Two Children have Accidents

Last week when Mann was in Pokhara and went to monitor our families there he found that two children had been hurt.  Sabita, who is sponsored through NEF, had a broken arm that her mother could not afford to have treated.  Two days previously she had injured it and it was sore and swollen.  Mann gave her the money to take Sabita to the hospital where it was put in a cast. 
The other child is not sponsored through us at the moment but his mother is sponsored and in our literacy program.  Her son was hit by a bus.  The bus was overtaking a car and hit the child and then took off.  It was carrying no passengers at the time.  The police caught the driver the next day and the bus company has to pay 60% of the medical costs.  The child is in the hospital with head injuries, a broken arm and leg.  Rita is already suffering financial hardship as her husband went to work in the middle east and while there had a motorcycle accident in which he suffered multiple injuries including a broken leg and so is earning no money and does not have the funds to come home.  So now somehow she has to find 40% of the funds to pay for  her son's medical care.

Chimkhola

 Recent photos from the village of Chimkhola where Mann visited last

month.  A classroom at the village school showing girls studying.

This is the school that the Rotary completely refurbished.

Top left shows a villager digging a hole for the septic for the new latrines

and photo at bottom the villages carrying up benches for the school. 

These benches were carried up the steep trail to the village which is at least a 

seven to eight hour trek over rough terrain. 

Many thanks to Sandy Crichton and Erin Anderson at Valley Yoga Centre in Duncan for holding a candlelight restorative yoga class on Monday.  The class was by donation to NEF and raised $360.00.
They made it a very relaxing evening which everyone enjoyed and made us at NEF very happy by raising this amount of money.

At the Dentist

Nine children in Nakhipot, Kathmandu went to the dentist yesterday and Mann has just sent these photos of the event.  They need lots of fillings and some root canals but thanks to donors they are able to be treated.  this is just the start of the Kathmandu program and hopefully we will be able to treat many more children if we continue to get funds.

With Thanks



We would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy and Prosperous New Year from everyone at Nepal Education Fund.  We have enjoyed a very successful year and wish to thank all our sponsors and donors for helping us achieve this.  From the education of our children and women to our new libraries, sewing, and dentistry programs, all this has been made possible by your generosity of spirit and caring.  It is not only the money, which of course is necessary to run this charity and do this work, but also by your messages of thanks and encouragement. 

The Chimkhola village school project is now completed.  This was a joint Rotary and NEF project and has resulted in a much improved school which serves four villages.  They have a library, science lab, new latrines, new desks, tables, office equipment, teaching aids etc.  I hope to have photos on here soon.  We are very grateful to Duncan Daybreak and Duncan Noontime clubs for their great support in this project.

We look forward to the new year and the continuation of our work in Nepal.

Dentistry

Would like to report that our dentristry program is going very well.  Through a large donation we are able to complete the program in Simpani, Pokhara.  When I was there in late October we had the dental camp and were able to treat 40 children and some women.  Now through a donation we are able to finish treating the 25 to 30 children who we could not treat at that time.  Also we have enough money to treat all of our Nakhipot children.  Then we will work on the Kathmandu children.  So thank you to all those who have sent money for dentistry, you have certainly made a difference to these children's health.  Hopefully this program can continue for future years.

Photos on Flickr

I have downloaded all the Nepal Photos from my recent trip which includes lots of children's photos onto Flickr. You may view them at www.flickr.com/photos/98411


Let me know how you like the photos on flickr as this will be much less work for me. So give me some feedback please.

Payments Now Due

I am back at home now after a very good and productive trip to Nepal. As you can see from this blog we achieved a lot with the dental program, graduation ceremonies and the libraries at two schools. I also saw many children and these photos I will be putting on Flickr in the next couple of days and you can view them and download your child's photo from there. This saves me hours of work.
Payment for children's sponsorships is due now and the deadline is January 15th. Government school is $100 and private school $300. Thank you to those who have already sent it in.
Final amount raised by the marathon is $2,432.00. Still a bit of that money outstanding but hopefully it all comes in.
A reminder that you can buy a gift of a visit to a dentist for a Nepali child for $38 and the receipient will receive a card telling them of their gift. This is a great program as these children never get to visit a dentist and it is so important.

Left Nepal and in Hong Kong

As usual it was very sad leaving everyone last night. For our last day we went into Kathmandu and Mann's friend who has just opened a Nepali restaurant treated us to a delicious lunch. Yangji, who I mentioned earlier about Mann getting her a job here, waited on us. She is just so happy to have a job. Now she is able to help her Aunty and her little sister with some income. The food was excellent so we really hope the restaurant does well.
Sima cooked us supper before we left and a lot of people came to say goodbye. Leaving never gets any easier even though I hope to be back in a few months.

Photos

Photos top left and far right new children at Hattiban waiting for sponsors. Centre Hattiban children. Middle left Hattiban children with their new Barbie dolls. Two photos of Tihar celebration at High Mount Principal's house, Tol Prasad, Pokhara. My daughter, Wendy and granddaughter Ali and Tol Prasad's wife who is the vice principal of the government school in Simpani where we have many children. Left our poster child Sunita. She is on our website and brochures. She is doing very well and we enjoyed taking her out for a boat ride on the lake in Pokhara.

Last Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow evening, Saturday, we leave Nepal for Hong Kong. As always it is hard to leave. We have had a very productive time here and have done a lot in a short time. I have seen some of our college students in the last couple of days and they are doing well. Quite a lot are working as well as going to college so that they can keep themselves. One, Yangji, Mann found a job for her working in a restaurant and we have also just found a sponsor for her little sister. They lost their father a few months ago. I just received an email from her tell me how grateful she is because now she has the responsibility of providing for her little sister and her aunty.
I think we must have seen at least half of our children on this visit and all of our women.
I am going to post some photos later this evening when my battery has recharged.
Our NEF program is going very well here and Mann and Jagat are doing a great job running the charity at this end. I will be sending out photos to sponsors of the children we saw when I get home.

Hattiban

Today Mann & I visted Hattiban. We saw all but two children who were still away for the holiday. We had them altogether at Rajindra's house and bought them pop and cookies and gave all the girls Barbie dolls and cars for the two boys. We have 16 children there now and 13 are girls. I always love going to Hattiban and we sat in the sun with the children for two hours. We decided that next spring we will have a picnic there. We have two new children there for next spring's registration.
Tomorrow I have to visit some children and do Nepali handicraft shopping to bring home.
Tonight we celebrated both my granddaughter Ali's birthday and Mann's daughter Lisa's birthday. She was 2 and Ali 7. It was truly by candlelight as the electric was out.
Photos of Hattiban tomorrow.

Photos of Phumbi Bhumbi

See article below about this school. Photo at the top shows a coffee plant and part of the view from the village. Never have I been honoured by so many flowers from the children and school committee. It was very touching and we all enjoyed the visit so much. We provided over 300 books and two brightly painted book cabinets.

Visit to Phumbi Bhumdi

Yesterday we visited the village of Phumdi Bhumdi and it was a beautiful place high up with incredible views. We went their to open the school library. The welcome they gave us made us feel like royalty, it was amazing. So many flowers from the children and board members etc. We had provided over 300 books and two bookcases and they were truly grateful. After a few speeches we toured the few classrooms and library room. I was very impressed with this school, they only had 73 students of which most were low caste. Enrollment had been dropping off because the level of teaching in government schools has been declining so they have now added a nursery class and are raising money for better teachers and introducing an English class. To do this they have planted 1000 coffee trees behind the school which will start producing in two years and they already have secured a market in Japan. This board at the school really had vision and our money was well spent here. They gave us lunch at the top of the highest building in the village. This was an enjoyable visit and I hope to return here. The Principal had died 6 days before so we visited his family before leaving.

Picnic & Library Photos

Picnic

Today we opened the library in Simpani Government school which was donated by the Qatar Friends of the Wooden Spoon in Doha. The room was not quite ready, still being painted, but all the books were put in the bookcase and we took photos.
Then we went to High Mount School where we had a picnic for the women and children and had nearly 100 people. We fed them samosas, chips, fruit and peanuts and pop which they all enjoyed. Some games were played and we all had fun on a beautiful, warm sunny day beneath the Annurpurna mountain range.
One of our lady students had some piglets, 14 of them, so we took our granddaughter, Ali, to see them. We had some tea and biscuits which I really needed as I was too busy to eat at the picnic. I matched some ladies with new sponsors. A lot of the ladies do not have sponsors and would dearly love to have one. We are going back again tomorrow as my daughter, Wendy as decided to sponsor another one, Rita, and wants her photo taken with her. Also our American friend, Chris, wants to see the piglets. These pigs do not know how popular they are. Tomorrow we are going to open the new library at Bhumdi Bhumdi which is a village about 45 mins from here. Half the marathon money paid for this. Chris also wants to come so we are going to have to squeeze 5 adults and 1 child into a small taxi, believe me it can be done!!
Tonight we had a birthday party for Neera, our dear friend at the Laughing Buddha Restaurant. She really loved that. Our granddaughter, Ali, spends all her spare time working in the restaurant. She always plays waitress at home and now she is doing it for real!! She is having a great time. She fits right in with the sponsored children also.
Well I really tired so going to get some sleep.

Women's Graduations

Photos of High Mount Literacy program and stone quarrey Literacy program. Children receiving clothes at the quarrey. They could not wait to get them on even if they were too small. It was chaos giving away clothes and toys.

Dental Program

For the dental money that has been raised we are able to have treatment for 37 children and 3 women. Some of the children had up to 8 fillings needed. The first ten went to the dentist today, some will have to have a few visits to complete the work needed. We now have a second list from the children who had their teeth inspected yesterday. When we get more money these children will have treatment. Remember when it comes to Christmas gifts that you can buy dental treatment for a child for $38 and the recipient will receive a card telling them of your gift. This is a great program for these children and women have never been to a dentist before and without our help would not in the future. I am really satisfied with this. Mann did a great job setting it all up. The dentists, there are two of them, are within walking distance so we do not have to pay out money for transportation. They will also receive instruction on how to brush and care for their teeth.
Tomorrow it is the Women's graduation ceremonies in two different locations.

Dental Camp Photos

Mina and Sujan having their teeth looked at, group of children and group of everyone seen today. Enjoying tea and biscuits and giving out toothbrushes and paste which every child received.

Dental Program in Pokhara

Today we had our new dental program at High Mount School in Simpani. Here they call it a dental camp. It was free of charge. Two dentists looked at 65 children and about 8 women. Each person had a form filled out as to what treatment they need. Now Mann is working out with the dentist the cost for the treatment for each child and woman. First prority goes to our 50 children and then our women and if there is any money over some of the others can be treated. The bulk of this money was raised by a local Duncan Rotarian and also some sponsors paid for their children. I think it is an excellent program. Our oldest student, 75 year old Ganga was seen. Seh needs an extraction but she is scared but I think she will have it done.
Some of our Kathmandu children are going to be seen by a dentist there at their sponsor's request. After everyone was seen we provided tea and biscuits for all and the day was quite an event which everyone enjoyed. The dentist told me that dental treatment has only really been available for 5 or 6 years and there are only 300 to 400 dentists in all of Nepal, 700 to 800 have been trained but half have left the country.
Photos above on next post.

A Trip to the Zoo

Today we took eleven children to the zoo. They all enjoyed it and were very well behaved. The children that came were: Pinky, Binita, Suman, Sujan, Samjhana, Smitri, Abiseka, Deya, Asmita, Sagar and Ali and Mann's little girl Lesa. We went on the bus and came home in two taxis, with adults that was a total of about 15 in two small taxis. Three children, Deya, Asmita and Sagar were newly sponsored last May and the others have been with us for sometime. I really see such a difference in them, they have just blossomed. Smitri and Samjhana are young ladies now and speak quite good English and even the small children were speaking some English and knew the names of the animals in English. We all enjoyed the outing.

Photos are Deya and her mother, she was too shy to come on her own, Samjhana and Binita top left, kids eating ice cream, Pinky, Smitri and Abiseka and group of children, Lesa and me with some of the children