Dream Catchers Scholarships Monthly Meeting - Bringing girls together

Introductions of new friends

I love our monthly Dream Catchers Meetings. The energy of having the girls together and sharing their stories, dramas, learnings, always inspires me. This month’s meeting was extra special for several reasons. 

Generally, we hold 2 separate meetings – one for our Kathmandu Dream Catchers (college scholarships) and one for our Bhaktapur, Panauti and Sanga group. Each month, we cover a different theme – leadership, cheer squads of support, cybercrime and online safely have been our recent topics. The girls prepare and lead the meetings. This month we decided to do something different. We combined both groups of girls for a total of around 50 and held our meeting at Riviera, our model school. It was great to see the 2 groups getting to know each other and expanding their support networks. 



Sorting values, projects and team details

The topic was Mitrataa. The girls decided that they needed to improve their knowledge of Mitrataa’s values, history and activities. We explored Mitrataa’s beginnings in 2000, our projects along the way which gave the girls an opportunity to share their experiences with Mitrataa since they have all come to this group through different projects and journeys – the Project Snow Leopard photography group, the Riviera group, the Passion for Life group, Rabindra’s group, the ex-Bal Mandir group. We then discussed Mitrataa’s Values and our Dream Recipe which underpins all of the work we do.
For me, it was the first monthly meeting I have attended since returning to Nepal so I loved catching up with all the girls, seeing how much they have grown over the last few months. Sharing more of Mitrataa’s history with the girls was also an opportunity to celebrate their progress over the last several years. We celebrated Sangita who was one of our first scholarship girls under our new programs in 2007. Back then, she was a shy class 6 student. Now she is a very confident class 12 Travel and Tourism student with big dreams. We celebrated the Passion for Life girls who were in our first batch of Dream Centre girls in Baneshwor and are now in class 11 at Texas College. We celebrated Ashmita’s progress from government school in Panauti to top of her class in class 9 at an English medium school. 



Sangita sharing her journey with Mitrataa

Each girl has an amazing story. Knowing that Mitrataa has played a small role in their stories and their confidence gave me a very warm fuzzy feeling. I am really proud of them and grateful for the opportunity to be a part of their lives. Every single one of them is amazing and I can’t wait to see where their dreams take them.


Ashmita - first in her class in class 9



The power of partnerships - COMO and St Catherine's visit

One of Mitrataa’s core values is networks and the power of partnerships. Over the last few weeks we have seen the wonderful magic that results from the strength of both.
 
COMO Ambassadors Visit

Every year, COMO selects a number of Ambassadors from its staff worldwide. The Ambassadors then choose one of COMO’s partners to visit. We were so fortunate this year to host 2 COMO Ambassadors – Ika from Malaysia and Judy from London. Judy and Ika spent 5 days with us, running various workshops and activities for our network of inspiring girls and women.

 

They taught sales and marketing techniques to our women’s network on Tuesday, made Malaysian traditional crafts with our Passion for Life girls on Wednesday, ran an intensive English workshop for 4 of our Dream Catchers scholarship girls and attended our 20^th Dream Centre graduation at the Wiley Dream Centre on Thursday, attempted to see the mountains at Nagarkot (sorry for the clouds, guys!) and helped us to run a “How to take control of your future” workshop for 35 of our older Dream Catchers scholarship girls in Bhaktapur on Friday and then hosted a Nepali New Year’s Eve Party with momos and games for the children of Bal Mandir on Saturday.

 

 

They were welcomed with open arms at each event – and they gave back their love and energy in equal parts. We thoroughly enjoyed having Judy and Ika with us – they immediately felt very much like part of the Mitrataa family and we welcome them back any time. Thank you both for everything.

 

COMO is a wonderful partner and we are very grateful for all of their support which is not only financial but equally importantly they help us to improve and grow as an organisation. We really enjoy working with them and hope to be given the opportunity to host more COMO Ambassadors in future.

 

St Catherine’s inspire our Dream Centre girls once more

 

Our partnership with St Catherine’s School in Sydney is one of our most successful, and a large part of that is thanks to the commitment, passion and energy of Sarah Hatch, the co-ordinator from the school who works tirelessly to fundraise for Mitrataa as well as to prepare and host the group of St Catherine’s girls every year. It is always a fun-filled and inspiring week when they visit and the group this year was no exception! They taught life skills in our Dream Centres over 3 days with topics varying from team work and motivation to how to work with the community to protect the environment. The week then ended with a celebratory picnic with games, friendship bracelets and a drama performed by our latest Dream Centre graduates. The Dream Centre girls hosted the picnic, showcasing their leadership skills as well as their enthusiasm for games and spending time with their new friends from St Catherine’s.

Our annual picnic with St Catherine’s is the highlight of our Dream Centre network’s year and they are already planning next year’s event! But it is not only the annual visit which makes our relationship with St Catherine’s so valuable. In addition to their fundraising support which we really appreciate, many of their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award students work with us as part of their community service element. This year, 3 girls from St Catherine’s plus Sarah Hatch helped us to launch the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (known as The International Award outside of Commonwealth Countries) for Mitrataa. We look forward to continuing this as our girls in Nepal embark on their International Award journeys also! Watch this space for news of our launch and our plans for the award in Nepal.

 

Thanks to our wonderful partners, COMO and St Catherine’s for your support in enabling us to empower the networks of amazing girls and women we work with in Nepal. We are excited about the possibilities for continuing to grow these partnerships in future!

 

We tailor all of our partnerships to ensure that they are mutual and that we build on each other’s strengths, passions and needs to create powerful, inspiring and fun-filled partnerships. If you or your company are interested in discussing a partnership with Mitrataa, please do not hesitate to let us know. We would love to work with you!

 

 

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…  

Dream Catchers Celebration Day

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 Catchers an inspiration

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.

Dream Catchers scholarship girls

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!

Day 2 Adventures

After a relatively gentle introduction to their work on Tuesday it was full steam ahead for the visitors from Australia on Wednesday as we travelled by bus to Phulbari to meet around 60 of Mitrataa's Dream Catchers scholarship girls.

The bus ride took almost 3 hours due to some traffic and a very rough patch climbing the hills into the village but it was worth it when we finally arrived at the top of the ridge to be greeted by most of the village, a lovely cool breeze and some fresh air! First stop was a visit to the local school where we each received a garland and walked through a tunnel of clapping students. It was fantastic to see that the school was as clean as we had left it after last year's clean-up campaign by MLC. We had a quick look around the school and showed the visitors the murals MLC had painted last year - it was great to see that this had inspired the school to start putting more of the students' art on the classroom walls.

We then proceeded up a hill to our lunch destination, a lovely courtyard at the entrance to a big organic fruit and vegetable garden. Lunch consisted of mostly local produce from the garden and was as good a dahl bhat as you would find anywhere in Nepal. As everyone then had tummies full of rice and curry we decided to wait a while before starting the day's activities - the Phulbari Olympics!

At the top of the hill inside the organic garden was a shaded area where we all sat and were treated to some singing and dancing by the local girls. This was a great way to get the normally shy girls warmed up and it didn't take them long. Of course it was then expected that the Australians would also perform so they hastily made plans and sang fantastic renditions of Kookaburra, Waltzing Matilda and Home Among The Gum Trees. The last one was particularly popular thanks to the entertaining actions that go with each line!

It was then time for the real fun to begin. We divided the girls into 5 groups and they each had to choose a country as their team name but they were not allowed to choose Nepal or Australia. Canada, Korea, USA, China and Singapore were chosen and with that the games began.

The 5 teams had to move through 6 stations covering cup stacking, three-legged race, wheel barrow race, balloon race, 'beach' flag sprint and captain ball. It was hilarious to watch the chaos that ensued as most of the girls had clearly never seen any of these games before. They all gave it their best shot however as their team pride was at stake. In some cases it was even more entertaining when the Australians tried to demonstrate the activities as in the case of the three-legged race!

After a good hour and a half of craziness in the hot afternoon sun the Phulbari Olympics drew to a close and it was time to present the winners with their prizes. All girls received a participation certificate and a gold medal sticker however there were extra prizes for the top 3 teams. Canada was in 3rd position, Singapore came in 2nd, and perhaps no surprise the USA finished on top! The afternoon was a great success and demonstrated to the kids and their teachers that you can have a lot of fun with very minimal amounts of equipment or resources.

We finished with some group photos before making our way back to the bus for the bumpy ride back to Kathmandu. There were clearly some cases of heat stroke as some very ordinary joke telling, trivia questions and singing took place to pass the time as the bus crawled through a traffic jam on the outskirts of the city. I'm sure the group slept very well that night!

In Kathmandu Again

I arrived here again on Tuesday and am frantically checking everything is in order for a visit by a group of teachers from IB schools in Australia, lead by Rosemary King from MLC. After such a fantastic week with MLC here last year Rosemary has inspired a new group of teachers to come and see for themselves just how far their help can go. The group also includes 2 students from MLC and 3 of their parents, so whilst it is a much smaller group than last year it means each person will be able to have much more personal involvement in each of the activities. Look out for more postings and photos as the activities unfold next week!

The new school year starts in Nepal from Sunday (19th April) so it is a busy time for the Dream Catchers project too. Thank you to all of our sponsors who have recently renewed their contributions and to those who may have forgotten - there is still time so... We expect to be significantly increasing the number of girls receiving scholarships this year which is very exciting and is thanks to the generosity and support of so many.

I will be checking on all of our other projects whilst here as well, especially the new ones we are planning to start this year so stay tuned for updates on that too. Just a short post this time as electricity is still limited and my laptop battery is running low!

While I think of it, Mitrataa is now on Facebook as a 'cause' so take a look and become a member if you are a Facebookphile!

More soon...

Sarah takes on Dream Catchers!

As Mitrataa is continuing to grow we have recently had the good fortune of being able to add two new directors to our board. I will write a separate entry to introduce them soon but in the mean time I want to introduce you all to Sarah Johnstone. Sarah has been on the board since 2005 and she has been invaluable in that time in helping us with administrative matters in Australia. Recently however we have allocated more specific roles and responsibilities to each of the directors and Sarah is now manager for the Dream Catchers Scholarship project!

As most of you would know, Dream Catchers is the project that started the Foundation and it has continued to grow every year. We are now providing scholarships to almost 130 girls in Nepal and that number is set to increase again very soon with the start of the new school year. This means the work of managing this project has become enormous and as such we feel it would be better served if I was to hand the reins over to Sarah to focus on! In particular, Sarah will manage most of the communication with sponsors particularly with regard to sending reports each term and collecting sponsorship fees each year. Sarah will also manage the waiting list for girls needing scholarships whilst I will continue to manage the Nepal end.

The reason for this blog then is to firstly welcome Sarah to her new role, and secondly to let all of our valued sponsors know that you may soon start to receive emails from Sarah. From a sponsor’s perspective it will be business as usual so please feel free to contact Sarah if you have any questions or comments and of course you are still most welcome to contact Bec or myself.

Finally, I am in Kathmandu again for the next 12 days and hope to be able to provide some blog updates on the various new projects we are exploring this year. However, the electricity situation here has not improved since my last visit so ….

Do something different this Christmas...

Stuck for ideas for a gift for someone special? Why not give them a unique gift that changes lives?

We currently have 30 girls on our waiting list for scholarships to attend school in Nepal. Without an education these girls will join the almost 60% of women in Nepal who are illiterate, condemning them to a life of limited opportunity and a lot of struggle.

For only AU$300 per year you can change a girl’s life forever. This amount covers school fees, uniform, text books and stationery, and any incidentals such as lunch and basic medical care – enough to start a young girl on the path to catching her dreams!


What an amazing thing to give someone less fortunate than you – a gift that makes a lasting impact.

You can read more about the Dream Catchers program at our website.

If you want to give this gift to a friend or family member, simply email us today to organise payment. We will prepare an information sheet for your recipient which will include details of the girl they are supporting and a photo. They will then receive updates throughout the year on the girl’s progress.

Please also forward this to anyone you think would like to make a difference.

In Nepal Again!

Bec and I have just arrived back in Kathmandu and will be here for about a month. During that time we will be checking on all of the Foundation’s projects as well as launching an exciting and fun new initiative – more to come on that soon.

We will be visiting many of the girls studying in school thanks to Dream Catchers scholarships and also collecting their first term school reports. If you are sponsoring one of these lucky girls expect to receive a school report soon!

We will also be checking in on the various groups of women studying and working through our Daisy Chains project. There are around 280 women participating in this project at the moment and our goal is to reach around 500 so it’s a great start but we still have some work to do.

I hope this posting finds everyone happy and healthy in whatever they may be doing. As always, please feel free to get in touch with us, particularly if it relates to us being in Nepal.

Stay tuned for details of our new project and other updates…

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!

Picnic in Phulbari

Saturday brought a complete change of pace for Sarah and D as we held a picnic for those girls with scholarships to go to school outside of Kathmandu. This group comprised 30 girls from Bhaktapur, Panauti and Phulbari. The picnic was held in the village of Phulbari, nearby to the school we have been working with there. It was organised with the help of Rabindra Puri, one of our partners in Nepal, and his team of ever helpful and enthusiastic staff.

We first had to make our way to Bhaktapur to meet the bus that would take us and some of the girls the rest of the way. Fuel shortages have become such a problem in Nepal that the queue of vehicles on the highway actually blocked the entire road at one point. Fortunately we had a taxi driver who thought nothing of driving off into a field at the side of the road and despite almost becoming bogged a number of times, he successfully managed to navigate us past the jam and back onto the road safely. In Bhaktapur there was time for a few quick photos around Durbar Square before we joined the bus and were on our way. Once on the highway climbing out of the valley the driver turned on some very loud Nepali pop music and the atmosphere was complete. Wind blowing on our faces, rice paddies and mud huts perched on the hillside, and a bus full of Nepali girls singing at full volume!

We were greeted enthusiastically in Phulbari by the girls from the school there as well as a number of curious villagers. We walked a small way up the hill to our lunch destination – a local restaurant that has its own organic farm garden on the hillside. Rabindra decided to get things going by starting a game in which each person had to say their name followed by a unique hand gesture. The trick was that the next person had to recite all of the names before them including their gestures. The worst part was that we were towards the end of about 45 people! Fortunately Rabindra sensed our growing anxiety and changed the rules half way through so that each person only had to recite any 5 names and gestures of the people before them.

Once introductions were complete and everyone was in fits of laughter (the hand gestures became more elaborate and ridiculous as the game wore on!), it was time for some traditional folk songs and even some dancing. Some girls were more shy than others to be involved but there were others who were unstoppable. Before long everyone was clapping and singing along and the songs just kept coming. This was a great way to work up our hunger and thankfully after an hour of songs lunch was served. We all piled our plates with a delicious dahl bhat including vegetables and curry made from items grown in the organic garden. It really was one of the tastiest dahl bhats I have ever enjoyed.

With full stomachs we set off up the hill to the helipad that would be our playground for the afternoon. Walking through the organic garden was truly magic, it was so lush and peaceful and looked out over the valley to the north. On a clear day you can see a sweeping vista of the Himalayas from here but this is not the time of year for that, nonetheless the view was beautiful. When we reached the top the view extended for a full 360˚ and was truly breathtaking. Hard to imagine a more inspiring a spot to play sport anywhere in the world!

Sarah and D had brought some games to play with the girls including badminton and rounders (like softball). Some of the girls immediately started a game of badminton but with the three of us demonstrating, a few of them gradually took an interest in rounders as well. Soon there were balls flying everywhere and girls running and screaming with delight all over the field. It was amazing to just stand back and watch all of the girls having so much fun for an afternoon without a care in the world. We should remember that these girls come from extremely poor backgrounds and many live in pretty awful conditions. To give them a day like this was truly special and it is a memory they will always cherish. Many new friendships were made and it was great to see everyone playing together without concern for religion or caste etc.

All too soon the sun began to approach the hills to the west and we had to bring the games to an end. After a quick cup of tea and tour of the Phulbari school we piled back on to the bus and started making our way down the rocky dirt track, music blaring and the singing louder than ever. By now D had managed to learn some of the words so she joined in and even taught the girls some interesting new dance moves!


Our very special thanks must go to Sarah and D for sharing in such a fantastic day and for donating the sports equipment to the school in Phulbari. We must also thank Rabindra and his team for organising everything and helping to make the day such a resounding success! We plan this to have been the first of many such days in the future.

Back in Kathmandu!

We arrived in Kathmandu without incident on Sunday morning after taking an alternate route on Air China via Chengdu and Lhasa. The usual Thai flights have been booked out for weeks which is a fantastic sign for Nepal, which is absolutely buzzing with tourists. Another bonus for us was flying over the expanse of the Himalayas and directly alongside Mount Everest – a view that always inspires.

It is the middle of the major festival time in Nepal which always adds to the excitement around town. Many Nepalis are wearing their best clothes and racing from house to house to share food with their friends and families. There are often offerings placed on the streets and out the front of people’s homes in the hope of attracting Laxmi, the goddess of wealth, into the home or shop.

On Monday we met with some Nepali friends who invited us to their home for some dal bhat, well I should say it was rather more special than the usual variety. They placed about 15 dishes in front of us containing everything from spicy chicken to goat’s lung and most things in between. It was wonderful to share the festival experience with a local family. We also talked with them about the current political situation in the country and unfortunately it sounds as though things are as up in the air as always.

Tuesday was the first day of ‘work’ and our first task was collecting our friend, Janet, from the airport – always an adventure in its own right! This is Janet’s first visit to Nepal and she is planning to work with us on devising some Journalism training program for women journalists. We will also be showing her some of the sights of Kathmandu as well as some of the projects we have been working on.

In the afternoon we met with Milan and Shanti, directors of CWISH, one of our partner organisations in Kathmandu. We had many projects to discuss with them and are excited to confirm that we will be running our first teacher training program in the model school at the beginning of November. Bec will be conducting a 3 day course for the teachers of the school on different teaching methods encompassing different learning styles. This is the first step in our long term plan to make the model school a resource for this type of work so that we can then expand the program to other teachers and schools thoughout all of Nepal!

On the model school, CWISH have taken over an existing school for this purpose about 1 month ago. We will be visiting the school next week and helping them with plans for decoration and sourcing resources and equipment. The school currently has about 200 students between Nursery and class 10, including 40 students living in the school hostel. We will be looking at a particular scholarship program that will be run through this school in the coming months so stay tuned!

We also discussed the jounalism program with Janet, Milan and Shanti. We are going to conduct an initial session one morning with some young women journalists who are currently working on their own community radio station. We hope to get an idea from speaking with them about exactly what type of things they are most interested in receiving support for and also an idea of what they are most passionate about in pursuing journalism in Nepal. From there we will be able to devise a program targeted to their needs and aspirations, and this can then be run on future visits to Nepal.

So, as you can see it’s full steam ahead for us here! Later in the week we will be visiting Bhaktapur and possibly Phulbari, and also checking in on some of the sponsored girls. As always we love to hear from you if you have any comments or questions – particularly whilst we are here in case it is something related to being in Nepal. That’s all for now but look out for more updates soon…