It’s not only our Nepali girls who achieve their dreams!

From Bec in Kathmandu...


Tori McCarten and Amelia Baker from Lithgow, NSW, are true leaders – they were inspired by a challenge I set when I gave a presentation at Women’s College last May. I challenged all the girls present to follow their dreams and to step forward and take action to change the world. By the time Tori and Amelia had reached home on the train, they had made the decision to come to Nepal and recently they took 2 weeks out of their busy Year 12 schedule to come to Nepal and work with Mitrataa and fulfilling that dream. They were accompanied by Jo Reeves. The trio began by attending the Dream Centre graduations where they taught the girls Incy Wincy Spider which was a popular choice! They spent some time with the girls at Bal Mandir teaching them volley ball, they stepped in to help facilitate the Fashion Workshops when our fashion expert fell ill.

Then their true colours shone through when they ran 3 workshops for a mixed group of our girls – 3 girls from each of our Dream Centres, 3 of our Project Snow Leopard girls and around 8 of the girls who are studying at Riviera, our Model School. The workshops were run at Riviera for 3 half days. The first was on “Accepting and Understanding Yourself” and the girls learned about how to respect and like yourself for your star qualities. The next workshop was based around team work and, with a game of basketball and writing of poems, the group really cemented some new friendships. The final workshop was “Creative Story Telling” and the girls wrote some fantastic stories in groups, practising their teamwork skills from the previous workshop. We’ll be publishing some of these stories on our website shortly. All of our Mitrataa girls loves the workshops and came away with new confidence, new inspiration and having had a lot of fun!

I am really proud of Tori and Amelia for following their dream. They definitely faced some challenges in Kathmandu but they really stepped up and I know they had a huge impact on a lot of people during their time over here. Thank you, guys. You were amazing! Keep dreaming big!

 

Dream Centre Graduations Galore!

Posted by Bec from Kathmandu...


I love Graduation Days at the Dream Centres – the excitement of the girls, the sharing of their experiences, their dreams for the future and the celebratory songs and dances never fail to put a smile on my face and this latest batch was no exception. The fifth batch from our Baneshwor Dream Centre graduated on Thursday 31st March. Joined by volunteers Tori, Amelia and Jo, I was inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of the girls. There were 2 highlights for me of this graduation – the drama which the girls did on “Appreciating Differences”, one of the core Life Skills we teach them. It was about a disabled girl who was not in the Dream Centre and was teased by the other children. Some of the girls stood up for her. The girls ended the drama by requesting that Mitrataa ensure that we include disabled girls in our next batch to lead by example. I love this challenge to us! We definitely have some budding Bollywood stars in this batch too. The other highlight was watching the girls teach the volunteers a dance. Their patience and energy was infectious. The Australian girls then taught the girls Incy Wincy Spider with the actions and I was amazed at how quickly they picked it up. Credit to our facilitators for this Centre, Bipana and Diwakar, who have done a wonderful job with this batch.

This was a hard act to follow but the third batch of girls from the Wiley Dream Centre did a wonderful job at their graduation on Friday 1st April. This was the weakest batch of students we have taken into our Centres and our facilitators at this Centre, Ganga and Kamal, did an amazing job with building up the confidence of these girls. Some of the girls who stood and shared their experiences were so shy when they first joined the Centre that it was a while before they spoke at all. Now they stood in front of their family and friends and spoke with a new found belief in themselves and their dreams for the future, sharing the lessons they had learned and the skills they would take forward into their lives. They can now do anything!

The very first batch of graduates from the MLC Dream Centre really went out with a bang at their graduation day on Wednesday 6th April. This group has an amazing energy and passion for their futures and their graduation reflected this with songs, dance and expressions of gratitude – one of the core Life Skills we focus on in the Centres. Ruby and Sabita, our facilitators in this Centre, have had a huge impact on these girls – from teaching them meditation skills to help them get control of their minds, to inspiring one of the girls to sing a solo at the graduation ceremony, the difference in the girls is wonderful. Most of the girls in this Centre are domestic workers and it was lovely to see several of their guardians/employers attend the ceremony, 2 of them sharing their experiences of the changes in the girls’ behaviour and approach to school since they joined the Dream Centre program.

Welcoming these new graduates to the network of Dream Centre Graduates was a pleasure! I look forward to keeping in touch with them as they visit the Centre every month to share their progress towards their dreams. Keep dreaming, girls!

Sincere thanks to Wiley and MLC for sponsoring a Dream Centre. You have changed the lives of so many girls already, with many more to come!

Our next batches of girls will start at the Centres in late April. 

Happy Nepali New Year!

Happy Nepali New Year!

Welcome to 2068! Today is the first day of the Nepali New Year and, on behalf of the whole Mitrataa family, we wish you all a wonderful New Year.

The Mitrataa Rising Stars Child Club at Bal Mandir celebrated the new year last night with a wonderful party, organised entirely by the girls. They set the menu, did the shopping, made the decorations, organised the children, led the dancing and the fun of the party. We definitely have some skilled party planners in the making! Thanks to all the organising committee – you guys did a wonderful job!

I haven’t seen the kids have that much fun in a long time! The evening started with a special dhal bhat and vegetable curry with pickle which was delicious. This was followed by cake and soft drink for everyone. Then the fun really kicked off with some celebratory cheers for the New Year and then everyone hit the dance floor for some serious dancing. The laughter and screams of excitement said it all. The evening ended with New Year chocolates for everyone. Happy New Year, kids. You certainly started the New Year with a bang!


More photos at our facebook page.
(from Bec)

Meet the Team - Chetana

With so many projects needing daily management and attention in Nepal, it is no surprise that we have come to rely heavily on our fantastic team there. As they are such an integral part of our work we wanted to share something about them with you and so below is a snapshot of our Senior Project Manager – Chetana.

Education: Bachelor of Arts in Social Work.

Favourite colour: all shades of pink, purple, blue.

Hobbies: I like reading books as they open up my imagination. It’s like watching movies with more action, drama and you get to make up how the characters look. My other hobbies are to learn new things especially to do with music and arts.

Favourite subject at school: I liked English, Music and sports.

What makes you happy?: Spending time with my sisters and friends. I like talking to them about different things in life.  Having delicious food always brings smile to my face. Also, watching the sunset, the sky or being near beautiful trees, monuments, peaceful environment always makes me happy. Recently I realized that being able to bring smile on someone else’s face makes me feel happy too.

Tell us a bit about your family: I have my father, mother, two younger sisters a younger brother and a dog in my family. So in total, there’s seven members if you count me as well. My father and mother own a small lodge and we have occasional visitors. My sisters are both studying Fine Arts at Kathmandu University. My brother is still in school and my dog loves to sit in the sun (even in summer). I live at New Baneshwor. It was so quiet back when we had just moved here but now its grown into a big business area. My house is yellow in color. My father loves flowers so we try to grow as many  as we can of different kinds according to season.

Thank you Chetana for all your hard work and for sharing these interesting things about yourself!

2010 Annual Report Online

Just a quick update to let you know our Annual Report for 2010 is now available on our website. Last year was another big one for us and it is exciting to see the progress Mitrataa has made in impacting the lives of women and girls in Nepal.

Bec is back in Kathmandu now hosting volunteers and a school group, and getting things organised for the new school year. Updates on these happenings will be coming in the next few weeks...

More good news...

Below is the second edition of our Good News newsletter from some of our fantastic team in Nepal. Enjoy!

Great way to become involved - become an Everyday Hero!

We had a wonderful problem (if there is such a thing!). People kept asking us how they could help us with fundraising. So we have joined forces with Everyday Hero to make it even easier for everyone to contribute to our work through fundraising.

Through Everyday Hero you can set up your own fundraising page so that if, for example, you take part in the upcoming Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon, it is easy for you create your own web page which can then be emailed to all of your friends asking them to sponsor you with their donations going to Mitrataa. Everyday Hero make the collection of donations easy as people simply follow the links from your page and enter their payment details. The site collects the donations, automatically issues the receipts, and then passes the funds on to Mitrataa.

Your fundraising page is personalised with a photo as well as whatever information you would like to put there, including the reasons for your participation. You are able to set yourself a fundraising target and then log in from time to time to see how you are going.

From my own experience doing this for the city2surf last year I can honestly say that asking people for support and monitoring my fundraising target was also a great motivator to keep training for the big day!

Some upcoming events you might consider joining include:

• The Sun-Herald Surf Swim at Dee Why on 13^th March
• The Canberra Times Canberra Marathon on 9^th & 10^th April
• The Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon on 15^th May
• Run Melbourne, presented by The Age on 17^th July

Or perhaps there is a smaller event in your local area which you could join.

You don’t need to be running a marathon though to help fundraise for us! You can set up a personal fundraising page for anything eg. if you are having a birthday and want to encourage your friends and family to donate to Mitrataa rather than giving you presents. Or if you have a goal that you want to achieve and need some motivation to help you get there!

2010 was a very successful year for us but we still have so much more work to do. With your help we can continue to reach more and more of the amazing women and girls in Nepal who just need that little bit of help up to really spread their wings and follow their dreams. Every little bit you raise helps!

Visit the Everyday Hero site to see how you can create your own fundraising page (remembering to add Mitrataa as your chosen charity!) or email me (adam@mitrataa.org) and I can help you with the set up or any questions you may have. Don’t forget, all donations to Mitrataa are fully tax deductible too.

Thank you in advance for your support,

Adam.