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 Centres Graduation - Part 2

Last Friday (1^st October) we attended the graduation of the second group of girls from the Wiley Dream Centre in Chandol, Kathmandu. The program was also attended by our volunteer from Scotland, Katya and her daughters, Fern and Clover.

We were taken through the afternoon’s proceedings by 2 girls from the centre acting as MCs, one announced everything in Nepali and the other in English. They had obviously prepared a great deal and they did themselves proud on their big day.

To begin with, each of the girls stood up and introduced themselves in English. This was a huge deal for these girls as many of them struggle with English at school and it was the first time they had to stand in front of others and speak. They all did exceptionally well and it set the tone for an inspiring and happy occasion.

After a speech from the head of the local community group who have provided us with the room for the centre, and a quick speech from me, it was Fern’s turn to wow everyone by giving a short speech she had prepared in Nepali. Both Fern and Clover have been studying at Riviera, our Model School, and the Nepali classes were clearly helping!

It was then time for the serious business of the afternoon – prize giving! Awards were presented in the following categories: Highest Star Achiever, Best Performance, Best Improvement, Most Creative, Most Co-operative, Highest Attendance, Best Speaker and Best Speller. The winners were presented with a special note book and a badge recognising their achievement.

We then presented each of the graduating girls with a certificate and their memory book which they had been working on over the 6 month course. This was a touching moment for these girls and there were a few tears.

Last order of business was the food. Snack boxes were distributed and everyone mingled and shared in the wonderful achievements of this group of girls. It wasn’t long too before the music started and some impromptu dance performances began. As the afternoon drew to a close it was again truly inspiring to reflect on the progress these girls had made and exciting to think of where they will go with their new found skills and confidence.

Thanks must go especially to John Wiley & Sons for their sponsorship of this Dream Centre.

Dream Centres Graduation - Part 1

Last Thursday and Friday we attended graduations at the Baneshwor and Wiley Dream Centres. It was the third group of girls to graduate from the Baneshwor centre and the second group from the Wiley centre.

In Baneshwor, the girls opened the program with a special Dream Centre song they had prepared. It was a fantastic start to the afternoon. I filmed it and will be posting it on our YouTube channel soon. The song was followed by some short speeches prepared by the girls to share their experiences of attending the Dream Centre. The girls spoke with such confidence and conviction and it was inspiring to see how they had grown since starting this journey.

It was then time for the serious business of the afternoon – prize giving! Awards were presented in the following categories: Maximum Star Achiever, Best Speaker, Good Discipline, Most Creative, Very Helpful, Highest Attendance, Best Improvement and Most Active. The winners were presented with a special note book and a badge recognising their achievement.

Both Bec and I then gave quick speeches, focusing on how proud of the girls we were and encouraging them to continue to reach for the stars in everything they do. We also told them about an upcoming picnic they would be attending as part of the visit from MLC School. This sent a frenzy of questions through the room and they could then concentrate on nothing else!

Time for further presentations finally calmed everyone down. Chetana presented each of the graduating girls with a certificate and their memory book which is a collection of activities they had completed during their time at the centre. It was wonderful to see all their hard work recorded in such a way that they will always be able to refer back to it if they need inspiration.

This was followed by speeches from each of the facilitators – Sabita and Bipana – who as well as congratulating the girls, directed their words to the parents who had attended. They stressed the importance of family support and that the parents should be very proud of their daughters and all they had achieved and will continue to achieve. It was fantastic to see that 8 parents had attended the program, showing support for their daughters. Many of them begged us to take their daughters for another 6 months but we stressed that it was important the girls did not become dependent on the centre, they now had the skills to move forward on their own.

The program concluded with a delicious snack box for everyone and unfortunately lots of tears from some of the girls. I guess this showed they really enjoyed their Dream Centre experience!

I will post about the Wiley Dream Centre graduation shortly …

  

Quick Update

Just a quick post to share some of the fantastic things going on both here in Nepal and in Australia.

The trivia night hosted by Kirrawee High School raised around $4,000! This is a fantastic effort and our thanks must go to everyone who supported the event and especially Micaela and Jodie for their hard work in bringing it all together.

At the end of this week it is Dream Centre graduation time again. This will see the third group of girls from Baneshwor and second group of girls from the Wiley Dream Centre complete the 'skills for learning, skills for life' program.

On Saturday (2nd October) we will be hosting the first event for all girls in our Dream Catchers Scholarship program. Around 200 girls will be travelling to Panauti for a day of fun, games, food and award presentations!

Next week we start the training program for three new Dream Centre facilitators who will be joining us to work in our third Dream Centre, sponsored by MLC School, which will be opening towards the end of October. On that note, a group from MLC will be visiting us for 2 weeks in mid-October to work on various projects as well as officially opening the MLC Dream Centre.

So lots happening as always. Stay tuned for updates on each of the events as they happen!  

2nd Wiley Run for a Dream

Last weekend I traveled to Singapore to take part in the second Wiley Run for a Dream.

Last year the team from John Wiley & Sons’ Singapore office raised SG$12,500 for Mitrataa which was used to establish the Wiley Dream Centre, our second Dream Centre situated in Chandol in Kathmandu.

This year they set their sights even higher. So at 7am on Sunday morning (19^th September) I arrived at East Coast Park in Singapore to join the eager group who were taking part in either a 10km run, 5km run or 5km walk. It was fantastic to see so many people come out to enjoy the fun, a number of companies helped through sponsorship of the event and they had sent representatives to run with the group too.

I joined the 10km run group which was a killer. After a few months spent in Australia for winter I was not at all accustomed to the heat and humidity in Singapore! I crawled to the finish and took the rest of the day to cool down!

Once everyone had made it back to our base tent and had a chance to recover it was time for the presentations. Each of the event sponsors were presented with a trophy in recognition of their support. Whilst final calculations were being made as to which teams won each section of the competition, it was my turn to receive the cheque on behalf of Mitrataa. I went up on stage and was excited enough when Ian Garrard from Wiley told me that they had aimed to raise SG$15,000 this year. However Ian then revealed that this year’s event had in fact raised SG$22,000 (over AU$17,000)! I was completely blown away. What an amazing effort!

I gave a thank you speech including a little bit of news about 1 girl in particular, one of our Dream Catchers scholars, as an illustration of the impact education can have on the lives of women and girls in Nepal. This was followed by the medal presentation. It was great to see that so many people had obviously been training hard in preparation for the event and it clearly had a positive impact on morale within the company.

So the next morning it was back to Kathmandu for me so that Bec, I and our team here could start plans on how best to use this donation. We are immensely grateful to everyone at Wiley and their partners for this support. Thank you to all who made it happen and those who took part! Looking forward to next year…

Children's Day @ the Dream Centres

Tuesday, 14^th September was Children’s Day in Nepal and at both Dream Centres it was time to celebrate.

I visited the Baneshwor Centre with a volunteer from Scotland, Katya, and her daughter Clover. The girls at the centre first had a discussion about child rights and some of the things they need to know in order to keep themselves safe in the sometimes difficult situations teenage girls face in Nepal. It was a very interesting discussion for us and a sobering reminder of the challenges faced by girls in the developing world.

The discussion was followed by a quiz contest which brought out the competitive streaks in the girls! I was invited to ask some questions but was unable to trip them up as someone even knew the capital city of Australia was Canberra (most people here think it is Sydney!). Clover delivered chocolates to all the girls for their correct answers.

Some of the girls then sang songs for the group that they had been working on. This was a wonderful display of their improved confidence. Then it was time for the real fun to begin with the whole group singing and dancing.

At the Wiley Dream Centre in Chandol, Bec attended the party with the other half of our Scottish volunteer team, Rufus and Fern. There the girls had each prepared a short speech about some aspect of child rights which they presented to the group. As always it was touching to see girls so young talking about issues of abuse and exploitation, often from personal experience.

It was then time for the ‘candle game’. Candles are placed around the edge of a table and each person must try to light all of them with just one match. Ok, so this probably wouldn’t pass OH&S policy at home but the girls had a lot of fun trying, Fern even had a go!

As with the Baneshwor Centre, the final activity on the program was a round of singing and dancing! A fitting way to end a day of celebration for these amazing girls.

More photos from the day can be found at our facebook page.

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.