletter below or I would be happy to email you a copy. We hope it encourages all of our women and girls here and in our wider network to focus on the many wonderful and inspiring good news stories that are happening around us every day.

Thanks Chetana and Diwakar!

Seasons Greetings from Mitrataa

2010-12-23T13:55:00.000+08:00

Thank you to all of our supporters, sponsors, donors, volunteers, staff and well-wishers for your contributions to an amazing 2010!

Best wishes for the holiday season and for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2011.

From the Mitrataa family.

Project Snow Leopard part 3

2010-12-22T04:44:00.003+08:00

Once back in Kathmandu we had two more workshops with the Project Snow Leopard girls at Bal Mandir. Linda reviewed their photos from Pokhara and discussed some of the best ones with the group. The girls always love to see their work displayed on the big projector screen!

The last outing for the girls was a day trip to Panauti, a traditional old Newar village about an hour from Kathmandu. There we took the girls on a walk around the town to see the sights including some stunning old temples, pokey little cobbled alleyways, and lots of ducks, chickens and pigs. Panauti sits on the confluence of two rivers so there were lots of photo opportunities there too with many people bathing and doing their washing on the banks.

Throughout the course of this trip we had also assigned ‘official photographer’ positions to each of the girls at the various programs that were held. The last of these was the Daisy Chains Women’s Project conference and picnic, also held in Panauti. Three of the Snow Leopard girls joined us for the day and their brief was to take lots of photos that captured the mood of the day and ‘told the story’ of the women. In addition to this the girls did a fantastic job of assisting with translation work during the formal parts of the program.

That concluded phase two of Project Snow Leopard and it was fantastic to see not only the development of the girls’ photography skills but also their growth in confidence, communication and leadership. We are planning the next set of workshops for March/April next year and the girls are already excited about Linda’s next visit!

We are presently working with the assistance of John Wiley & Sons on gift cards using the girls’ photos which we will be selling as a fundraiser. Also, as the girls continue to amass a very impressive collection of photos we will be starting work on a book highlighting their achievements so look out for that late next year or early 2012.

Our thanks as always to Linda for all of the time and energy she has put into the project.

Project Snow Leopard part 2

2010-12-13T20:57:00.000+08:00

Following an amazing morning of mountain views at Sarangkot, we took the Project Snow Leopard girls to the lake at Pokhara for an adventure they could never have imagined – catching a row boat to the other side of the lake! Swimming and water sports are not common leisure activities in Nepal so many of the girls were quite daunted by the prospect of venturing out onto the beautiful lake in a small wooden boat. However once out on the lake most of the girls were able to relax and enjoy the amazing views back to shore and to the hills and mountains behind. Pokhara is a popular adventure sport destination and from the lake we were also able to enjoy the views of some crazy people para-hawking and hang-gliding from nearby hills!

After around half an hour on the water all 4 boats landed on the opposite shore. It was then time for the real stress to begin as we had to trek up a fairly steep and rocky track for about an hour to reach the top of the hill. We were however, rewarded at the top with stunning views over the lake, the Pokhara township and surrounding hills. We could even see back across the valley to Sarangkot where we had been that morning!

In addition to the views, the top of this hill was home to the World Peace Pagoda – a beautiful big pagoda built by the Japanese a few years ago. It was the perfect location for more photos and some group shots to commemorate our trip.

By now the light was fading and it was time to return to our guest house for some well earned dinner and an early night. It had been a fantastic day both for the girls and for us.

The following morning we had one more surprise in store for the girls. They thought they were getting on the bus and going straight back to Kathmandu but we planned a quick stop at another of Pokhara’s famous sights – Devi’s Falls. This is a waterfall with a small blow hole but made famous for the story that a Swiss couple were bathing in a rock pool on the edge only to be washed away during a sudden gush of water. The girls were thrilled to see it as they had been disappointed that they thought they had missed out.

With this final burst of excitement it was now really time to head back to Kathmandu.

More photos from the trip can be found on our facebook page.

Project Snow Leopard part 1

2010-12-02T18:47:00.001+08:00

The beginning of November saw Linda join us in Kathmandu for phase 2 of Project Snow Leopard. The 10 girls from Bal Mandir were very excited to be expanding their knowledge of photography as well as getting numerous opportunities to refine their skills.

First up was a workshop in Kathmandu where Linda gave the girls a coffee table book she’d had made showcasing their photos. The girls were stunned to see their work in print! This workshop also gave the girls a chance to update all of us on the work they had been doing since last time. They had been given a number of guest photographer assignments for major festivals etc which they loved. We also spent some time planning the Pokhara trip which was already causing great excitement amongst the group.

Two days later it was off to Pokhara in a bus full of very excited girls. With almost a full day of traveling behind us, the first night was spent with Linda giving a workshop on the landscape setting on a camera and also use of tripods. These things were critical as we were leaving to go to Sarangkot, a high lookout point, first thing the next morning…

At 5am we headed off through the dark and quiet streets of Pokhara for the lookout point at Sarangkot. Walking up the trail to the lookout we were greeted with a few glimpses of some very close snow-capped mountains, the Himalayas. The girls were squealing with delight and any ill effects of the early rise quickly dissipated. We rushed on until we reached our final destination on the roof of a small café. The girls set up the tripods and we all eagerly waited for the first rays of sunlight to appear and land on the white snow of mountains including Annapurna I (8,091m and 10^th highest in the world), Machapuchare (6,993m and famously known as ‘fishtail’), Dhaulagiri (8,167m and 7^th highest in the world) and Manaslu (8,163m and 8^th highest in the world).

Well as anyone who has seen this view will tell you, it is truly breathtaking. Although there was a little cloud blocking some of the mountains we still had some amazing scenes of them as well as the lake and neighbouring hills. The girls went into photo overdrive and their enthusiasm and excitement was contagious. As the sun rose and the air warmed up the clouds moved around revealing different peaks and aspects of the range, presenting even more opportunities for some great shots.

We were back at our guest house by 8:30am, ready for some breakfast and invigorated and wide awake from our morning experience. After breakfast the girls spent some quiet time in the garden writing in their journals. We then spent a fun filled hour playing some crazy team games with them, their energy was limitless!

To be continued…

Visit our facebook page for more photos taken by our director, Sarah Johnstone.

Quick update

2010-11-26T09:48:00.001+08:00

Just a quick post to let you know I am leaving Kathmandu and heading back to Sydney today. The last 3 months have been amazing with so many visitors, volunteers, great events and progress on all of our projects.

There will be plenty of blogs in the coming weeks to bring you up to date on all of the news so stay tuned...

MLC back in Kathmandu Part 4

2010-11-19T17:14:00.000+08:00

The day after the fun and excitement of the Dream Centre picnic, the MLC group spent the afternoon at the Wiley Dream Centre in Chandol.

Prior to the trip, a number of senior students from the school had prepared a Dream Book which contained a series of activities designed to assist the Dream Centre students with the life skills component of the program. The MLC girls split up into groups and worked with girls from the Wiley and Baneshwor Dream Centres through the books. As always there was time for some crazy games such as ‘amoeba’, and also some snack boxes for lunch.

It was a fantastic afternoon and gave each girl in the MLC group the chance to really get to know some of the amazing girls we work with here in Nepal. It gave the Dream Centre girls the opportunity to work on their English and to share their thoughts and ideas with their peers in the wider world.

The following day was the final day of MLC’s program and it was time to open the MLC Dream Centre!

The school had raised the funds to sponsor a new Dream Centre including the running costs for the next 2 years. The centre is located in Koteshwor and when we arrived there were 20 excited girls from the local school eagerly waiting to start their Dream Centre experience.

After group leader, Rosemary King, cut the official ribbon so that we could enter the centre, Bec and Chetana led the group through introductions and some welcome speeches. The Nepali girls were shy and a little nervous of course but the MLC students showed the way and before long everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves. We had arranged for 2 girls each from our two other Dream Centres to come and give short speeches on the things they learned from the program. This was a really inspiring moment to see these girls stand so confidently and share their experiences. One of the girls’ mothers also came to talk about the changes she had seen in her daughter and how proud she felt of her achievements.

Brittany, one of the MLC students, performed a beautiful rendition of ‘Hands’ by Jewel. Standing up to sing, unaccompanied, in front of a room full of strangers is not easy and you could see how impressed the Nepali girls were. The local school principal then gave a short speech, the MLC girls gave a wonderful combined presentation with many inspiring messages for the Nepali girls and Bec spoke about the journey these girls were about to embark upon and the importance of having dreams.

After some quick votes of thanks it was time for the party to begin, starting with a special layered sponge cake decorated for the occasion, and cut by Rosemary on behalf of the MLC group. There were also cookies and plenty of soft drink. The MLC girls also presented a number of beautiful big blankets that had been made by students from the school back in Sydney. As we come into winter in Nepal these will be well used! The group also presented some pencil cases fully equipped with pens, pencils and all the things the Dream Centre girls will need to get the most from their studies.

Our immense gratitude and thanks must go to Rosemary, the MLC girls who visited us in Nepal, the wider MLC family who all contributed to this trip and made the MLC Dream Centre a reality, and especially MLC’s principal, Ms Barbara Stone, who personally donated the remaining funds to get the centre started. We look forward to sharing the updates with you of the ways in which the centre will no doubt change the lives of many girls in Nepal.

More photos from the MLC Dream Centre opening can be found on our facebook page.

MLC back in Kathmandu Part 3

2010-11-17T10:50:00.000+08:00

The final part of the MLC group’s program in Nepal was working with our Dream Centre girls and culminated in the opening of the MLC Dream Centre.

For the first day we took around 60 graduates from the Dream Centre program to Thangkot for an activities day and picnic. This provided a great chance for the MLC girls to get to know the Nepali girls in a fun and relaxed environment. Breakfast was served as soon as we arrived at the park and then everyone was allocated a team number. It was then straight into team building activities with the first being a getting to know you game in which each team member had to learn the name, age, school and favourite hobby of each of their team mates. Once these new connections had been made the groups had to choose a team name which always brings some fun and unusual results!

The first ‘serious’ activity of the day involved each team having to design an outfit made entirely of newspaper and dress one team member in it. We gave each team some small strips of crepe paper to add a little colour and the craziness began. We saw everything from dresses, skirts and shoes to handbags, watches and earrings! The girls had so much fun and really had to work as a team to achieve a good result. It was a good chance to illustrate how creative you can be even with minimal and inexpensive resources. They knew the stakes were high as there was to be a fashion parade with prizes for the best outfits. Once all of the entrants were complete we lined them up on a pathway in the park and had everyone else stand on each side and then the girls paraded their teams’ designs up and down the ‘runway’. We had everyone clicking the cameras furiously to create the fashion parade effect and the entire group were in stitches of laughter. Winners were chosen, the prizes (chuppa chups and chocolates) were presented to the winning teams and everyone was congratulated on a fantastic effort and some great entertainment!

With no time to rest the groups were then split with half going to play ball games while the other half played a crazy version of fruit salad. All of these games had been prepared and were led by the MLC girls. The ball games – captain ball, tunnel ball and under/over – were complete chaos as the teams frantically raced to be the fastest. Fruit salad was not much better with the numbers hidden in a ‘story’ so that the girls really had to listen carefully to see if their number was called. At times it was hard to tell whether games were being played at all or whether there were just 70 girls running around screaming – the sign of a great program!

By now with the sun high in the sky the girls were thoroughly exhausted and it was time to sit and enjoy some dahl bhat for lunch. This was the que for some very well-fed looking dogs to start hanging around, but they didn’t have much success as everyone ate all of their lunch and many went back for seconds.

Now replenished it was time for all the groups to come together for some larger games such as ‘bang’ and bull rush. I don’t know how the MLC girls or the Dream Centre girls had the energy but they went on running, screaming and laughing for another 2 hours. I think they would have continued into the evening but as the shadows began to grow longer it and the day became cooler it was time to return to the buses for the trip back to Kathmandu. No doubt all involved would sleep well that night!

The day was a great success and a fantastic opportunity for the MLC group to meet Nepali girls from a variety of different backgrounds and see the importance of programs such as the Dream Centres’ ‘skills for learning, skills for life’.

To be continued…

MLC back in Kathmandu Part 2

2010-11-08T00:35:00.000+08:00

Following the two days at Bal Mandir the group from MLC spent a day in the small town of Panauti, about 35kms south-east of Kathmandu. Three of the girls from Project Snow Leopard joined us as official photographers for the day, giving them a fantastic chance to test their skills. The photos in this blog were all taken by them so thanks to Jalpa, Sabitri P and Asbini.

Panuati is a very old town perched between two rivers and is believed by many to be a particularly sacred spot. There are a number of ancient but well maintained temples there and a walk through the laneways is like a step back in time. We first took the group on a walk down to the confluence of the two rivers, passing many people drying grain and herding their ducks along the way.

I shared some stories on the history of the formation of Panauti and the rivers before we continued on to a bamboo swing that had been erected for the Dashain celebrations. Dashain is one of the main festivals in the Nepali year and giant bamboo swings are put up everywhere for the children to enjoy. Each of the MLC girls were eager for their turn on the swing, much to the amusement of the locals passing by.

After visiting the Indreshwor temple, believed by some to be the oldest original temple in Nepal, the group made a quick visit to a local school where a number of our Dream Catchers scholarship girls studied. Four of these girls then joined our group as we moved on to our house where everyone enjoyed some refreshments on the roof terrace and some lively debates about the status of women and girls in Nepal started! It was the perfect opportunity for the girls from both countries to share their ideas and experiences with their peers and we saw many points of view change as other perspectives were considered. I then shared the story of our house being haunted(!) and the bizarre ritual we had to perform to exorcise the ghost which caused great amusement and some looks of concern amongst the group.

It was then time for a quick lunch followed by some games and activities as well as some impromptu dancing and singing. All too quickly the afternoon came to an end and the MLC group had to board their bus for the drive back to Kathmandu. I’m sure the day provided them with a wealth of cultural and religious information about Nepal that they would not have seen in the metropolis of Kathmandu. As well as this, meeting their peers from a rural government school would have provided them with another aspect to the lives of girls in this part of the world.

To be continued…

MLC back in Kathmandu Part 1

2010-10-31T17:50:00.001+08:00

A group of 9 students from MLC School, Sydney have once again been working with us in Kathmandu. Arriving on the 16^th of October they spent 7 days with us on a mix of service work and cultural activities, as well as a few more days doing sightseeing, shopping etc.

After an orientation meeting and a trip to Boudha, the first day of ‘work’ involved an afternoon visit to the child protection home at Bal Mandir. There the girls paired up with similar aged girls from Project Snow Leopard and they spent an hour or so discussing youth issues in Nepal and comparing them with Australia. As well as some obvious differences I think the girls were quite surprised at how similar teenagers are all over the world. Once the girls were feeling comfortable in each others’ company the singing started with rounds of Resham Phiriri bursting out from all over the playground! This was the cue for all the groups to come together for one combined rendition which included dancing and which a couple of the MLC girls attempted to learn. This led into the Macarena which always works to get everyone moving as they try to learn the moves.

By now a large number of other curious children from the home had arrived to join in the fun. The MLC students had prepared a number of larger group games and activities which they started to allow everyone to be involved. It is always amazing to see the way children can learn to play a game without any understanding of the English explanation they were given – play and fun really are universal. All too soon it was time for the Australian group to leave however there was no doubt about the fun and excitement they had brought to Bal Mandir that afternoon.

The following day the group returned for some more work with the Snow Leopard girls. First up was a quiz contest for which the girls were divided into three mixed teams. I gave them a variety of questions covering geography, culture, current affairs, entertainment, maths and logical thinking. All teams did very well and it was a great way for the girls to get to know each other better. After the quiz we divided the group into four teams and gave them two debate questions – it is more important to focus on education than health for the development of Nepal, and women are more important than men for the future of Nepal. Both of these topics had somewhat controversial elements to them and it was fascinating to see the arguments some of the teams came up with.

At the conclusion of the debates it was time for MLC to present the girls from Bal Mandir with some beautiful hand made blankets from the MLC students back in Sydney. The girls were extremely grateful and immediately told us that they would give them to the toddlers and babies in the home as they needed them the most as winter approached. With that, it was time for the MLC girls to depart and begin plans for their next activities in the days to come.

You can see more photos at our facebook page.

To be continued…

Dream Catchers Celebration Day

2010-10-10T12:55:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday (2^nd October) we held our first ever Dream Catchers celebration day. The day was a chance for all our girls with Dream Catchers scholarships to meet, play games, do activities, share experiences and celebrate their efforts in grabbing hold of the opportunity of education.

Of the 200 girls currently holding scholarships, around 150 were able to attend. The event was held in Panauti, a small town just outside of Kathmandu and in the centre of the Dream Catchers project reach. Girls attended the day from Phulbari, Sanga, Bhaktapur, Panauti and of course Kathmandu.

The busloads of girls arrived at a small Ganesh temple complex in Panauti around 10am and after a welcome tika it was time for breakfast. Many of the girls had traveled for almost 2 hours and needed to eat in order to have enough energy for the planned activities. Straight after breakfast the girls were divided into 10 groups, each with a mix of girls from all the different schools we work with. It was amazing to see how quickly the girls got to know the new people in their groups as they started working together.

First activity of the day required 3 girls from each group to remember and state the names and hobbies of everyone in their group, a good way to get them to learn something about each other. The groups then had to decipher their group name which was the name of an Australian animal hidden in a hangman puzzle. Girls in Nepal love playing hangman and before long we had our teams: kangaroos, koalas, kookaburras, snakes, sharks, rosellas, red back spiders, platypus, echidnas and dolphins. The teams then designed and created a team flag which would later be judged for bonus points.

It was then time for the games to begin. First up was the 3 legged race, clearly a new concept for many of the girls but they all took to it with reckless abandon and often chaotic results! This was followed by the equally challenging balloon between the knees race. By now all of the teams were completely into the swing of things with wild cheering and applause for their team mates’ efforts. Next game required the girls to complete the race course whilst sucking on a straw to hold a piece of paper on it. Not at all as easy as it sounds as the girls soon found out!

The final game on the program required the entire teams to participate in a game of captain ball, racing against each other to complete one full round. At times it appeared as though there was no game at all as balls appeared to be flying randomly through the air in every direction, but somehow the game was completed and winners were decided.

That concluded the games and activities part of the day and it was then time for everyone to move to the hall to enjoy some dance performances whilst the judges tallied up the final results. Prior to announcing the winning team Bec made an announcement and presentation to a very special girl amongst the group. Srijana had in April completed the SLC (School Leaving Certificate) exams and came first in her school. She is from the small village of Phulbari and attended the government school there. It was the first time a girl had ever placed first in the SLC exams at this school. What a truly outstanding achievement! When this was announced there were huge gasps and cheers from the girls in the hall, they were stunned and awestruck by such an effort. We took the opportunity to share Srijana’s story as a way of motivating and inspiring all of the girls present, all of whom share a similar background and set of challenges in gaining an education. Srijana is truly a remarkable young woman who will no doubt continue to do amazing things with the opportunities she has been given.

At last it was time to announce the winning team – and it was the Snakes who came out on top. Each team member came to the stage to accept their certificate from Bec and a big round of applause from the audience. The points system was structured such that the winning team had to have done well in the team building exercises such as the flag creation and ‘getting to know you’ exercises to have won, so well done Snakes!

With the official program completed it was time for lunch and some more dance performances. Everyone devoured their plates of dahl bhat whilst watching some traditional Nepali dances and of course some of the girls joined the dancers on stage. Some girls even had the energy to go back outside and start playing more games! But as 4pm approached, and knowing many of the girls had quite a bus ride home, it was time for new friends to bid farewell. The day was a huge success and a real treat for these most deserving of girls.

Thanks to everyone involved who helped to make it such a fantastic day!

Dream Centres Graduation - Part 2

2010-10-06T23:51:00.001+08:00

Last Friday (1^st October) we attended the graduation of the second group of girls from the Wiley Dream Centre in Chandol, Kathmandu. The program was also attended by our volunteer from Scotland, Katya and her daughters, Fern and Clover.

We were taken through the afternoon’s proceedings by 2 girls from the centre acting as MCs, one announced everything in Nepali and the other in English. They had obviously prepared a great deal and they did themselves proud on their big day.

To begin with, each of the girls stood up and introduced themselves in English. This was a huge deal for these girls as many of them struggle with English at school and it was the first time they had to stand in front of others and speak. They all did exceptionally well and it set the tone for an inspiring and happy occasion.

After a speech from the head of the local community group who have provided us with the room for the centre, and a quick speech from me, it was Fern’s turn to wow everyone by giving a short speech she had prepared in Nepali. Both Fern and Clover have been studying at Riviera, our Model School, and the Nepali classes were clearly helping!

It was then time for the serious business of the afternoon – prize giving! Awards were presented in the following categories: Highest Star Achiever, Best Performance, Best Improvement, Most Creative, Most Co-operative, Highest Attendance, Best Speaker and Best Speller. The winners were presented with a special note book and a badge recognising their achievement.

We then presented each of the graduating girls with a certificate and their memory book which they had been working on over the 6 month course. This was a touching moment for these girls and there were a few tears.

Last order of business was the food. Snack boxes were distributed and everyone mingled and shared in the wonderful achievements of this group of girls. It wasn’t long too before the music started and some impromptu dance performances began. As the afternoon drew to a close it was again truly inspiring to reflect on the progress these girls had made and exciting to think of where they will go with their new found skills and confidence.

Thanks must go especially to John Wiley & Sons for their sponsorship of this Dream Centre.

Dream Centres Graduation - Part 1

2010-10-05T13:58:00.000+08:00

Last Thursday and Friday we attended graduations at the Baneshwor and Wiley Dream Centres. It was the third group of girls to graduate from the Baneshwor centre and the second group from the Wiley centre.

In Baneshwor, the girls opened the program with a special Dream Centre song they had prepared. It was a fantastic start to the afternoon. I filmed it and will be posting it on our YouTube channel soon. The song was followed by some short speeches prepared by the girls to share their experiences of attending the Dream Centre. The girls spoke with such confidence and conviction and it was inspiring to see how they had grown since starting this journey.

It was then time for the serious business of the afternoon – prize giving! Awards were presented in the following categories: Maximum Star Achiever, Best Speaker, Good Discipline, Most Creative, Very Helpful, Highest Attendance, Best Improvement and Most Active. The winners were presented with a special note book and a badge recognising their achievement.

Both Bec and I then gave quick speeches, focusing on how proud of the girls we were and encouraging them to continue to reach for the stars in everything they do. We also told them about an upcoming picnic they would be attending as part of the visit from MLC School. This sent a frenzy of questions through the room and they could then concentrate on nothing else!

Time for further presentations finally calmed everyone down. Chetana presented each of the graduating girls with a certificate and their memory book which is a collection of activities they had completed during their time at the centre. It was wonderful to see all their hard work recorded in such a way that they will always be able to refer back to it if they need inspiration.

This was followed by speeches from each of the facilitators – Sabita and Bipana – who as well as congratulating the girls, directed their words to the parents who had attended. They stressed the importance of family support and that the parents should be very proud of their daughters and all they had achieved and will continue to achieve. It was fantastic to see that 8 parents had attended the program, showing support for their daughters. Many of them begged us to take their daughters for another 6 months but we stressed that it was important the girls did not become dependent on the centre, they now had the skills to move forward on their own.

The program concluded with a delicious snack box for everyone and unfortunately lots of tears from some of the girls. I guess this showed they really enjoyed their Dream Centre experience!

I will post about the Wiley Dream Centre graduation shortly …

Quick Update

2010-09-29T10:24:00.000+08:00

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

2010-09-22T10:57:00.000+08:00

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

2010-09-21T10:56:00.000+08:00

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

2010-09-08T10:24:00.000+08:00

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.

Bec speaks at Kirrawee High School

2010-08-15T21:16:00.000+08:00

Bec recently spoke to an audience of around 1,200 at Kirrawee High School, inspiring the school in the lead up to a fundraiser they are holding to support Mitrataa. The school will be holding a trivia night at the end of the month with all funds raised contributing to our rapidly growing work in Nepal.

This fantastic initiative is headed by two year 11 girls - Micaela Bassford and Jodie Cooper - who met Bec when attending the 'Girls Leading Social Change' day held at The Women's College in May. The girls were so inspired by Bec's presentation on that occasion that they immediately began preparations to get their whole school involved in doing something positive for the world. What a perfect example of girls leading social change.

Bec spoke for 15 minutes and had the entire school engaged as she used 10 girls to act as a sample of the population of girls in Nepal. She divided the girls into groups to illustrate the percentages that went without nutritious food each day, that didn't receive adequate education, that were married early etc. Judging by the gasps from the students the message hit the mark and will no doubt lead to great support for the upcoming fundraiser.

To add a Nepali flavour to the trivia night we have provided video files of students from our Model School in Kathmandu asking some tricky trivia questions so I hope everyone comes prepared with their thinking caps on!

Our thanks must go to Micaela and Jodie and everyone at Kirrawee High for their generous support, and we wish everyone the best of luck with the trivia night!

Thanks for volunteering Amy!

2010-08-04T20:47:00.001+08:00

Amy Valender has recently completed a 3 month program working as a volunteer for us in Kathmandu. Amy is a nutritionist from the UK and came to know about Mitrataa through Bec when they both worked for Cadbury. Volunteering was something Amy had always wanted to do and nutrition is an area that needs a lot of support in Nepal so it was a perfect match!

We kept Amy extremely busy for the 3 months covering a variety of projects including:

teaching English, Health and Science at our Model School;
working with the staff in the Model School's hostel to ensure the boarding students are being fed healthy, nutritious food every meal of the day;
running an English speaking program for some of our Dream Catchers Scholarship girls who had been struggling with their English studies;
tutoring the girls attending our Dream Centres in English, Health, Science and also leading them in some art and craft activities and life skills programs;
running some activities with the girls from the Project Snow Leopard program;
working with girls at the children's home at Bal Mandir to establish a Child Club; and
observing and advising management and staff of the children's home at Bal Mandir on healthy, nutritious and affordable dietary options for feeding the 210 children living there.

The feedback we have received from our partners, staff and of course the girls in Nepal has been overwhelming and Amy obviously made a huge impact on many people's lives. For this we are very thankful and do hope Amy might decide to return one day soon...

For anyone interested in sharing some of your skills and experience with the women and girls in Nepal and in return experiencing a piece of life that will change your outlook forever, email us.

Thank you so much Amy!

Wine Tasting Fundraiser

2010-07-29T09:56:00.001+08:00

Last Saturday (24^th July) our good friend Libby Hathorn hosted a wine tasting fundraiser at her home in Sydney. On a cold evening we enjoyed the company of around 40 people who came to enjoy a selection of wines, a delicious meal and some fundraising for Mitrataa.

The evening started with everyone mingling with a glass of wine and some canapés – at this point I must thank Nell, from Lickie Lea’s catering, who provided the most amazing food for the evening! This was followed by a short welcome from Libby and then Bec and I had the chance to give everyone a quick update on our projects in Nepal as well as sharing initial plans for our newest project – taking over the management of a children’s home in Kathmandu where 210 children live! (Formal announcements on the details of that exciting new project coming in September.)

It was then time for the serious business of the wine tasting. 5 wines had been chosen and we were guided through the tasting by friends of the group, Isabelle and Mark. We enjoyed a taste of Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Shiraz. All present really got into the tasting with some bizarre comments on the flavours and smells being detected in the wines, perhaps a little too much wine had been sampled?! People were then able to place orders for the wines with a portion of the takings being donated to Mitrataa.

Mark then took control of the floor to auction a painting which had been very generously donated by Sydney artist, Brenda Humble. Bidding was furious and the work eventually went under the hammer for $850 – all of which was donated to Mitrataa!

This concluded the formal part of the evening and meant people could then disperse to enjoy their dinner. We had set up a wall containing bricks that people could buy or sponsor for different amounts to contribute to our projects in Nepal. This raised a lot of interest and helped collect more donations for the Foundation.

The evening raised around $3,000 in donations to Mitrataa which is a fantastic effort and will go a long way in helping with our efforts to improve the lives of Nepal’s women and girls.

We must thank Libby for her immense generosity and support in organising and hosting this event, it was a wonderful night that was I am sure enjoyed by all who attended. Thanks must also go to Nell, Pat, Isabelle, Mark and anyone else I may have forgotten(!) who helped make the night such a huge success! Of course thanks also go to everyone who attended and were so generous with their support and donations, it will make a huge difference.

Dream Centres' First Birthday!

2010-07-27T08:51:00.002+08:00

On 5th July we celebrated a great milestone for Mitrataa - the first birthday of our Dream Centres project. It is one year since our pilot centre opened in New Baneshwor in Kathmandu and what an amazing journey it has been. The second Dream Centre, sponsored by John Wiley & Sons, was opened in December last year.

To celebrate the day both centres held functions involving both existing and past students of the centre. In the lead up to the event all of the current and past students of the centres were asked to write a letter to the future students of the centre telling them about their experiences and the things they had learned from completing the skills for learning, skills for life program. These letters were placed in a box and will be given to girls who attend the centres in the future to read. A couple of girls read their letters to the group on the anniversary day and it was great to see their improved confidence in presenting as well as hearing their own personal thoughts on the program.

In addition to the letter reading the girls performed some dances and played games that had been organised by the Dream Centre facilitators. This included quite a few rounds of the very popular hangman! The girls at the Baneshwor centre also did some paintings which were then used to decorate the centre.

The day provided a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the great progress the Dream Centre project has made, all of which couldn't have been done without our fantastic tutors and management staff in Nepal - thanks guys! The third and fourth centres, sponsored by MLC School and another by Wiley, are being prepared right now with the next opening scheduled for October so stay tuned...

Run the City2Surf in Sydney for Mitrataa

2010-07-12T20:12:00.001+08:00

This year's City2Surf fun run is being held on 8 August in Sydney. As part of the event thousands of people ask their friends, family and colleagues to sponsor them to run and raise funds for their favourite charity. This year, Mitrataa is one of those charities!

This means if you sign up to run the CIty2Surf you can also ask people to sponsor you for your efforts and help us at the same time. If you are already signed up to run, visit Everyday Hero, click on the 'Start Fundraising Now' button and create your own fundraising page. If you are not yet signed up to run, visit City2Surf and you will be asked to select a charity as part of your registration. Choose Mitrataa Foundation from the drop-down list, follow the instructions to create your fundraising page and you're away!

Of course, running 14km is not everyone's idea of a fun Sunday so if you are not planning to run you can still help by sponsoring me! Just visit my fundraising page and follow the instructions to support me and our work in Nepal.

And remember, every little bit really does count. As well as motivating me to train hard and do a good job on the day, your support can go along way to changing the lives of women and girls in Nepal. Here are some examples of what your money can do:

$8 provides a nutritious lunch and snack for a girl at school each day for a month
$30 provides a girl with all the textbooks she needs for an entire school year
$50 provides a woman with literacy and business skills training, a small loan to start a group business, and ongoing monitoring and support for a year (Daisy Chains project)
$50 provides education support, welfare monitoring and counselling for a child domestic labourer for a year
$80 gives a girl all her school uniform requirements for a year including, shoes, sweaters and a coat for winter
$300 provides nutritious food for a child living in an orphanage for a year
$320 gives a girl a scholarship to attend school for a year including school fees, stationery, textbooks and uniforms (Dream Catchers Scholarship project)

So, please be generous, by either joining in the fun of running on the day or by sponsoring me or someone else to run on Mitrataa's behalf!

Inspiring Poem

2010-07-12T10:15:00.000+08:00

The poem below, by Carole Fontaine, perfectly captures Mitrataa's vision and inspiration for our work in Nepal:

Do not show me tiny crowds of handpicked men;
Do not regale me with films of gunfire in the air.

Show me battalions of little girls, if you can –
Healthy and learned, with futures and names.
Show me their mothers, with homes all arrayed
In abundance and peace, with colour and song.

It will only be victory when the women sing in the streets
…safe to choose, to live, to learn, to love.
It will only be victory when the women sing.

Printed with the kind permission of Carol Fontaine.

Daisy Chains paying it forward

2010-07-07T14:19:00.001+08:00

Back in March, 2 women from the Gyaneshwor group of our Daisy Chains project travelled to the village of Phulbari (just outside the Kathmandu Valley) to conduct a training workshop on candle making. You may have read previously that candle making has proved to be a very lucrative business for our women due to the large amount of time people in Kathmandu must live without electricity!

So 2 of the women from our first group of graduates were only too happy to share their skills and experiences with women of similar backgrounds. The workshops were conducted over 2 days and provided a great platform for the all of the women to meet and share their stories. This type of group co-operative goes far beyond simple economic empowerment for the members providing them with an important social outlet as well.

The workshop for day 1 covered the binding of thread (to form the wick) to the machine and filling the machine with hot wax to form the candle. As the session was completed, plenty of candles were left setting in their machines, ready to be revealed the following day. On the second day the women had to make a second batch of candles without assistance from the trainers. They then went on to learn about the packaging of the candles, some marketing ideas and pricing.

The women from Phulbari were so excited by the prospects of a candle making business that they bought the 2 machines the trainers had brought with them so that they could start immediately! It was fantastic to see these women embracing this opportunity with such vigour. It was also wonderful to see the fruits of previous Daisy Chains participants in action, the confidence and skill they displayed in training the new group was truly inspiring. This was a real 'pay it forward' moment for the project!

You can see more photos of the project at our facebook page.

New groups of women will be starting their journey to financial independence when the 3rd round of the Daisy Chains project begins later this month. It costs just AU$1,000.00 to sponsor a group of 20 women on their journey to become literate, learn business skills and start their group business. That is just AU$50.00 to change a Nepali woman's life forever! Why not get a group of friends together and sponsor a whole group of 20 women? Visit our website or email me for more information on how you can make a difference. For Australian tax residents donations are tax deductible.

Bec Presents at The Women's College

2010-06-16T08:54:00.000+08:00

On Friday, 28th May, Bec gave a presentation to a group of around 150 girls from high schools across New South Wales as part of the Girls Leading Social Change day held at The Women's College in Sydney.

Bec provided the girls with much food for thought as she illustrated the numbers of illiterate, malnourished, and prematurely married and pregnant girls, their peers, in developing countries such as Nepal. Bec shared stories of some of the inspiring women and girls we have worked with in our Dream Catchers, Daisy Chains and Dream Centres programs as well as some sobering reminders of the reality with some stories that don't have happy endings.

Bec's session ended with a group work activity requiring the girls to choose a focus sector eg. education, water, health, and come up with an idea to make radical improvements to the lives of people through that sector. The responses she received were amazing!

Thank you to The Women's College for creating such a fantastic platform for girls to have their voices heard. A video of the day (including plenty of shots of Bec presenting!) is below.

New Dream Centre session begins!

2010-06-03T06:56:00.000+08:00

With the new school year now in full swing both Dream Centres have just started their next sessions. Around 20 girls have started at the pilot Centre in Baneshwor and the Wiley Centre in Chandol, embarking on their journey of 'skills for learning, skills for life'.

The last session proved a huge success with all girls attending both centres passing all of their exams and being promoted to the next class at school! We are looking forward to similar results this time around thanks to the dedication and support of our Centre facilitators.

Good luck girls!

Girls attending the Pilot Centre in Baneshwor.

Girls attending the Wiley Dream Centre in Chandol.

Great Effort!

2010-06-03T06:44:00.001+08:00

A quick post to congratulate the team from Wiley who completed the 10km Challenge Race as part of the Sundown Marathon in Singapore last weekend. Their efforts raised around SG$1,400 for Mitrataa which is a fantastic result!
Thanks guys!

Saris and toothbrushes

2010-05-30T19:24:00.000+08:00

The Project Snow Leopard girls were the “Official Photographers” for 2 exciting events at Bal Mandir Children’s Home in April. After practising their skills in Bhaktapur and Boudha, they were very proud to be taking photos to share these experiences with you all.

Lots of clean teeth for kids of Nepal, thanks to Cadbury and McKinney Rogers

“This is the way we brush our teeth” was the chant around Bal Mandir Children’s Home in Kathmandu in April, 2010 as the children were all presented with a brand new toothbrush, each with a tube of toothpaste in a brightly coloured bag made by one of the women we work with. We enlisted the help of former Cadbury nutritionist from Melbourne, Amy Valender, who is working with Mitrataa for 3 months in Nepal, to distribute the toothbrushes. I don’t know who had the bigger grin – the kids or Amy!

Members of both Cadbury and McKinney Rogers Asia Pacific teams had been collecting the toothbrushes as they travelled around the region on business. This was the third delivery we had made to the children of Nepal, thanks to the generosity of the Cadbury and McKinney Rogers staff.

For children who very rarely have possessions of their own, to have a toothbrush and paste in their own little bag means so much – they always ask with big grins “Who sent these to us? They must really care about us!”

Thanks as always to the staff of Cadbury and McKinney Rogers for your contributions.

A new uniform for the House Mothers at Bal Mandir

The House Mothers at Bal Mandir are the most important people in the lives of the 200 children who call this Children’s Home “home”. But they are so busy giving their love to the children, that they often forget to stop and give themselves a pat on the back for their dedication. So we decided to celebrate them while at the same time giving them a new sense of pride and team work but giving them each a new sari, a uniform for them to wear at work.

Once again, our budding Snow Leopard Project photographers were on hand to capture the grins on the House Mothers faces as they received their uniform, and later as they showed them off for all to admire!

Second Daisy Chains Graduation!

2010-05-26T16:17:00.001+08:00

On April 29^th the Daisy Chains group of women from Gyaneshwor that are sponsored by MasterCard, graduated from the education and training phase of the program. This was a very exciting and emotional day for these women, also witnessed by a number of women from the previous graduating group, their sense of accomplishment and newfound pride and confidence is an inspiration.

At the beginning of our informal ceremony many of the women shared their personal experiences of how their lives have been forever changed by the simple gift of literacy:

“I am a widow and when I was illiterate, no one would listen to me. Even my own family would ignore me and try to take advantage of me. Now, no one can cheat me, I know my rights and I can read anything!”

“My own children respect me now, they know how hard I have worked. Now they understand why their own education is so important.”

These comments are indicative of the very positive and determined attitudes of all of the women in this group now. Throughout the course of the education component of the program all members of the group regularly contributed to the savings plan. This lead to the group accumulating 36,000 Nepalese rupees (about AU$580.00) in savings prior to graduation! 20,000 rupees of this amount has been lent back to various members of the group who were eager to start their own small businesses. Motivated by the success and ongoing support of last years’ graduates from the program, the women of Gyaneshwor have been moving forward in leaps and bounds.

As at graduation time, 17 of the women in the group were already working together in small groups to run their own shops in the local area selling items such as fruit, vegetables, prayer offerings, incense, snack foods, tea and hot food. This has been possible through small loans from the group savings program and with the guidance and mentorship of women from the previous groups in the program.

One pair of women are running a small shop next to the local temple and they sell various offerings, incense etc for visitors to the temple. They are now making around 14,000 rupees (about AU$226.00) per month. This is a fourfold increase on what they earned previously working as domestic labourers. The small loan they took from the group to start the business was repaid within just 3 months.

A further 3 women from the group have been so motivated by their studies that they have enrolled in formal school in order to complete their School Leaving Certificate (SLC). This is especially impressive as in most cases they will be studying the same material as their own children. One of these women has already completed class 3 in which she came first, and class 4 in which she came fourth, and she is now in class 5. She was the oldest of four children and so had to work to support her family and could not go to school as a child.

Core to the Daisy Chains program is that the women do not repay their loans to Mitrataa but they pay them forward to the next group of women. This creates a wonderful network and sense of camaraderie for the women. The highlight of the graduation ceremony was the Treasurer of the first graduating group handing over to the Treasurer of the new graduates the repayment of their loan amount of 10,000 rupees (about AU$161.00), each one carefully counting out the notes to a huge applause. The Treasurer from the first group commented that she felt relieved that the loan was repaid and was honoured to be supporting the dreams of the new group.

At the conclusion of the ceremony each member of the graduating class was presented with a small gift from MasterCard. The women were so excited by this and touched that people so far away had been supporting them to reach for their dreams.

The strength of the Gyaneshwor group is founded on the mutual support and respect each of the members share, the mentorship of the women from the previous group, and the strength and determination of the members. As a result, it is likely that the main business of the group will be a small credit co-operative for the members. This means each of the members can pursue their own small business interests whilst still benefiting from the moral, logistical and financial support of the group. This model shows a real maturity of the group and the program as a whole and makes an excellent foundation for the sustainability of the program in this locality. As with the previous year, we already have a waiting list for the next group which will start in June.

How amazing to think that less than a year ago, these 24 women were illiterate and now they have accumulated so much money that they are able to run their own small credit union for their own benefit!

Running for Mitrataa

2010-05-25T15:01:00.003+08:00

Running to raise funds for Mitrataa has been a popular thing recently. My last post mentioned that 10 members of staff from John Wiley & Sons' Singapore office will be doing a 10km challenge race this weekend.

Well a couple of weeks ago, Claire Brown ran a 10km fun run in Scotland to raise money for us too. Claire did this to support her two friends, Rufus Stone and Katya Conway, who with their 2 daughters will be travelling to Nepal in September to live and volunteer for us for 5 months. Katya is a social worker and Rufus a children's counsellor and play therapist. They will be supporting a number of our projects through CWISH and Bal Mandir and their daughters will be attending school at Riviera, our model school.

Claire's very energetic efforts managed to raise £223 which will go towards our projects to create education and training oportunities for Nepali women and girls. So to Claire we say a big 'thank you'!

We encourage any of you who want to follow Claire's and the Wiley group's great example get in touch.

More energetic support from Wiley!

2010-05-21T06:50:00.000+08:00

An energetic group of 10 from John Wiley & Sons' Singapore office will be taking part in the Sundown Marathon's 10km Challenge Race on the 29th May. They are doing this to raise funds for Mitrataa and in particular, the projects Wiley supports with us such as the Wiley Dream Centre.

The participants are: Benedict Boo, Chin Ang, Maxim Shrestha, Fathrul Fazakir , Glenn Wray, Eugene Yap, Enrico Ventura, Melissa Dragon, Candy Lum, Melanie Sim.

If you're in Singapore next weekend I'm sure they would love some moral support! Of course it would be fantastic if anyone wished to contribute to their fundraising efforts too. To do that, you can email Glenn Wray or myself for details.

Good luck guys and thank you all so much for your support!

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

2010-05-17T08:27:00.000+08:00

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…

Project Snow Leopard - Part 2

2010-05-10T20:45:00.002+08:00

The final two days of Project Snow Leopard (Sunday, 25th and Monday, 26th April) were spent back at Bal Mandir with Linda reviewing all of the girls' images taken from their field trips to Boudha and Bhaktapur. Linda shortlisted the best shots for each girl and then reviewed them one-by-one to allow all of the students to gain as much feedback as possible. It was amazing to see the improvements from all of the girls in such a short time - there are some real budding young photographers in the group! Bec brought a photo printer on the final day so each girl was allowed to select their favourite two photos to be printed so they could keep them.

We conducted a quick feedback session with the girls in which they had to let us know the things they enjoyed form the project, the things they would like done differently, and the places they would most like to visit for phase 2 of the project in October. Pokhara was a popular choice here so we will have to see what can be arranged along those lines...

All the photos taken by each girl have been put onto an external hard disk so that they can look at them on computer whenever they want to. Also, Chetana will be visiting Bal Mandir once a month with the cameras to allow the girls to continue to develop the skills they have been taught. All of this will help them as they work towards the next stage of the project when Linda returns in October.

It has been a pleasure to watch these girls develop a new skill but it has also been inspiring to watch their confidence and self esteem grow as they begin to realise their own abilities and the potential each of them hold inside. We look forward to more of this come October.

Enormous thanks must of course go to Linda for her time and dedication to this project. The results so far are testament to her hard work and commitment.

We will be showcasing some of the photos from the girls and the girls' profiles on our website soon so watch this space...

Project Snow Leopard - Part 1

2010-04-27T00:04:00.001+08:00

We have just completed the most amazing 5 days with Linda Jocelyn and the start of Project Snow Leopard. The project started last week when 10 girls from the orphanage at Bal Mandir were selected. Each girl had submitted an application to join the project that included answers to questions such as what they wanted to do with their lives, why they wanted to learn photography, what did they believe would make a better future for Nepal etc. The quality of their answers suggested we had found a great group of girls to start this journey.

The first workshop with Linda was last Wednesday, 21st April and involved a basic introduction to the use of the cameras as well as some theory on some of the basics of photography including use of light, composition, rule of thirds etc. A quote from Linda on Day 1 is below:

Today I started teaching and it was wonderful. We started at 11am and talked about photography and what outputs there were from photography and I showed them some picture books of Australia and some slide shows to music. Then we handed out the cameras. Well...only about three of the girls had ever used a camera before but within no more than 15 minutes they had figured them out!

We then let them loose around the orphanage for about an hour taking photos before having lunch. After lunch it was time for some serious theory for about an hour on light and composition and the mechanics of how a camera works.

On Thursday (22nd April) in addition to reviewing the photos from the day before, we took the girls on their first field trip to Boudha. By now they were growing in confidence and some amazing shots and ideas for shots were being developed. We were all looking forward to seeing the results that night!

Friday was a rest day and then on Saturday, 24th April we headed off early in the morning for the old town of Bhaktapur. This town is a major tourist attraction in Nepal for foreigners and locals alike as it has retained a strong sense of traditional culture which flows through all aspects of daily life. After some much needed breakfast a few hours of walking and photo taking ensued and as Linda's comments attest, the girls were really getting into the swing of things by now:

One of the especially amusing things was the girls asking tourists if they could take their photos. It was interesting watching their reactions, some thought it was a hoot and one woman looked totally flummoxed but then relaxed and got into the spirit of it. It was good seeing the tables turned as the tourists take all these photos rarely asking permission and this time it was the kids taking their photos!

It was also interesting seeing the reaction of the locals when the girls asked if they could take their photos. Mostly there were huge grins but the girls' confidence was growing such that when they got a knockback they bounced back and asked someone else.

Stay tuned for the summary of the last two days of what has been an exciting and fun-filled new project!

St Cath's at the Dream Centre

2010-04-16T13:55:00.002+08:00

We have just bid farewell to a fantastic group of teachers and students from St Catherine’s School Waverley, Sydney. The group comprised 15 students and 2 teachers and they spent 3 days with us working with the facilitators and girls from both Dream Centres. Their brief had been to prepare activities focused on the Skills for Life component of our Dream Centre curriculum.

Last Saturday (10^th April) we held a full day picnic at Godavari (just outside Kathmandu) and this proved the perfect ice breaker. Within minutes of our arrival all of the girls had split into groups and were introducing themselves and asking all kinds of questions about Australia and Nepal. The St Cath’s girls then showed the Dream Centre girls some books about Australia and Australian animals which were a huge hit.

All the girls were then divided into 2 teams to compete against each other in captain ball and tunnel ball. It was amazing to see how quickly all of the girls became comfortable and began working together. Following this, one of the Nepali girls taught everyone a couple of games and before we knew it, lunch time had arrived.

Everyone tucked into a well earned plate of dahl bhat and curry and took a rest from the dust and heat in the shade. After lunch girls from each group shared some dances and songs they had prepared and they attempted to teach the other side with mixed results! Much too soon the time arrived to board the bus back to Kathmandu. The picnic was a huge success and set the scene for the remainder of the work at the Wiley Dream Centre.

On Sunday, (11^th) we traveled to the Wiley Dream Centre in Chandol in Kathmandu. The girls from the Baneshwor Dream Centre also met us there. After a quick quiz contest and some other games to get things started the girls again divided into groups and started working through the activities planned by the St Cath’s group. The activities included anagrams with names, journal writing and creating goal ladders. After a quick snack break we resumed with some craft activities and finished the afternoon by starting work on friendship bracelets.

Tuesday (13^th) was our last day together (Monday was cancelled due to a strike, that ultimately didn’t proceed!) and everyone made the most of it. Arriving at noon it was straight into some more games before dividing into small groups for reading practice. This was followed by Maths activities and games of UNO which were a huge hit. We had an hour lunch break which gave the girls time to ‘shoot some hoops’ on the basketball court outside. Then, in the final session we continued with the Maths activities and UNO before moving onto origami to finish the program.

Very quickly 5pm arrived and it was time to pack up. No one wanted to leave though as they were all having so much fun. A frenzy of photo taking and gift giving ensued along with pleas not to forget each other and to ‘please visit our Dream Centre again’. St Cath’s presented a number of wonderful gifts to the centre including some patchwork quilts made at the school, and a school t-shirt presented to Chetana (our Nepal Project Manager) for all her hard work in organising the programs.

We must especially thank St Cath’s teachers Sarah Hatch and Keith Hartmann for their hard work and preparation as well as motivating their students to give their all and consequently get so much out of the programs. It was a pleasure to host such an impressive group of girls and they will have left a lasting impact on the girls from the Dream Centres.

2009 Annual Report

2010-04-08T11:52:00.000+08:00

Just a quick post to let you know our Annual Report for 2009 is now available on our website. You can find it on our Corporate page or by clicking here.

2009 was another fantastic year and as I was writing the report I kept thinking how lucky we have been to have the support and generosity of so many amazing people. So thank you to everyone who has helped Mitrataa make a difference in the lives of so many women and girls in Nepal!

Dream Catchers scholarship girls

2010-04-05T11:16:00.000+08:00

This week I will be starting visits of our various partner organisations to meet with our Dream Catchers scholarship girls. All of these girls have now completed their end of year exams and will be eagerly awaiting their results. It is an exciting time as they are of course all hoping that they will be ‘promoted’ to the next class.

The first day of the Nepali new year (2067) is 14th April and schools will reopen not long after that. This means our partners will be furiously organising uniforms, stationery and text books for all of the almost 200 girls now receiving our support.

For our existing sponsors, don’t forget your scholarship renewals are now due!

It is at this time of year that we seek new scholarship applications and we already have a rapidly growing waiting list. So if you would like to change the life of a girl in Nepal, or you know someone who would, take a look at our website. The information is all there including the cost (just AU$320 per year) and payment options. You don’t have to pay the full amount up front, we can accept monthly instalments which are easily arranged through most banks. You can also set up a recurring monthly payment from your credit card through PayPal.

So do please get in touch if you have any questions or would like to commit to changing a young girl’s life.

For our existing sponsors, thank you all as always for your continued support!

In Kathmandu again!

2010-03-31T17:23:00.003+08:00

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...

Bec speaks at MasterCard Luncheon in Singapore

2010-03-16T14:33:00.003+08:00

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.

New Project starting in April - need cameras!

2010-03-10T14:21:00.007+08:00

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!

International Women's Day

2010-03-08T14:30:00.003+08:00

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!

Mitrataa Movie

2010-02-22T16:47:00.003+08:00

Just a quick post to share a video I have put together. It is made up of a collection of images from our work in Nepal over the past 10 years and includes a voiceover of me talking about how Mitrataa started and the things we are doing now. If you can't watch the video by clicking on the play button below, it is also on the homepage at our website. Enjoy!

Pashmina Logo Launch in the News

2010-01-31T22:26:00.004+08:00

Further to my recent post regarding Bec's trip to Kathmandu to attend the launch of the NPIA logo, below are some stories in the local media on the event.

100 Views on TV in Melbourne

2010-01-28T18:00:00.002+08:00

Just a quick post to let those of you in Melbourne know that Libby Hathorn's 100 Views Kathmandu documentary will be screening on Community TV channel 31 at 8:30pm this Sunday, 31st January.

The documentary chronicles Libby's visit to Kathmandu in 2008 where she introduced her 100 Views program to our Model School. It provides some background to the program and Mitrataa and also shows lots of footage of the people of Nepal. You may remember the documentary was launched at a huge fundraising event in Sydney in November 2008.

Tune in if you are home and let your friends know too!

Bec meets the PM in Kathmandu!

2010-01-23T16:19:00.002+08:00

Just a quick post to let you know Bec flew to Kathmandu on Wednesday so that she could attend the inauguration ceremony for the Nepal Pashmina Industries Association (NPIA) trademark. This is a project on which Bec has been working with NPIA for a couple of years and through her various law firm contacts throughout the world she has assisted them to have their trademark registered in most major markets in the world. This is a first for any Nepalese company or venture.

The trademark certifies the authenticity of a product as real pashmina and also guarantees certain standards to do with processing, environmentally friendly production and non-use of child labour. This is a significant leap forward for an indigenous Nepali industry and we hope it will open the door for other organisations to bring their unique products to the world.

The inauguration ceremony was held to celebrate the registration of the trademark in key markets as well as officially launching the use of the logo on pashmina products. The event was attended by Nepal's Prime Minister, Mr Madhav Kumar Nepal, as well as a number of other dignitaries. The PM presented Bec with a pashmina shawl bearing the new logo as a token of gratitude for the work she has done for the project. NPIA have also prepared a short film which was premiered at the event. It covers the background to the project and will be circulated globally to raise awareness about the logo and the importance of purchasing genuine pashmina.

Congratulations to Bec and NPIA for making such a huge impact on trade, export and commerce for Nepal! Thanks must also go to the many law firms around the world who provided their services on a pro bono basis for the trademark registrations.

Connecting Dreams

2010-01-22T14:23:00.005+08:00

We are excited to announce that another new project is up and running! Connecting Dreams is a school based Information Communication Technology (ICT) program that provides access to computers and technology for schools and communities that wouldn't otherwise have it.

In August and September last year we launched computer labs in 2 government schools to act as test cases and they have been a huge success. As part of the community ownership for the project they must provide free ICT education to a certain number of young people who have not had the privilege of going to school. This type of training greatly enhances an individual's education and employment prospects in Nepal. It is a project requirement that a larger percentage of girls than boys must benefit from this free education.

We are looking to establish computer labs in additional 2 schools this year and of course this requires money! It only costs AU$7,500 to setup the full lab with 15 computers, internet access and a printer. That works out at around AU$500 per computer which is not that much when you consider the number of people in Nepal who will directly benefit from it.

More information about the project can be found on our website. As always if you are keen to contribute to this or any of our projects please get in touch.

Inspiring words

2010-01-14T15:31:00.005+08:00

Below I have pasted two pieces of creative writing from Kishor Ghimire, a boy we have been supporting in Nepal since we first visited Kathmandu in 2000. Kishor is now in Year 9 at the Model School in Kathmandu and it is amazing to think that his education opportunities have helped him to produce work like this:

Success

To be a successful person is the main aim of every human. But what does success really mean? Could it be a dream that may occur in the life of every human? Yes, or it may not be. The definition of success varies from person to person. It could simply be prestige, power, money or security for many people. Nobody is born successful or tagged with the destiny towards success, but why then are some successful and others not?

As we look back, history might hold the answer; all highly successful people had a clear vision of what they wanted. All had beliefs and determination in the existence of their infinite intelligence and supreme power.

As a Chinese philosopher once said, “our greatest glory lies not in never falling but rising every time we fall”. One of the best examples of this could be Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the U.S.A. He failed in politics and business. He lost lots of elections totaling dozens, from senate legislature to vice president. But finally he became the president of the U.S.A. at the age of 51. He really was the epitome of the saying that “winners never quit and quitters never win”.

Everyone is born with the seed of greatness with the ability to win, but as a human there is some weakness. This weakness in today's world might be defined as intolerance, greed, jealousy, revenge, suspicion and egotism. To make these weaknesses the positive strength we might make a lot of effort, which is absolutely necessary for obtaining success.

To be a successful person, one must build up positive thoughts. He that moves not forward goes backwards so one must always press onwards to solve problems. A clear vision, positive attitude, talent, ambition and initiative are the things really required to reach the top. So, as my last but not least point, I would like to suggest accomplishing greatness we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe, as we know winners don't do different things but they do things differently.

Global warming

Look at my world it’s burning,
So people are regretting and learning.
She’s getting burnt alive,
People look at her tears and please realise.

She’s informing us to be aware,
'Cause the animals and vegetations are getting rare.
She doesn’t want us tolerating the heat,
So please people think about keeping your world neat.

She’s getting hotter and hotter,
Informing about our life getting shorter.
She’s so hot even her tears have turned into vapour,
So please understand and take care of every single wrapper.

She does not have a drop of water for drinking,
'Cause all the water resources are polluted and stinking.
She’s suffocating due to oxygen’s lack,
Even her colourless oxygen has become colourful and black.

Thanks Kishor, some fantastic thoughts and comments here.

Reasons to celebrate in 2010!

2010-01-11T22:18:00.002+08:00

Two days before Christmas we received some fantastic news in Australia – we have finally been approved as a Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) for gifts and donations. This means that all donations to Mitrataa over AU$2 are now tax deductible.

As many of you will know, reaching this point has been a long journey. We’d like to especially thank Freehills’ Sydney office for their pro bono support along the way.

So how do we celebrate this exciting milestone? Well 2010 also signifies the 10th anniversary of our first trip to Nepal, the trip that inspired the creation of the Foundation, so we have a number of programs planned to celebrate both events. We will also shortly be launching a fundraising competition to give all our supporters an opportunity to get involved. Stay tuned for details on this and a number of other new projects and events coming up. Our DGR status has arrived at the perfect time to help 2010 become our greatest year yet – which is just as well because our partners in Nepal have their creative juices flowing to help with more innovative and exciting new projects to help us achieve our objectives!

Don't throw out your Christmas cards...

2009-12-31T11:34:00.004+08:00

Christmas cards make fantastic resources for art and craft classes and we are always on the lookout for these for our schools and Dream Centres in Nepal. So if you are finished with your Christmas cards, instead of throwing them out we would appreciate it if you could send them to us. Please cut off the back side with all the personal stuff on it and just send us the front with the picture/design. You can post the cards to:

PO Box 1765
North Sydney
NSW 2060
AUSTRALIA

or if you are in Singapore email me at adam@mitrataa.org and I will organise to collect the cards from you.

The kids in Nepal will love them!

Thanks and Happy New Year!

Maths Made Easy and Fun

2009-12-30T11:19:00.006+08:00

During our very busy November in Kathmandu we were visited by Anne Willmann and her husband Willi. Anne has recently retired as the principal of an IB School in Auckland, New Zealand and she and her husband are both Maths teachers. They were visiting Nepal to do some trekking and to visit their old favourite places as they lived in Kathmandu for 2 years a number of years ago. They generously volunteered their time to help with some teacher training at Riviera, our Model School.

We were very keen to accept this offer as many of the teacher training workshops we have conducted have focused on English and the Social Sciences. This has simply been the result of the expertise of the volunteers we have had in the past. Whilst the Maths teachers at Riviera have attended all these workshops they find it more difficult to apply the skills they learnt to the Maths classroom. This is compounded by the fact that many school students in Nepal struggle with Maths because unlike many other subjects, you can not do well by simple rote learning. Maths requires that you understand the concepts in order to be able to solve problems. As a result, Maths is an unpopular subject and one that teachers find very challenging to make fun. Let’s face it – this is not only an issue faced in Nepal! How many of you had fun in Maths classes when you were growing up?

Fortunately Anne and Willi were experts in this area, and their energy and enthusiasm immediately had the teachers at ease and eager to learn. As part of Riviera's Model School program, we invited 3 teachers from nearby government schools to benefit from the workshops as well.

Two workshops were conducted over two days and included an array of games, magic tricks and other activities all designed to make learning Maths easier and also fun. The teachers were having so much fun doing the activities I'm not sure they wanted to go back to teaching! It was also fantastic to see teachers from different schools working and learning together, sharing their ideas and experiences. One of the comments from the teachers was that they had so much fun that they didn't realise they were learning Maths! In one activity, the students would have done hundreds of calculations without being aware of how much they’d learned because they were racing to complete a competition against other teams. That’s exactly how learning should be – fun and relatively pain free!

At the end of the two workshops Anne and Willi donated copies of all of the exercises and activities they had worked through with the teachers meaning we will be able to share the concepts with other schools in our network. For this as well as for their time and effort, we want to say a huge 'thanks' to Anne and Willi. In the weeks since the workshops we have seen a great improvement in the moral of Riviera's Maths teachers and many of the students are now looking forward to going to Maths class - we can't ask for more than that!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-23T18:08:00.002+08:00

Just a quick post to wish everyone a fantastic Christmas. We also want to take this opportunity to thank all our friends and supporters who contributed to making 2009 another amazing year for Mitrataa - so thanks! A big thank you must also go to Chetana and all of our partners in Nepal who work tirelessly to change the lives of our women and girls there. Plans for loads of exciting new projects in Nepal as well as events in Australia and Singapore are coming together so keep a look out...
Bec, Adam and the Mitrataa board

Inspirations National Children's Award

2009-12-21T15:47:00.007+08:00

On Saturday, 28th November, we hosted in conjunction with Riviera (the Model School) the inaugural award ceremony for the Inspirations National Children's Award. This is a new program we have launched to promote creativity in the school children of Nepal. It is part of our broader program of introducing different methods of teaching and styles of learning into Nepal's schools. It follows on from many of our other projects including Libby Hathorn's 100 Views, various teacher training workshops, and visits from volunteers including teachers and students from MLC School, Sydney.

This year's award consisted of three categories:

1. Art competition for classes 1 to 3 on the theme 'My Happy Time'
2. Story writing competition for classes 4 to 6 on the theme 'Peace for Children'
3. Poetry writing competition for classes 7 to 9 on the theme 'Peace for Children'

We received over 300 entries from schools across Nepal, both government and private. The overall standard of entries was very impressive. As always, we were surprised and amazed by the insights and different viewpoints children can bring to any subject. This really was an inspiration.

Prizes were awarded for first, second, third and consolation in each category and the top ten finalists in each category also received a certificate. The awards were presented by the Vice-Chancellor of Tribhuvan University, a very well respected academic in Nepal.

The award ceremony was a wonderful celebration of the energy and enthusiasm of children with a variety of dance and song performances, story and poetry readings and even some dramas. A particular highlight from our perspective was a drama performed by the first graduates of our Dream Centre program. They were specially invited to the ceremony to perform a drama they had created on the importance of friendship and including others with differences. Considering the overall theme for this year's award was 'peace' this drama fitted perfectly and the girls' performance was outstanding.

We plan to host this event every year and expect it to grow each time, continually encouraging Nepal's school children to dream and be inspired.

Creative Writing for Kids in Kathmandu

2009-12-16T12:08:00.005+08:00

On our recent trip to Nepal we were joined by our good friend, Australian children's author Libby Hathorn. This was Libby's second visit to Nepal after her wonderfully successful 100 Views Kathmandu program run at our model school in 2008.

This time Libby ran a one day creative writing workshop for class 7 and 8 girls living in the orphanage at Bal Mandir. The program was also joined by 4 specially selected students from the model school, 3 of our Dream Centre facilitators, and two children's authors working with Room-to-Read.

Libby started the workshop talking about different types of creative writing and had plenty of her own work on hand to show as examples. The children were so excited to be sitting in the same room as a published author! She next delved into poetry and had everyone standing and jumping around to act out the words in some poems. Continuing with the focus on words the students were divided into groups and had to work on describing two contrasting feelings/emotions using other similar words. This really got the students thinking and once this was finished, they then had to devise and perform a short drama illustrating the feelings described. Most of the groups chose to mime their dramas and ask the class to guess the feelings being conveyed which led to some hilarious results!

After some quick lunch the final work for the day saw the children begin to write their own poems. Libby shared a number of different techniques for structuring poetry with the class and the results were fantastic! Many of the students really managed to capture some strong feelings and descriptions in their short piece of writing. The class was left with a homework assignment of writing a short story of about two pages in length which they were all eager to begin immediately.

We must once again thank Libby for sharing her wealth of knowledge and experience with us and really making a wonderful day for the students. I'm sure it gave our Dream Centre facilitators and the Room-to-Read writers lots of great new ideas too! Thanks also to Libby and Room-to-Read who both donated books for the children at Bal Mandir to enjoy.

Forum for Daisy Chains Women

2009-12-09T10:41:00.009+08:00

On our recent visit to Kathmandu we hosted a reunion and forum for all of the women in the first group to complete our Daisy Chains project.

Around 30 women attended the program representing 6 of the groups to complete the education and training component of the program. The first item on the agenda was an opportunity for anyone to share their experiences of the program and running their business. We were quite surprised to see the excitement and enthusiasm in the women as they shared their stories of hard work and determination to make their businesses a success.

There was one group of women that really stood out. They started a candle making business which is a fantastic idea in Kathmandu where there are regular blackouts! This group had already paid back their seed money loan, and had even started a second bank account where they store profits that can be used by any member in their group as a loan if they want to start another business. From this second loan account one of their women then started her own bakery/coffee shop. She has now paid back her loan and made enough to open a second bakery/coffee shop - she is franchising! What is even more inspiring about this story is that the woman with the bakeries was married at 9 years of age, she is now 29 and has a 15 year old son. When she started the program she was completely illiterate having never been to school.

There were some similar stories of success however there were also some groups who were struggling. The second session provided a chance for them to share their challenges amongst their peers, who could then provide moral support as well as practical suggestions. The challenges some of the women were facing were not unusual in Nepal and could really be summarised as a lack of confidence combined with inability to commit the time/effort necessary to get the business off the ground. Remember many of these women come from domestic helper backgrounds and must continue this work whilst they are setting up their business. A number of the women also face hostile attitudes at home which can be very demoralising.

The more successful groups were a great support to these women. They told them that they had faced similar hurdles but by sticking together and supporting each other in the group they were able to succeed. I think this message really got through to the women and it was wonderful to see a real mentoring relationship developing.

After a quick lunch it was time for some of the group who had new business ideas to share them and get feedback and suggestions from the group. This again proved to be very productive and you could see the increased motivation and determination in the women as their confidence grew knowing they had the support of everyone present.

The final session for the day was given by Bec who introduced the concept of dreaming and how one small dream can lead to some amazing inventions and business ideas. Following on from this she introduced our Defying Gravity scholarship program and strongly urged the women present to think about applying. The program provides larger scholarships to women who have a larger business plan that will benefit many through employment and the type of business it is. The program includes financial assistance, ongoing mentoring, skills training if needed, and market sourcing. A number of the women were extremely keen to get involved in this program and judging by the successes so far, it is going to be huge!

As everyone left in the afternoon it was heartening to see women exchanging phone numbers, obviously new friendships and support networks had been formed, and existing ones were strengthened. It was an honour to spend the day with such a hard working and inspiring group of women. It left us with no doubt that it is women and girls who are the future of development in countries like Nepal.

More Journalist Workshops

2009-12-01T12:22:00.005+08:00

A few weeks back Janet O’Connor once again joined us in Kathmandu to conduct two half-day workshops for women journalists. This time the topic was feature writing which proved to be a far more challenging course than the previous journalism basics Janet had given.

The workshops were attended by around 25 journalists from in and around Kathmandu covering a range of backgrounds including newspapers, radio, TV, magazines, freelance and student.

The first workshop covered a range of topics including ethics in journalism, differences between hard news and features, different types of introductions and their importance, the importance of structure, and the morning finished with an exercise in mind mapping the structure for a feature article.

The second workshop covered feature analysis, editing and the importance of word choice and being economical with words, and finished with some exercises and discussion on interviews. This last part raised a lot of interest and questions as interviewing is something that many in the group found difficult. Janet had plenty of practical suggestions for helping them to better prepare for and get the most out of their interviews.

All of the topics covered in the workshop really challenged the attendees as many of them had little formal training, instead learning 'on the job'. Also, the general standard of feature writing in Nepal is not high and so it was a great help for the participants to be exposed to examples from international publications as well as having the opportunity to discuss their ideas and raise questions with an experienced journalist.

We must thank Janet profusely for all of her hard work in putting the course together as well as travelling all the way to Kathmandu to share it with us!

Family Trek Update - bookings close soon...

2009-11-23T11:14:00.002+08:00

We've had a wonderful response to our planned Family Trek for 2010.

Due to the majority of people expressing interest being adult, we've decided to go to the culturally more interesting Helambu for a 7 day trek and we'll be staying in village lodges and meeting the locals. It is shaping up to be an interesting and diverse group of like minded souls all interested in Nepal and the betterment of women and girls (in particular!) there.

This means for those of you who were concerned about camping, fear no more! All of the accommodation will be in lodges and guest houses. The structure of the trek also means there will be less walking than before, only about 4 hours per day on average.

We need confirmation by way of deposits by the end of November and there are a few spaces left so do get in touch if you are interested!