St Cath's and Mitrataa in the Sun Herald

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.

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

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!

 

MLC back in Kathmandu Part 2

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

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…  

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!

St Cath's at the Dream Centre

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.

Connecting Dreams

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.

Inspirations National Children's Award

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.

Adam Speaks at UWC in Singapore

On Tuesday (24th February) I visited the students in Grade 5 at United World College South East Asia (UWCSEA) in Singapore. The visit was the result of a discussion with one of our friends here whose son, Dash Baldwin, attends the school. The school is an IB school and his class had already been supporting an organisation in Nepal for some time as part of their global concern program. The organisation is CWIN (Child Workers in Nepal) which works with child domestic labourers in Nepal, a problem that I have mentioned in a number of previous posts and that we deal with every day through Dream Catchers and other programs.

We thought the class might enjoy hearing from someone who works in Nepal and we also took the opportunity to show some of the 100 Views Kathmandu documentary. Dash introduced me to the other students and he gave an excellent run down on Mitrataa and what we do – he had obviously taken a good look at our website and prepared very well! Next I had invited a number of students to prepare questions they could ask me so that the session was as helpful and relevant for them as possible. A number of them came up on stage with some very inquisitive questions for me; for example:

• how many child workers are there in Nepal? (about 100,000)
• how many kids live on the streets in Nepal? (about 5,000)
• what is the standard of education in Nepal? (pretty good for those who can afford it)
• how young are the children when they become domestic labourers? (can be as young as 3 but typically about 8-10)


I then briefly introduced the 100 Views program and how it tied in with the work we did with our model school and teacher training in Nepal. I explained that most teaching in Nepal is still very much based on a rote learning model and that we were working to try and change this.

It was then time to show the documentary. I could tell that the kids were engaged as they were quiet the whole time and I often heard gasps as they saw scenes of children collecting rubbish, carting large baskets on their heads, sitting in tiny classrooms with dirt floors. I think the whole presentation was well received and I certainly enjoyed the visit. We are exploring ways that some of the Grade 5 classes may be able to have an ongoing connection with some of their peers in Nepal, most likely at the model school.

I want to thank Dash for his fantastic introduction and to his teacher, Kari Twedt, for welcoming me and being so helpful with arranging everything to make the session such a great success! Thanks also to all the Grade 5 students who showed such an interest and inspired me with the involvement they already have with Nepal and their desire and eagerness to learn and do even more.