Sharing our gifts with the world!



Simon (left) and Chitiz showing their passion for dance

As you know, at Mitrataa we believe every single one of us has a gift to offer the world – we just have to find it, practise it (not such a challenge when it is something we enjoy doing!) and work out how to share it to inspire others.  

 

With the children we work with in Nepal, we work with them to identify their gifts, passions and strengths, and then we build on these. Simon for example, is a natural dancer. It is his way of expressing himself and he does it beautifully. Sabitri has the most incredible voice. It is a privilege to listen to her sing (unfortunately her current favourite songs are all One Direction!). Rebina loves to draw and can often be found sketching. Each child is different – but each has a gift. Once we identify these gifts, encouraging the children to develop these gifts also provides motivation for them with their studies and dealing with other challenges in life. It builds their resilience and their confidence.

 

Sabitri opens her heart through her singing

The same principle applies with fundraising, which is why we set our supporters our Passion Challenge – to use your passion or strengths to raise money for Mitrataa, and build your resilience and confidence at the same time. This is exactly what Aidan has been doing. He will be visiting us in Nepal in March with his father, Myron. Aidan is a passionate 14-year old basketballer. So what better way to raise money than to shoot hoops? And so he set himself a challenge – he would shoot one hoop for each dollar donated to Mitrataa. He has already exceeded his target of $1,000 and is preparing to shoot his 1,000 hoops soon. But let’s challenge him to shoot even more – there is still time to donate and raise his total. You can donate online at:

https://give.everydayhero.com/au/shooting-hoops-for-mitrataa

 

 

 

So what are you doing to discover your special gift, your talents, strengths and passions? Don’t keep them to yourselves. Share them with the world. And if you need an excuse, you can take our Passion Challenge and raise money for us at the same time, exactly as Aidan has. Have fun! And thanks so much, Aidan. Can’t wait to have you with us here in a few months!

 

Aidan practises for his "Shooting Hoops for Mitrataa" Passion Challenge

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Don't miss out! Order your copy today!

 

Take our Passion Challenge today!

At Mitrataa, we are all about using our passions and strengths to achieve our goals - whether with the women and girls we work with in Nepal, as an organisation, or in our fundraising. So we are excited to launch our new fundraising program which encourages you to use your wonderful passions to raise $1,000 to allow the women and girls of Nepal to use theirs to achieve their dreams.

You can read about our Passion Challenge here – www.mitrataa.org/Passion-Challenge.pdf

And to get you started, complete our Strengths and Passions Activity here – www.mitrataa.org/Strengths-Passions-Activity.pdf

We cannot wait to hear your stories of how you go. So take up the challenge today and have some fun while contributing to Mitrataa's work at the same time. Who could ask for more!

Please help us reach our goal of 50 passionate fundraisers taking up the Challenge by passing this on to your friends and family and even getting a group together.

Thanks so much for your support. Have fun!

Bec xox

 

Libby Hathorn inspires our girls with poetry

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!

Wiley Runs for the Biggest Dream Yet!

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!

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!

Time to get your walking shoes on ...

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!!!

Great way to become involved - become an Everyday Hero!

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. 

Bec speaks at Kirrawee High School

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!

Wine Tasting Fundraiser

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.

Run the City2Surf in Sydney for Mitrataa

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!

Great Effort!

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!

Running for Mitrataa

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!

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!

Amazing People!

I recently posted a message from Yegane, a former volunteer who was raising money for Mitrataa by running the Chicago marathon. Well I am so proud and happy to report that Yegane completed the marathon in a fantastic time of 4:22:00. This is particularly impressive when you think that the temperature only reached 5°C towards the end of the marathon! As well as this mighty effort, through her friends and supporters Yegane has managed to raise around AU$2,000 for Mitrataa. So to all of these people we say a huge "thank you"!

We also recently received a AU$700 donation from a group of friends who have adopted Mitrataa as their charity for fundraising events through their work social club. To raise this money the group held a trivia night and also a muffin sale for morning tea in their office. Thanks so much guys!

These are just two examples of how easy it is for anyone to contribute and make a difference to any cause that is important to them.

With AU$2,700 in Nepal we can:

* Educate 40 women in basic literacy, numeracy and business skills, and give them a small loan to start a business; and
* Send 2 Nepali girls to school for a year, giving them books, stationery, uniforms and everything else they need to study.

So as you can see, so much can be achieved with relatively small amounts of money - so many lives can be changed forever.

Thank you so much again to Yegane and everyone mentioned above, and to all of our supporters. It is due to all of you that we are able to do something to substantially change the lives of women and girls in Nepal.

Family Trek 2010

We are excited to share that our first fundraising trek will take place in April next year (2010). This trip will provide a fantastic opportunity for you and a relative to visit Nepal, participate in a relatively easy trek that allows you to take in some breathtaking views of the Himalayas, and visit some of our projects in and around Kathmandu.

We have designed the trip with families in mind making it ideal for parents and children, brothers and sisters, couples etc. Numbers for the trip will be kept quite small, up to about 16 people maximum, so it also provides the perfect opportunity to meet people who share your interest in Nepal.

More information about the trip can be found at our website.

Contact details are also provided on the site or you can email me directly for more information including pricing. Closing date for bookings for the trip is 30 November 2009.

We look forward to the opportunity of sharing the beauty and magic of Nepal with you!

Chicago Marathon Fundraiser

Hi! Below is a post from a volunteer who is now running the Chicago Marathon to raise money for Mitrataa(!).

Hello!
 
I hope life is treating you well.
 
Last December while in Nepal, I had the privilege to have a short volunteering experience where I visited about 10 literacy classes for the girls and women of Kathmandu sponsored by Mitrataa Foundation which is a small charity founded and ran by a couple of kind Australians. I was asked by Mitrataa to assess the progress of the classes. I was amazed with the enthusiasm of the students whose age varied between 14 and 60! I was told by the teacher of a class that a student who was 60 years old filled a whole exercise book as soon as she could write her name first time in her life! The classes also teach women how to start and run a small business so that women are empowered to have a better life over all. (This is our Daisy Chains project.)
 
Most of the students attended the classes in between their chores and earning a living while working in terrible conditions for less than a dollar a day. After this short but incredible experience, I promised myself that my next fund raising effort would be for the Mitrataa Foundation as I have seen what they try to provide to these unfortunate women who happened to be born in the wrong part of the world.
 
Due to being based away from all friends (e.g. being in my home town in Turkey for the past 3 months) I didn't think it was logistically possible for me to have a fund raiser effort for the Chicago Marathon that I am suppose to run on Sunday. BUT I have not done much training and I really need an incentive to finish the bloody thing! I NEED your help! Please, please would you sponsor me so that I finish the Marathon? I am going to be in huge pain and may give up half way because after all what is the point? But if I know that those less fortunate than me will benefit from my pain, I will continue until the end!  GO ON - help me and those who really really need it!
 
And here are the pictures of my visit to these classes.
 
With tons of love.
Yegane

PS - When you pledge, I will give you the link to make an online donation - so it is dead easy!

To donate now, click here to go to our website and then click on the blue 'Make a Donation' button in the top right corner. This will take you to our PayPal page and from there just follow the instructions.

Indigo Bazaar Fundraiser

Last Friday (17th July) evening about 50 people braved the cold to visit the home of our good friend and Mitrataa supporter Libby Hathorn, where our first Indigo Bazaar was held to raise money for the Foundation. Mitrataa directors Judy Tenzing and Sarah Bartram had been shopping frantically in Nepal and India earlier in the year to collect items made by organisations that share our goals and that could be displayed and sold at the bazaar. Libby graciously offered the use of her home for the event and together the three of them put on a fantastic evening as well as offering a second chance for shoppers the next day.

Some finger food was provided by our friend Raju, owner of Roxanne cafe on Glebe Point Road in Sydney. Others provided snacks, cheese and biscuits but from all accounts the piece de resistance was a tiramisu generously made by one of Libby's friends!

Being well fed and with wine glasses kept full guests were able to enjoy a slide show of Nepal including some of the Mitrataa projects as well as mingling with people who shared their interest in helping people in this part of the world. Of course the serious business of the evening was selling things and with a beautiful array of shawls, throws, jewellery, handmade paper products and other handicrafts on offer, people were only too happy to buy. By the time everything was wrapped up on Saturday afternoon we had managed to collect around $3,500 in profits which will go directly to Mitrataa and the women and girls of Nepal.

Huge thanks must go to Libby for the use of her place and her continuing support. Also to Sarah and Judy who have been working for months to put this event together and ensured that it was such a great success. Thanks also to our other board members who were able to attend and did some of the running around in the lead up to the evening. Lastly, thanks to everyone who attended, made a purchase and contributed to making the event a lot of fun!

Run for a Dream in the news!

Just a quick post to share a newspaper clipping from The Straits Times (Singapore). The story was run on the same day (6 June) as our Run for a Dream event with John Wiley & Sons (ASIA). Great publicity for a fantastic day!

Wiley Runs for a Dream!

Last Saturday (6th June) saw around 250 people in Singapore rise early to take part in the Wiley Run For A Dream event. This event was the first stage of a partnership between Mitrataa and publishing company, John Wiley & Sons (ASIA), that has seen Wiley raise the funds to sponsor its own Dream Centre in Kathmandu.

To raise the funds Wiley set up a fun run challenge in which teams could register to compete in either a 10km run, 10km walk, 5km run or 5km walk. The requirement to complete the challenge was that each team had to compete their chosen event in a specified time eg. the 10km run had to be completed (by all team members) within 65 minutes. I had been involved with Wiley in the lead up to the event giving them presentations on our work in Nepal and how their contribution would make a difference, and I was amazed at the depth of commitment shown by the staff. They were holding regular training sessions after work during the week and it was fantastic to see how the program had served to develop a real camaraderie within the company.

All of the hard work paid off last Saturday when everyone arrived at East Coast Park at 7am to register for the 8am start. It was a bit early for a Saturday but necessary given the heat and humidity in Singapore not to mention the crowds that would later converge on the park!

The enthusiasm from all the participants was infectious and inspiring, it was great to be a part of something so big and full of positivity. Such was the dedication of the Wiley staff that one staff member even traveled to Singapore by bus from Kuala Lumpur just to take part! Special coloured t-shirts had been organised for the event with different colours for each category. This meant it was easy to spot participants as we were in either bright green, yellow, blue or red t-shirts with our friendly volunteers in bright orange. Starts for each category were staggered so that we made a string of colour up and down the paths along the park.

When all the events were finished and everyone was sufficiently exhausted (and I did manage to complete the 10km run!) it was time for some ‘thank yous’ and the presentation of a (literally) huge cheque for SG$12,000.00 (about AU$10,300.00). Bec and I were so honoured to receive this from Mark Allin, VP for Wiley in Asia. The money will be used to establish the Wiley Dream Centre and includes operating costs for the first 2 years. We anticipate the Centre being in operation in November this year.

We want to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Wiley for their support and contributions, it really was inspiring and we look forward to more exciting programs together. We would also particularly like to thank Alina Boey, Senior Manager for Corporate Communications at Wiley, who dedicated so much of her energy and time to ensuring the program was such a great success!