Day with dogs and a donkey...need therapy anyone?!

Yesterday afternoon provided us with one of the most enjoyable experiences here as we visited the KAT centre, just north of Kathmandu city. KAT is an organisation that rescues street dogs, provides them with vaccinations against rabies and other health care and also gives them the ‘family planning’ operation. When appropriate, the dogs are then fostered out to families or in some instances returned to the street. Kathmandu has a relatively large street dog problem although this has noticeably reduced in the past few years thanks to the work done by KAT. It is very important work as rabies is a serious problem when you have dogs roaming the streets amongst people and particularly children. It also helps to reduce the spread of other diseases which has to be a good thing for everybody.

We are working with KAT to introduce a Pets as Therapy program to Kathmandu. You can read more about this on our website - http://www.mitrataa.org/projects/pets_as_therapy.htm. In 2 weeks time we will be taking 3 of the well trained dogs from KAT to the Bal Mandir orphanage to let a small group of children play with them. The long term plan is to have these dogs provide stimulation and support to the disabled children at the orphanage, and then to expand to other orphanages and maybe even hospitals around the valley. We will also be providing a fun education program to the kids on appropriate ways to treat animals and the importance of looking after the health of animals to protect all of us.

As a part of this project we are also helping KAT with their animal education program that they give to school groups who visit the centre. In order to help them with this work we will be taking a small bus of around 10 children to the KAT centre to see the work that they do and also to learn about the importance of this work.

When at the centre yesterday afternoon it was so much fun to see all of the rehabilitated dogs and play with them for a while. Of course there were a number of less healthy dogs and this was difficult to see. In some instances their situation was the direct result of human abuse, an extremely disappointing and frustrating thing to witness. An unusual patient at the centre is a young donkey. It was found discarded in a rubbish pile with a broken leg – the result of being overworked and underfed in a local brickworks. Its situation was dire when it was rescued however it is responding very well to treatment and is surprisingly comfortable with human contact. We are looking at various possibilities for a long term home for her and already have some great potential locations!

If you are ever in Kathmandu, a visit to KAT is well worth your while. It gives you an uplifting and rewarding experience as well as a very different insight into Nepal and its culture.

Women Journalists' Workshop

Last weekend saw the inaugural Workshop for Women Journalists which we ran in conjunction with WWJ (Working Women Journalists). Janet O’Connor, sub-editor with the Financial Review in Australia, traveled to Kathmandu to conduct the training which was attended by 18 women from various media backgrounds. The course ran over 2 half days, covering topics such as basic story construction, editing, investigative reporting and freelancing.


The passion and enthusiasm shown by the attendees was infectious, especially as Janet had them turning nursery rhymes into hard news stories and other adventurous activities! It was surprising to see that despite in many cases significant education and experience and being able to recite the theory, the women found it challenging to apply some of the principles being taught. This is a problem reflective of the education system in Nepal, where the method of teaching does not place any focus on comprehension or application but rather only on memorising facts.

The position of women in journalism is indicative of the wider situation for women in Nepal in that they are not given the same opportunities and pay as men and often struggle to be recognized as experienced, credible journalists. The women journalists we have spoken with tend to want to report on issues close to them such as children and social matters and these are things that desperately need wider coverage to raise awareness in Nepal. We will be continuing to work with WWJ to develop more expansive programs to help up skill these wonderful, inspiring women so they can help increase awareness of the issues facing women in Nepal.

Thank you so much to Janet for stepping outside her comfort zone and running this program. It was a great success and we hope to be able to continue to run more of these types of programs with her in the future.


We must give a big ‘thank you’ to Equal Access here as well. They are an NGO (non-government organisation) working in Nepal, as well as other countries, to provide greater access to information and education through community based radio programs. Equal Access provided the use of their conference room and in-house catering facilities for the 2 day course and this was a fantastic help.

Weekend Update

Well its hard to believe that I have already been in Kathmandu for 2 weeks – time flies when you’re having fun! It has been fantastic to see all of our friends again and on the work front they have all been doing an amazing job, which then makes my job that much easier and more enjoyable. On the political front, the elections are set for 10th April and so far it appears that they will be going ahead. There has been some small pockets of unrest in the Terai and other outer areas but I think the general consensus is that everyone is fairly serious about doing this properly and getting on with governing the country so let’s hope for the best.


As I sit in the café of the Kathmandu Guest House to write this I am struggling to know where to begin. It has been a very hectic time as I have traversed the city numerous times for meetings, and then some more meetings, each time drinking numerous cups of Nepali tea (think Chai), to make sure all the logistics are sorted for Thulo April 2008. I guess the best thing to say here is that all of our plans have been implemented as hoped and I can’t wait until our visitors start arriving and we start the real work! It is going to be such an amazing month of new and exciting initiatives and the support and passion from our partners here in making preparations has been brilliant. Our timetable is set and I will list it here so you can follow our progress:

4th – 5th April: Women Journalists’ Workshop, being conducted by Janet O’Connor and held in conjunction with Working Women Journalists Nepal.

16th – 19th April: Implementation of the 100 Views project, being conducted by Libby Hathorn at the Model School. This will include numerous sessions of teacher training incorporating art and poetry and will be followed by an official launch of the program, the first one outside of Australia! The teachers and students are going to start creating various pieces of work all based on and inspired by Mt Everest. This is an ongoing project that will culminate in a festival at the school in which all of the work will be put on display for the students, teachers, parents and the wider community. In addition to this we will be setting up an online contact between students from the school and students from schools that have implemented the program in Australia so that they can share their experiences.


21st April: The students from MLC Sydney will be visiting the Bal Mandir orphanage and providing a entertaining program on the importance of personal hygiene and looking after your environment. With around 100 excitable Nepali kids present this is no doubt going to be a hilarious afternoon of fun.

22nd April: The MLC group then head to the school in Phulbari where they will be painting a mural, implementing a rubbish sorting system (what we hope will start a revolution in Nepal!), and challenging the local school children to a game of volleyball!


23rd April: MLC then travel to Bhaktapur to visit the boys in the Bhaktapur Muscular Dystrophy Centre. They will be divided into small groups with the boys and compete in a treasure hunt amongst the ancient temples and alleyways of Bhaktapur, finishing with a picnic lunch in the grounds of a UNESCO awarded traditional newari style house.

24th April: This day’s program sees MLC conducting teacher training programs for different class levels at the Model School.

25th April: MLC’s work culminates in a cultural program at the model school in which the local students will perform some tradition songs and dances and the MLC students will reciprocate – should be interesting!

Hmmm, now I am feeling quite tired just thinking about it! Somewhere amongst all of these activities we have to find time to visit all of the girls with scholarships, launch the Daisy Chains program, launch the Pets as Therapy program, collect report cards for all of the scholarship girls and keep everyone updated through this blog. Oh well, sleep is just a state of mind anyway!

Some things to think about...

I have been doing some research for background on some of our projects and came across some very disturbing statistics regarding literacy in Nepal. Of course it is no secret that there is work to do in this area – in fact that is why we are doing the work we do – but it is still quite confronting when you see the numbers.

The 2001 census rates Nepal’s literacy for people over 15 years old at approximately 49%, this ranks Nepal in the bottom 20 countries in the world. However when broken down by gender the situation, perhaps unsurprisingly, is much worse. Whilst around 63% of males are literate only 35% of females are so lucky. The World Bank recently estimated that of the 867 million illiterate adults in the world today, 64% are women. So Nepal is not alone in having such a disparity in its population’s literacy.

Many reports and studies continue to show the many and significant advantages to a country when females are given a chance at an education. Some of the main benefits suggested by the UN of investing in women and girls are listed below.

• It has a multiplier effect on productivity, efficiency and sustained economic growth for the country.
• Women who are educated tend to have fewer and healthier children, and those children are more likely to attend school.
• It increases the ability and likelihood of women and girls to protect themselves against HIV.
• Women make long-ranging contributions to poverty eradication and development.

We are proud that our projects, in particular our Dream Catchers and Daisy Chains projects, tackle these problems head on. There are hundreds of other grassroots organisations similar to us out there doing their part to overcome this tremendous hurdle. This means there is a real opportunity for everyone to get involved in some way. As I have said before, all it takes is your decision to become involved. All you need do is make contact and ask the question – how can I help,? So what are you waiting for?

Exciting New Project!

It is with much pride and excitement that we can officially announce our largest and most ambitious program ever! The project is called “Daisy Chains – Empowering Nepal’s Women”.


We have spent the past few months working with CWISH, one of our partners in Nepal, on reviewing needs studies and reports. They have also carried out a number of small pilot programs which have proved hugely successful, so now we are ready to go!

“But what is it?” I hear you ask. We are going to provide a group of 500 (yes, you read correctly) women with basic literacy, numeracy and business skills training. We are going to help them establish a savings plan and also provide them with some seed money. We are then going to mentor them as they set up, in small groups of around 20 each, their own small businesses. This will be a truly life-changing opportunity for these women, who will predominantly come from urban poor communities and living in often unimaginable situations.

The UN recently stated on Women’s Day that studies continue to show that investing in education and empowerment of women has proven benefits for many aspects of the societies of developing countries. You can read more about this here. This type of project also works directly towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

But wait … there’s more! We wanted to make this project sustainable and also find an incentive for the women to repay the seed money loaned to them whilst also invoking in them a sense of pride and honour. We don’t want these women to feel like they are just receiving handouts from a foreign donor and we also want to give them a role in helping others. Therefore, we are introducing the “Pay it Forward” concept into the program. This means that as the loans for the first groups are repaid, these funds will then be utilized to fund the next group and so on. Therefore, once the initial amount of seed money is established, it should only require minimal top ups to maintain and even expand the program!

This is where you come in. We are seeking donors to raise the funds to establish the program as well as setting up the loans for the women to start their businesses. The cost to sponsor 1 group of 20 women is $1,000.00 (AUD). This covers all of the expenses of educating the women as well as the ongoing monitoring and business mentoring. This amount also includes the initial seed money to get establish the business.



So if you and a group of 9 friends joined forces to “adopt a group of women”, it would only cost $100.00 each to make the most enormous impact on others’ lives or you could hold a fundraising event to raise the money. This could be a great project for a group of workmates, a social club, a business group such as a Chamber of Commerce, the list is endless. All it takes is a commitment right now to make a difference. You will receive reports on the progress of your sponsored group at each stage of the program including photos – so you can see for yourself the changes taking place!

We will be posting more details of the program on our website soon and we anticipate an officially launch of the program whilst we are in Nepal during Thulo April 2008. So stay tuned for further updates, and please get in touch if you would like to contribute or help in any way – all it takes is your decision to do something, and acting on that decision.

Hit the Ground Running in Kathmandu!

Namaste everyone! I arrived here on Sunday and it is fantastic to be back! The weather is great, there are plenty of tourists around and there is a general upbeat and positive vibe to the place. The election is still scheduled for 10th April and all indications at this stage are that it will go ahead, good news for Nepal and its people who have been living with uncertainty for far too long.

So first thing Monday morning I started my meetings to make final preparations for Thulo April 2008. I have met with representatives from the Working Women Journalists association to go through the details for the Women in Journalism workshop, a project that they are extremely excited about as are we.

As part of plans for this course I went to visit the office of Equal Access, an NGO that works to bridge the gap between poverty and opportunity through providing improved and equal access to information for all. Expect to hear more about them here soon as they share our visions and passion for Nepal and we hope to establish some joint programs with them in the future. In the mean time, they have generously offered the use of their conference room for our workshop which is a huge help!

On Tuesday I visited Bal Mandir, one of the main orphanages in Nepal and the place where a number of our girls with scholarships live. We discussed the progress of the girls and also their likely needs for the new school year which starts in April. As always, there are more girls needing scholarships so if you or anyone you know would like to help change a life, you can find more information by clicking here.

I also met with our dear friend, Rabindra Puri, on Tuesday. Rabindra is helping us with a number of projects including the visit to Nepal by a group of teachers and students from MLC Sydney. You can read more about this program by clicking here. Rabindra also manages scholarhips for 36 of the girls in our Dream Catchers project. As Rabindra works with a number of schools outside of Kathmandu, demand for scholarships there is greater than ever, so if you can help you know what to do ....

That's all for now. Today (Wednesday), I am meeting with CWISH to go through a number of big and exciting new projects that you will hear more about here and on our website soon.

Stay tuned...

Replying to Posts

This is a bit of a housekeeping entry and also a welcome note as we have recently had quite a few new people sign up to receive our blog updates. So, firstly to the new subscribers - WELCOME!

Someone pointed out to me the other day that if you receive these posts in an email (as most subscribers do), replying to that email does not go to the intended place ie. to Bec or myself. I have checked this with the organisation responsible for handling distribution of our blog and it is not something we can change. What this means is, if you receive a new blog entry by email and you want to send us a comment or reply for some other reason, make sure you enter my email address in the "To" section of your email. Just as a reminder, my email address is adam@mitrataa.org.

In other news, I am madly finalising preparations for my trip to Nepal, I leave for Kathmandu on Saturday (15th March). This trip promises to be the busiest and most exciting ever and I can't wait to get to Nepal and get started! If you haven't read about the work will be doing on this trip you can access it at http://mitrataa.blogspot.com/2008/02/busy-april-looming.html. Stay tuned as I start to give progress updates on all of the new and amazing things happening with the Foundation in the coming months.

As always we welcome your comments and suggestions, particularly on ways in which you may be able to become involved with what we do!