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.