Najani Starts School!

I just wanted to quickly share a real feel-good story that Bec and I have been lucky to be a part of…

About 4 years ago through a good friend here, we met a women who was living on the streets of Thamel, the main tourist area in Kathmandu. She had just the week before given birth prematurely to a daughter, Najani. As she did not have enough to even feed herself the daughter quickly became malnourished and was rapidly deteriorating towards death. Fortunately our friend had realised the severity of the situation and took the woman and newborn to a nutritional centre set up to deal with this type of case. It was on a visit to this centre with our friend that we met the woman and her daughter for the first time. Whilst the girl’s condition did not look good she had improved and the doctors were reasonably confident that she would survive.

Well she did survive and she and her mother were taken in by Sabilla, a woman who is a bit of a grandmother to many of the street people and beggars of Thamel. Most tourists would know Sabilla as she is one of the most persistent sellers of little hand bags there is! Sabilla herself can only manage a small room to live in but she was happy to share this with Najani and her mum and over the past few years we have watched them become a sort of family. Najani’s mum continued to beg on the streets but with Sabilla’s help she has done well and Najani has thrived.

We subsequently learned that Najani was most probably the result of her mother being raped by her father, which lead to her fleeing the Tarai area in southern Nepal to beg on the streets of Thamel. The father is no longer in the picture which is good news as Najani’s mum understands the importance of family planning and so shouldn’t get herself into this predicament in the future. Still, this situation is a common one and again highlights the importance of education as studies have shown there is a direct correlation between literacy, basic education and smaller family sizes and pregnancies that are more planned for.

A very exciting day arrived yesterday when I took Najani, her mum and Sabilla to the boarding school where Najani would be living and studying! Although she is only 4 years old it is much better for her to be living in a school hostel environment than begging on the streets of Thamel with her mum. The hostel she will be living in has only 20 children so she will be well looked after. Also, one of Sabilla’s young sons stays there and he has become a big brother to Najani and will take good care of her. Having Najani stay in the hostel also relieves some of the pressure on her mother in terms of worrying about feeding her etc.

Although this is the story of the life of only one girl that has been changed forever, it has been amazing to watch it unfold literally from the beginning and exciting to think that we will be able to follow Najani’s journey into a future of exciting possibilities.

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...

Women's Day Picnic!

On Monday, 16th March, we held a picnic day for all of the women currently participating in our Daisy Chains project. Around 200 previously illiterate domestic workers joined us in a Kathmandu park to celebrate their achievements in learning to read and write and embarking on their businesses. The picnic was the culmination of a week of educational and advocacy programs organised by our partner, CWISH. These programs were held as part of the celebrations of International Women’s Day which was on Sunday, 8th March.

The day started at about 10:30am with all of the attendees enjoying a breakfast of roti, curry and tea. This was the perfect way to put everyone in a festive mood for the games and activities to come. It was inspiring to see so many women in one place who had each worked so hard to take steps to lift themselves out of the cycle of poverty. Many brought their young children with them and as I look around the groups it was amazing to see that many friendships and support networks had obviously formed.

The end of breakfast was signaled when the ghetto blaster started playing some familiar Nepalese folk songs, prompting many to hit the dance floor for the next hour! After the dancing there were some quick welcome speeches followed by a hilarious team trivia contest. As the contest was held in Nepali I am not sure of all of the questions and answers but I do know that when asked how many legs a spider has, ‘10’ was accepted as the correct answer!!!

Once prizes were distributed for the winning teams it was time for a more serious moment as a drama performance was given dealing with the issue of abuse and rights for domestic workers. The play was very well done and I noticed many women nodding as they could obviously relate to the scenarios being played out before them. There is something quite impactful about watching people enacting the brutality and cruelty that is sometimes shown to other human beings and I am sure everyone present took something away from the experience. The play concluded with some information given to the attendees on important numbers they can contact if they need help in these areas, this type of service is so lacking in Nepal, a country in which it is needed perhaps more than most.

The rest of the day was spent with more eating and fun. There was some more dancing, a little singing and even a game of musical chairs that must have involved about 120 of the women – chaos!!! A fun day was had by all and it gave them the chance to reaffirm the message to each of their peers that they are not alone and that they deserve each other’s respect and support for the things they are achieving with their lives.

Quick Project Update

Hard to believe I have already been in Kathmandu for 8 days but time flies here when working and especially when you don't stop for weekends! The trip has been extremely productive and I am so excited about the work we will be doing this year. Below I just wanted to share a quick overview of the things I have been discussing with out partners and the plans that are being made.

Dream Catchers Scholarships

Whilst exact figures have not been set (as this of course depends on our sponsors!) we will be increasing the number of scholarships being offered with all of our partners. This means more girls will be going to school this year in Kathmandu, Patan, Bhaktapur, Panauti, Sanga and Phulbari!

Daisy Chains

As all of our existing groups are now moving on to start their businesses we will be looking to start the education component for new groups of women. It is looking likely that this year we will be going beyond Kathmandu to introduce the program to some groups of women in Phulbari and Panauti as well!

Dream Centres

We have narrowed our options down to 2 locations for the first Dream Centres, one in Kathmandu and one in Lalitpur. We are working with local community management to secure their support for the Centres and expect this to be finalised by the end of March. We have selected 4 tutors for the Centres and they are doing their training at the moment. In fact I will be working with them on a workshop exploring different teaching methods tomorrow! The timeline for the first Centre to be open by the end of April is looking good.

Child Care Centre - Phulbari

One of the new projects we are planning is the opening of a child care centre for the women in Phulbari. At present these women are carrying their babies on their backs whilst they work in the fields and on construction sites - not terribly safe or ideal for the babies and not the best way for the women to work either. In conjunction with a local women's group we are finalising plans for how the centre will be run including staffing, facilities, food for the children etc. This should make an amazing contribution to the village as well as providing a base for us to introduce our Daisy Chains project there.

Model School

There are some great plans in the coming year for Riviera. We will be running a poetry and art competition with them for all schools in the Kathmandu Valley area, this provides a fantastic opportunity to promote the arts and creativity to a much wider audience! We will also be increasing the exchange programs the kids at Riviera enjoy with school children in Australia and further afield. The first of these will be a photo essay of their school and local area that will be exchanged with students from Eden Marine High School on the south coast of New South Wales.

This is just a quick look at some of the many things we are planning for this year and I look forward to sharing more of our work with you as it begins to take shape!

International Women's Day - 8 March 2009

Today is International Women's Day (IWD) and is being celebrated in Nepal through various programs along with many other countries across the world.

Mitrataa's work with women really crystallised with the Daisy Chains project, which has been a fantastic success. Enrollments have so far reached 330 for this project and we expect to easily surpass our goal of 500 later this year. At present all of the groups are in the final phase of their education - planning their businesses. This is an exciting time for these women and their energy and enthusiasm is inspiring. Some of the groups have been so eager that they have already started their businesses whilst still completing their lessons. Candle making has been particularly popular and successful in light of the ongoing electricity shortage in Kathmandu! We also have women selling clothes (using their group buying power to get cheaper wholesale prices), selling vegetbales, making and selling Nepali snacks, and one group is running a catering service.

To commemorate IWD our friends at CWISH have planned a week of educational programs and activities for these women as well as other women in their communities. The various programs on education will include topics such as social empowerment, women's legal rights and responsibilities, domestic violence, HIV awareness, women's health issues (particularly Uterine Prolapse which is a common problem for Nepali women) and labour rights. We firmly believe that all of these issues are critical and must be included in any comprehensive education program for women, teaching them to read and write is only the beginning.

At the conclusion of these programs we will be hosting a picnic for all of the women currently involved in the Daisy Chains project. This will be a chance for them to unwind for a day, celebrate all that they have learned and achieved so far, and motivate them to go into the next phase of their lives and work with a new sense of esteem and confidence. The picnic is scheduled for next Friday (13th March) so stay tuned for a report and some photos!

On a more sobering note, I was just reading the IWD website and was shocked by some of the statistics regarding women and their status in our world:

* 70% of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty in the world are women
* women comprise 2/3 of the +1 billion illiterate adults in the world
* women do 2/3 of the world's work but receive 10% of the world's income
* women's education is the most powerful predicter of lower fertility rates

Something to think about. There are many more statistics and pieces of useful information at the website.

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 ….

Adam Speaks at UWC in Singapore

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

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

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


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

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

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