MLC Sydney - Nepal Service Project Day 5

Day 5 was the final day for the MLC team and the tiredness was starting to take its toll! Fortunately the day’s plan involved only a short bus ride back to the model school and I promised them we would be finished by lunch time so that urgent matters, such as last minute souvenir shopping, could be addressed!


The first task was a follow on from the teacher training program we did at the school on Tuesday. It was now the Nepali teachers’ turn to use what they had learned and teach their respective classes with consultation and assistance from the MLC team. This worked brilliantly and it was great to see the various groups collaborating on teaching ideas so closely. We are hoping and working towards this connection being a permanent feature for both Riviera and MLC as it provides the perfect platform for a lasting cultural exchange.

Once the bell rang to signal the end of first period however, the fun really began. We had arranged with Riviera to host a parents’ day. This is a concert program in which all of the children from the school perform various traditional songs, dances and poems etc and all of the parents are invited to attend. On this occasion the entire team from MLC were the guests of honour! An enormous marquee had been erected covering the school playground and a stage complete with booming sound system had been constructed – in Nepal a parents’ day can never be done in half measures!

As the program began the crowd began to swell as nearby locals soon heard that a group of foreigners were going to perform. By the time things were in full swing there would easily have been an audience of 300 Nepalis eagerly awaiting a performance of traditional Australian music. When their time came to perform MLC did not disappoint, starting with a rousing rendition of the Australian national anthem. Their second item was “Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree”, an Australian classic. For this song they even managed to divide the audience in half and got everyone singing along in a round which was greeted with rapturous applause. However the highlight for the enthusiastic crowd came when the first notes of “Resham Phiriri” were played. This is probably the most famous Nepali folk song and nearly all foreigners who had visited Nepal would also be familiar with it. MLC music teacher, Karen Carey, had even bought and mastered playing a Nepali flute especially for the occasion. This performance absolutely brought the house down and it must have lasted through at least a dozen repetitions before they were finally allowed to stop.

The performances from the Riviera school children were all excellent and I hope provided an interesting piece of culture for the visitors to take home with them. After some (not so) short speeches it was time for the MLC team to depart, having completed their final service project for this visit. I could see by the looks on everyone’s faces that they were exhausted but clearly also exhilarated by the awesome things that had seen and done.

At this point we would like to thank Rosemary King from MLC, and Judy Tenzing who both worked tirelessly for the better part of a year to put this trip together. Their passion and dedication to Nepal was a joy to be a part of. We also want to thank the teachers, parents and friends who accompanied the girls on the trip and whose support was invaluable.


Lastly, we want to say a big thank you to the MLC girls. Their energy and enthusiasm was inspiring, particularly in sometimes difficult circumstances. They conducted themselves with integrity, maturity and sensitivity at all times and are a credit to themselves and their school. Well done girls and we hope this is the beginning of a fantastic partnership with MLC.

MLC Sydney - Nepal Service Project Day 4

Another early morning bus ride greeted the MLC group on day 4 of their service project week. This time it was a 2 hour bus ride to the village of Phulbari, just outside the Kathmandu Valley near the mountain resort town of Dhulikhel. The drive provided everyone with a chance to rest as well as see some beautiful countryside and breathe some fresh air. The ‘road’ approaching the village gets pretty rough and in places took us within metres of people’s houses so that we could see the children playing and the cows, buffalos and goats tied up outside.

Amongst this rural setting we found the Phulbari school, the main building of which was recently built by one of our partners, Rabindra Puri. As we walked down the driveway into the school the students and teachers made a tunnel and greeted each of us with flowers – Phulbari means ‘flower garden’ in Nepali. It was a wonderfully warm welcome and quite unlike anything the MLC group had probably ever experienced.

After a quick tour of the school it was down to work. Some of the girls and teachers were going to be painting murals, one on the back wall of each of three classrooms that desperately needed brightening up. The rest of the group were assigned teams of students from the school and they set about carrying out a massive clean up campaign. We had brought 2 bins as well as brooms and dustpans especially for this task. Picking up rubbish is not generally something Nepali school children are familiar with and this was evident from the state of their school ground! Some were reluctant to join in at first but were soon embarrassed to be left out whilst their friends got busy.




In 2 very hectic hours the school was transformed, inside and out. The 3 murals look brilliant and bring some colour and vibrancy to the classrooms. The school grounds have, I doubt, ever looked so clean and tidy.

The next task was the handing out of school bags. The girls from MLC had spent many months fundraising prior to this trip and they had collected enough money to purchase 600 school backpacks – 1 for each child at the school. We had arranged to have ‘MLC Sydney’ printed on the bags along with the name of the Phulbari school and the Mitrataa Foundation.

The children were so excited to receive in many cases, their first school bag, that some of us were almost crushed in the excitement! They were clearly going to be used with pride. MLC also made a donation of resource materials such as stationery and books which were much needed and appreciated.

With all of the work out of the way it was time for a quick volleyball contest between a group of girls from the school and the team from MLC. It soon became clear that neither side had much experience playing volleyball and as such they were evenly matched, so keeping score seemed unnecessary!

After a sumptuous feast of dahl bhat prepared from locally grown organic rice and vegetables, it was time to face the long and at times slow bus ride back to town. The day was long and exhausting but provided a good contrast for the girls between schools in Kathmandu and those in the villages, another layer of experience to add to their amazing trip.

MLC Sydney - Nepal Service Project Day 3

Wednesday (23rd April) was day 3 for the MLC group and we had planned a complete change of pace for the activity that day…

Everyone had to be on the bus bright and early for a short drive to the historic town of Bhaktapur, just outside Kathmandu. Once there we took the group to visit the Bhaktapur Muscular Dystrophy Centre (BMDC), home to 8 young boys suffering the debilitating effects of muscular dystrophy. Everyone was shocked to hear the situation these boys must face in having this disease and living in Nepal, in particular the fact that they are not allowed to attend school as it is considered as waste of resources. Despite the social stigma attached to such a disease (many Nepalis believe the boys’ condition to be a punishment from the gods and that they are cursed) a father of 2 of the boys managed to find enough support to establish the centre and provide some basic education and facilities for the boys. The mothers of the boys have set up a small workshop where they make paper goods such as cards and notebooks and then sell these at a local shop to help raise funds for the centre. The entire place, while very basic, is extremely inspiring and clearly had an effect on the entire group of visitors.


The main activity for the day was a treasure hunt around Bhaktapur. The MLC girls as well as some parents, teachers and friends were divided into groups and each group included a boy from the centre. Each group was then given a map and a list of tasks that needed to be completed within a designated time (very similar to the TV show ‘The Amazing Race’). Sounds easy enough? Well if you’ve visited Bhaktapur you’ll know that pushing a boy in a wheelchair around its rough cobbled streets and laneways is not an easy task! Some teams even decided to carry the boy, wheelchair and all, to save precious time.

Each of the teams had to complete the following tasks in 1½ hours:

• have a photo of the entire team taken in front of a particular statue of lions;
• find the BMDC paper shop and purchase a card from there;
• find Potters’ Square and count the number of pots drying in the sun (new pots were being added all the time whilst others were being taken away!);
• find a particular man waiting in one of the squares to give each team member a tikka (a red dot on placed on the forehead as a blessing);
• buy a particular type of Nepali plate so that each team member can eat lunch;
• find a specified curd shop and eat a small bowl of King Curd (a sweetened natural yoghurt famous in Bhaktapur); and
• find a particular wood carving workshop and take a photo of it.


The reward at the end of this craziness was a delicious picnic lunch in the grounds of a traditionally restored Newari house. It was a particularly hot day so by the time all of the teams had finished they were ready to collapse! This however, could not keep the smiles off everyone’s faces, especially the boys from the centre who had definitely never experienced such a thing before.




After a rest and some lunch we had a small presentation to give each participant a certificate and the MLC group also generously donated some items to the centre including handmade blankets for the boys and some games, stationery etc. The day was a huge success and will forever leave everyone involved with warm memories.

MLC Sydney - Nepal Service Project Day 2

Day 2 of the MLC service project was the first of 2 days spent at our model school, Riviera.

This first day involved the MLC girls taking various teacher training classes and working through some ideas for lessons covering topics such as social studies, Australian wildlife, prisms (maths), and the importance of education in developing countries. The girls were extremely well prepared and the teachers at Riviera really enjoyed sharing their thoughts and ideas for how the classes could be constructed to combine more creative methods of teaching. This was a logical progression from the teacher training we had already been providing to these teachers.

Of course when you take all of a school’s teachers out of their classrooms it is imperative that you find some way to occupy the students. Fortunately a number of the girls as well as teachers from MLC had this covered. Firstly Karen Carey, music teacher from MLC, gathered a small posse of the MLC girls, teachers and parents, and took charge of entertaining all the kids in classes 1 through 6 by teaching them some typical Australian songs. The Nepali kids returned the favour by sharing some local songs and traditional dance moves. Before long the sounds of music came bursting from the music room and it was clear that everyone was having a fantastic time.


Two of the MLC girls took the brave challenge of entertaining the little ones in the kindergarten section. These kids range in age from 3 to 6 years old and so their English skills are not that well developed and they have pretty short attention spans. Nonetheless the girls tasked with minding them had them singing “Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes” including actions before too long. Once the singing started the kids were on a roll and they launched into a full volume rendition of what I think may have been the Nepali national anthem, the volume and acoustics of the small room making it difficult to know for sure!

Another particularly brave student from MLC accepted the task of keeping the students from class 9 and 10 occupied by having a discussion with them on a number of current topics including the recent election in Nepal, the prospects for the future of Nepal under a Maoist government, the impact on Nepal of instability in Tibet etc. These were pretty heavy things to be discussing but they were peppered with talk of favourite sports in each school, sporting heroes and other pop culture items. I’m sure this sharing of thoughts and ideas was a very rewarding experience for both sides and I think each of those involved came away with some interesting and diverse points of view to digest – a true cultural exchange!


The ring of the school bell was accompanied with the welcome news that cold drinks were ready for everyone in the main school building. As we sat and cooled down it was amazing to hear the number of questions being fired across the room between each of the MLC girls and their teachers, and the teachers from the model school. It was clear from these questions that the afternoon had opened many doors to new and exciting ways that the schools may be able to collaborate more closely in the future as both sides realised they could learn so much from the other. And on that note, another successful day draws to a close.

MLC Sydney - Nepal Service Project Day 1

The dust has settled in Nepal (well, as much as it does in the lead up to the beginning of the monsoon!), we have caught our breaths, and the team from MLC Sydney have returned safe and sound to Australia. We spent a truly fantastic 5 days with the group working on various service projects and we were truly inspired by the energy and enthusiasm the girls brought to each task. Visiting Nepal for the first time is exhausting enough for any tourist but when you combine that with some of the challenging sights and stories confronted by the girls during their work, it really becomes a life changing experience.

I will post an entry for each of the 5 days as each one was unique and full of fun and excitement. We also collected many great photos and movie clips and I am working on posting these to a special section on our website for everyone to see.


The group had spent the previous week trekking so day 1 of their service project was set up to allow a relatively easy transition into the week’s work, but there is nothing easy about visiting an orphanage in a country like Nepal. The girls were first introduced to a number of rooms full of orphaned children ranging in age from 2 weeks to 3 years old. I could see on many of the girl’s faces the despair as they realised that many of these kids have never known a mother or father and will probably remain in the orphanage until they are adults.

After spending some time cuddling and playing with the babies and learning more about what it means to be an orphan in Nepal, we took the group to the play room where around 40 excited kids were waiting for their ‘performance’. And what a performance it was. The girls and some of the parents and teachers had put together a brilliant program on the importance of personal hygiene and cleanliness. The opening song taught them how to say ‘hello’ in Australia – “In Australia, we say ‘G’Day, how are you going?’”. Then came a stellar performance from puppet Dr Amy who had the children in stitches of laughter. By the end of the first part the children knew exactly what to shout when asked “what are germs?”, “BAD!” came their reply. “Where are they?”, was instantly responded to with “EVERYWHERE!” “What is soap?” was immediately followed by squeals of “GOOD!”

Upon completion of Dr Amy’s presentation it was time to divide the kids into groups and they set to work on various art and craft activities related to what they had learnt. The room soon transformed into a whirl of activity pierced with cries of “more glue!” and “scissors please!” By the end of it we had all kinds of posters, drawings, find-a-words and message chains declaring the personal hygiene mantras. Once we had decorated the TV room with the artworks (as well as placing a few in choice positions outside the toilet areas) it was time to bid farewell and let the kids have their dinner.

I think everyone was sad that the afternoon had to come to an end. The success of the program was obvious by the size of the smiles on the kids’ faces thanks to an obviously huge amount of preparation and thought put into it by the MLC group. Their energy was immediately apparent and the kids picked up on this and responded in kind. It really was a life changing experience in the best possible way for everyone involved.

Pets as Therapy arrives in Nepal - Part 2

This post is a continuation of the previous entry which you can read by clicking here.

We had selected 2 adorable dogs from KAT to be the first pets as therapy mascots. Mango is a Tibetan Terrier and KAT’s own mascot after he was rescued from the street in a terrible condition. He loves people and has a very easygoing temperament. Tara is also a KAT rescuee and is paraplegic so she can only use her front 2 legs to move. This doesn’t stop her at all and she likes to think she is ‘queen bee’ in the KAT compound!

So a day after the girls from Bal Mandir had visited KAT, we piled the 2 dogs into a taxi and set off for Bal Mandir. None of us really knew what to expect so there was some trepidation in the air.

We need not have worried. The dogs showed no concern as they were lead through the big hallways of the orphanage towards a room containing around 20 kids between the ages of 1 and 3 years. The looks on the children’s faces as 2 dogs entered their playpen was priceless. There were smiles, squeals of glee, curious stares and quite a few screams of terror! None of this seemed to faze Tara and Mango as they proceeded to sniff around the place and approach anyone who seemed even remotely interested in patting them.


With a small amount of encouragement almost all of the kids began to happily pat the dogs, and even the more scared ones began to join in as they saw their friends doing it. Fortunately we had the older girls from the day before’s visit to assist in soothing the more concerned kids. To help with children who were still afraid, we read a ‘Spot’ book to them and explained that these dogs were the same as the dog in the book so there was no need to be afraid. This worked magnificently and in the end all of the children had patted the dogs at least once.

Once everyone in the playpen was calm some of the older children with disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, were brought in to meet the dogs. Despite also showing some initial fear these kids quickly became much more comfortable with Tara and Mango and watching them patting the dogs and playing with them was simply beautiful. We were witnessing first hand what many studies had proven, that this type of interaction does wonders for a person’s mental state and emotional wellbeing.

The afternoon proved to be more amazing than we could have imagined and we didn’t want it to end. However after almost 2 hours of poking and prodding the dogs showed signs of tiring so we lead them back to their taxi and returned them to their home at KAT. There they were greeted with special treats and proceeded to chow down without a care in the world – it would seem it was all in a day’s work for Tara and Mango!

Pets as Therapy arrives in Nepal - Part 1

Following on from our recent visit to KAT we are excited to announce that the first Pets as Therapy project has commenced in Nepal!

Bec had spent the last few months working through a course that helped to set up such a program including how to choose appropriate dogs, how to train them, and how to teach the children the best way to treat the dogs ie. don't pull their tails!

We had chosen the orphanage at Bal Mandir as the first location to take the dogs as we have done a lot of projects there, we know the children well and were confident the staff would enjoy the idea and get involved. There are also a number of disabled children living there who we hoped would particularly benefit from the visit.

For the first stage of the project we took a group of 6 girls aged between 11 and 15 to visit the KAT centre. As we approached a big gate providing the only barrier between the girls and the sounds of many dogs barking excitedly the look of terror on their faces said it all – children in Nepal generally do not have good experiences with animals. But once the gate was opened and the girls were greeted by smiling faces and wagging tails the fear slowly began to dissipate. In fact the girls soon realised that the only danger here was having your hands slobbered all over!


Once the excitement settled down the girls were shown a small presentation on the importance of treating animals well which included some information on street dogs in Kathmandu and why this could be a problem. They were then taken on a tour of the facility which showed them the full range of problems street dogs could face but also the ways they can be treated and rehabilitated.

As the afternoon came to an end we were confident that these girls would be a great help to us as we introduced a couple of dogs to the other children at Bal Mandir. It was dinner time by the time we were driving back towards the orphanage so we decided to treat the girls to some momos at a local restaurant. As they were eating they suddenly erupted with squeals of excitement. Once they calmed down one of them was able to explain that a ‘hero’ (Nepali TV/film star) was sitting at the table opposite us! This really made their day and I couldn’t help but smile at the fact that girls in many ways were the same everywhere!!!

Stay tuned for part 2 – the day we took the dogs to Bal Mandir…