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.

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!!!

Quick update

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...

Quick Update

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!  

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!

Bec Presents at The Women's College

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.

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!

Amazing documentary launch!

Last Tuesday evening (18th November) saw the culmination of months of work both in Sydney and in Kathmandu with the launch of the 100 Views Kathmandu documentary. The event was held at The Ritz in Randwick and we had the pleasure of sharing the evening with over 200 friends and supporters. Jessica Rowe added a touch of class to the evening in graciously donating her time to act as MC.

As many of you will know, 100 Views is a celebration of community through the arts, a program devised for schools by children's author Libby Hathorn. Libby travelled with her friend, Pat Granville Smith, to Kathmandu earlier in the year and together they introduced 100 Views to the teachers and students at our Model School, Riviera International Academy. You can read more about their trip including some blog postings by visiting our website. You can read more about 100 Views in general by visiting the website.

Libby arranged a film crew to document her journey in Kathmandu and the result was the fantastic film we were able to enjoy last Tuesday. The film covered a host of topics including the history of the 100 Views program and the introduction of it to Nepal, but more importantly for us it wove this into the story of Mitrataa and our work to help women and girls in Nepal. This meant that the evening provided a great opportunity for us to spread the word of the plight of people in Nepal and the ways people in Australia can help.

Michelle Kline from Randwick City Library Service did an amazing job in planning the event and managing everything on the night. This really was a huge job and I don't think any of us really understand how much work was involved. All that is left is to say a huge "thanks" to Michelle for her dedication and work, and also to the library and Randwick City Council for their support. The Council was extremely generous in covering the costs of the evening so that all proceeds from ticket sales went directly to Mitrataa!

There was a hotly contested raffle during the evening with some fantastic prizes - a 42inch plasma TV, a weekend at Lilianfels in the Blue Mountains, and a dozen bottles of wine. We must give a hugh thank you to the sponsors for these prizes - Phil Favero The Good Guys, Premier Capital Developments and Time Recruitment.

By the end of the evening we were completely exhausted and overwhelmed by the amount of support being shown throughout, not to mention getting over the shock of seeing ourselves on the "big screen" for the first time! It really was so inspiring and motivating to see so much interest and support being generated. Of course our biggest thanks must go to Libby who dared to dream by taking 100 Views to Nepal in the first place. Then to also film the whole thing and produce a documentary that lead us to such a brilliant evening last Tuesday well, it doesn't seem enough but thanks Libby!

As a result of the contribution and work of people like Libby and Michelle, the Foundation raised almost $8,000.00 on the night! The best part is that more donations and offers of support and volunteering are still coming in so the sky now really is the limit! Thanks to everyone who shared the evening with us and also thanks to the many others I have not mentioned here who helped to make the evening such a great success!

Time to catch my breath

Unbelievably I am now sitting in my office back in Shanghai after a whirlwind last week in Sydney. I am trying to keep the blog up to date with everything that has been going on but I can't keep track of all of it myself at the moment! Some of the main happenings are listed below...

On Friday 18th I gave a presentation to the staff at LEAP Legal in Sydney. I in fact used to work for LEAP before Bec and I left Sydney and two of our board members, Hunter and Sarah, still work for them. I spoke for around half an hour about how the Foundation was started and then about all of the projects we are working on at the moment. It was great fun to re-visit my past life in Sydney and of course I always get a buzz from talking about Nepal and the Foundation. The highlight of the experience however was the very sizable cheque that was presented to me as a donation to Mitrataa. As well as this LEAP have set it up so that staff can contribute to the Foundation on a monthly basis directly from their salary. They are also exploring other fundraising ideas and opportunities for us. I have to say this turned out to be an amazing afternoon and just when I thought I was beginning to feel exhausted and drained this filled me up and set my mind racing with more ideas for projects and ways to impact Nepal.

I want to express my heartfelt thanks to Christian Beck, CEO and Richard Hugo-Hamman, General Manager at LEAP for contributing so significantly to our work. It really means so much and enables us to make a difference to many more people struggling throughout Nepal.

During my final week in Sydney I devoted my time to MLC Sydney as there was much follow-up work from their trip to Nepal in April as well as plans for future trips and projects. I attended a devotional assembly at the school at which I was interviewed by two of the girls from the Nepal trip, this was an interesting take on talking about Nepal and it was a lot of fun if not also a little daunting to have to think on my feet with hundreds of school girls watching! Some of the girls also shared some of their feelings and experience from the trip and it was great to hear how they felt about it after they had returned home and had time to process everything.

I spoke at another assembly at the school, and then followed this with a talk to Years 8 and 10 students about non-government organisations and how they work. I found this really rewarding as it gave me a chance to speak more about some of the logistical and administrative things we have to do as part of the work of the Foundation, the things people generally don't see or hear about. My final presentation to the school was in response to a donation of money raised by the girls since their return from Kathmandu. This money was to be applied to the Daisy Chains project so I spoke to everyone about the background to the project, how it works, and then introduced them to the group of women they would specifically be helping. I think this meant a lot to the girls, particularly those who had been involved in the fundraising as it made very real the contribution they were making and hopefully it will inspire them to continue to be involved in these types of activities.

I walked out the gates of MLC at 3:20pm on Thursday and after a farewell dinner with some friends found myself at Sydney airport on Friday morning wondering where the last month had gone!

I want to take this opportunity to once again thank everyone who I met during my visit to Sydney and especially those who have contributed in so many different and wonderful ways to the Foundation and our ongoing work. 2008 has already proven to be our most successful and exciting year yet - and we are only just over half way through it!

Great things happening

There hasn't been much time for reflection during my visit to Australia but I thought I would just take a minute to put down a few of the great things that have been going on for the Foundation.

As a result of the fantastic evening Libby Hathorn hosted at her home recently I have met some more very inspiring and positive people who are now helping Mitrataa along with Libby. In particular Michelle Kline and Joanne Fedler have been so generous with their ideas and their time. Michelle works for the Randwick City Library Service and she has co-ordinated the donation of a large number of children's books from the library. We will take these books to Nepal for use in the library at the Model School. Michelle is also working with Joanne and Libby on a launch event for a documentary on Libby's recent trip to Kathmandu to introduce the 100Views Art & Literacy program there. More news on that event once details are finalised. Joanne is an author (check out her website) and she has written the most touching piece about Mitrataa and put it on her blog which you can read by clicking here.

These three women truly are inspirational to Bec and I and we want to thank them from the bottom of our hearts for their support, it really does mean a lot to us and we are so grateful.

I have spoken at a couple more Rotary club evenings and was presented with a cheque for $500.00 from the Castle Hill club last night. This was most unexpected and I must give a big "thanks" to the club and also to Rhonda Radford for introducing me to the club. Rhonda's daughter, Sarah, is one of the directors of Mitrataa and I fear she will soon be spending her days collecting donations of books, clothes and toys to be shipped to Kathmandu!

So as you can see its all systems go for Mitrataa at the moment. I have plenty more engagements in Sydney and then it won't be long before Bec and I are back in Kathmandu following up on all of the projects - exciting times!

In Australia

After an absolutely amazing and exhausting 3 months in Nepal, and a quick 2 week visit home to Shanghai, I am now in Australia following up on all of the projects and doing some fundraising and admin work.

I have given presentations to a number of companies and Rotary Clubs with more to come in the next 2 weeks. I also had the pleasure of attending a dinner that was held by our good friend and supporter Libby Hathorn. Libby visited Kathmandu with her friend, Pat Granville Smith, and together they launched 100Views Art & Literacy at the Model School there. You can read more about this on our blog by clicking here. Libby arranged for a documentary to be filmed chronicling the experience and part of the purpose for the dinner was to generate interest in that. The documetary should be finished soon and we expect it to be a fantastic tool for raising the profile of 100Views as well as Mitrataa. There was a group of just over 30 people at the dinner and I had the opportunity to speak at length about the history of Mitrataa, our current projects, and some of our ideas and dreams for the future. We then held an open forum in which people were able to throw out ideas for fundraising, projects, and ways that they and others could become involved. It really was an inspiring and uplifting evening and I left with my head buzzing with new ideas and even more motivation.

A huge "thank you" must go to Libby and to Pat (who I have now discovered is a brilliant chef!) for hosting the evening and catering for it so well. So many possibilities and opportunities have already come out of it for which we are very grateful.

With many more presentations, meetings and functions to attend in the next 2 weeks I am sure there will be much more news as 2008 continues to be our most exciting and successful year so far!

Travelling Again!

Namaste again and apologies for the gap on posting lately! I returned to Shanghai from Kathmandu on Tuesday (5th June) after a very productive and rewarding trip. I barely had time to wash my clothes and detox myself before Bec and I were on a plane to Sydney the next Saturday (9th June).

Our time in Sydney has been extremely hectic in terms of catching up with friends and family but most importantly we have also had the opportunity to get some work done for the Foundation. We met with the board of directors in Sydney and spent a few hours discussing my recent trip to Kathmandu as well as plans for many of the projects to move forward. Some simple little things that we have worked out include adding PayPal to the website for easier donation/sponsorship payment, adding a subscribe button to this blog so we can spread the Mitrataa story further more easily, and making plans for more regular fundraising ideas for Sydney.

At the rather inhumane time of 7:30am on Tuesday (12th June) we visited MLC Burwood (a private girls' school in Sydney) to discuss Nepal and plans for a group of girls to visit next year. This is a really exciting project that now has around 28 people booked in to attend. They will travel to Nepal in April 2008, spend one week trekking and seeing the sights, and then the second week will be spent working on various projects for the Foundation. It was awesome, as always, to have the opportunity to speak to a group of people about our experiences in Nepal and share some of our passion and enthusiasm for doing work there. As plans become more concrete we will post details on our website - http://www.mitrataa.org/.

We also had the good fortune of being able to give a presentation about the Foundation to one of the Sydney district Rotary Clubs. This was organised through one of our good friends and directors, Sarah Johnstone. Again, we were more than happy to have the opportunity to speak about Nepal and we are hoping that we may be able to work with the Club on some initiatives in the new fiscal year.

That's all for now, Bec and I are spending this week in Bendigo having a bit of a retreat and catching up on some work that inevitably arises from all of this travel!