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.

Bec speaks at Kirrawee High School

Bec recently spoke to an audience of around 1,200 at Kirrawee High School, inspiring the school in the lead up to a fundraiser they are holding to support Mitrataa. The school will be holding a trivia night at the end of the month with all funds raised contributing to our rapidly growing work in Nepal. 


This fantastic initiative is headed by two year 11 girls - Micaela Bassford and Jodie Cooper - who met Bec when attending the 'Girls Leading Social Change' day held at The Women's College in May. The girls were so inspired by Bec's presentation on that occasion that they immediately began preparations to get their whole school involved in doing something positive for the world. What a perfect example of girls leading social change.


Bec spoke for 15 minutes and had the entire school engaged as she used 10 girls to act as a sample of the population of girls in Nepal. She divided the girls into groups to illustrate the percentages that went without nutritious food each day, that didn't receive adequate education, that were married early etc. Judging by the gasps from the students the message hit the mark and will no doubt lead to great support for the upcoming fundraiser.


To add a Nepali flavour to the trivia night we have provided video files of students from our Model School in Kathmandu asking some tricky trivia questions so I hope everyone comes prepared with their thinking caps on!


Our thanks must go to Micaela and Jodie and everyone at Kirrawee High for their generous support, and we wish everyone the best of luck with the trivia night!

Thanks for volunteering Amy!

Amy Valender has recently completed a 3 month program working as a volunteer for us in Kathmandu. Amy is a nutritionist from the UK and came to know about Mitrataa through Bec when they both worked for Cadbury. Volunteering was something Amy had always wanted to do and nutrition is an area that needs a lot of support in Nepal so it was a perfect match!


We kept Amy extremely busy for the 3 months covering a variety of projects including:

• teaching English, Health and Science at our Model School;
• working with the staff in the Model School's hostel to ensure the boarding students are being fed healthy, nutritious food every meal of the day;
• running an English speaking program for some of our Dream Catchers Scholarship girls who had been struggling with their English studies;
• tutoring the girls attending our Dream Centres in English, Health, Science and also leading them in some art and craft activities and life skills programs;
• running some activities with the girls from the Project Snow Leopard program;
• working with girls at the children's home at Bal Mandir to establish a Child Club; and
• observing and advising management and staff of the children's home at Bal Mandir on healthy, nutritious and affordable dietary options for feeding the 210 children living there.

The feedback we have received from our partners, staff and of course the girls in Nepal has been overwhelming and Amy obviously made a huge impact on many people's lives. For this we are very thankful and do hope Amy might decide to return one day soon...


For anyone interested in sharing some of your skills and experience with the women and girls in Nepal and in return experiencing a piece of life that will change your outlook forever, email us.

Thank you so much Amy!

Wine Tasting Fundraiser

Last Saturday (24^th July) our good friend Libby Hathorn hosted a wine tasting fundraiser at her home in Sydney. On a cold evening we enjoyed the company of around 40 people who came to enjoy a selection of wines, a delicious meal and some fundraising for Mitrataa.

The evening started with everyone mingling with a glass of wine and some canapés – at this point I must thank Nell, from Lickie Lea’s catering, who provided the most amazing food for the evening! This was followed by a short welcome from Libby and then Bec and I had the chance to give everyone a quick update on our projects in Nepal as well as sharing initial plans for our newest project – taking over the management of a children’s home in Kathmandu where 210 children live! (Formal announcements on the details of that exciting new project coming in September.)  

It was then time for the serious business of the wine tasting. 5 wines had been chosen and we were guided through the tasting by friends of the group, Isabelle and Mark. We enjoyed a taste of Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Shiraz. All present really got into the tasting with some bizarre comments on the flavours and smells being detected in the wines, perhaps a little too much wine had been sampled?! People were then able to place orders for the wines with a portion of the takings being donated to Mitrataa.

Mark then took control of the floor to auction a painting which had been very generously donated by Sydney artist, Brenda Humble. Bidding was furious and the work eventually went under the hammer for $850 – all of which was donated to Mitrataa!

This concluded the formal part of the evening and meant people could then disperse to enjoy their dinner. We had set up a wall containing bricks that people could buy or sponsor for different amounts to contribute to our projects in Nepal. This raised a lot of interest and helped collect more donations for the Foundation.

The evening raised around $3,000 in donations to Mitrataa which is a fantastic effort and will go a long way in helping with our efforts to improve the lives of Nepal’s women and girls.

We must thank Libby for her immense generosity and support in organising and hosting this event, it was a wonderful night that was I am sure enjoyed by all who attended. Thanks must also go to Nell, Pat, Isabelle, Mark and anyone else I may have forgotten(!) who helped make the night such a huge success! Of course thanks also go to everyone who attended and were so generous with their support and donations, it will make a huge difference.