Leaving for Nepal

Tomorrow morning we leave for Nepal and will arrive there on Oct. 11th. after a few days in Hong Kong.

Sorry if I have not updated this blog lately but our old dog was sick and we lost him two weeks ago. Very sad and hard time for us.

Thank you for all the letters and gifts for the children. They will all be delivered.

I received these photos from Mann a couple of days ago. They are of the children in Pokhara at the yearly presention of prizes. Our children did well. One photo is of Nirmala who had the top marks in the school for last year.

Return to Nepal

Sorry for the late update but I have been in England for just over two weeks visiting my mother. Also my wonderful dog is very sick and will only be with us for a few more days. We are very sad about this.

A reminder that we are going to be in Nepal for two weeks next month. We leave October 5th. If you have a letter or small gift please get it to me at least five days before I leave.

I am including these photos of the improvements we did to two buildings at the school in Chimkhola. Last year's dinner draw paid for this. These buildings were basically sound and had been used to house animals by the Agriculture Dept. many years ago. They are now able to be used for the school and one is being used as a hostel for children who have to walk two hours to school. They can now stay overnight here rather than walking four hours per day back and forth to school.

Our thanks to Runners of Compassion, Victoria for their donation which provided the beds and bed clothes and also a toilet for the children.

Dinner Draw

The winner of the dinner draw is Mary Vandenberg. Mary is very happy and will enjoy a great dinner cooked by chef Joe Schuckle for herself and five friends. The draw raised $2000 for NEF less the dinner expenses.

We also had another fundraiser last month run by Julie Friesen and her daughter. They arranged a camping weekend with a band and dinner put on by Just Jakes and the profit went to NEF. This was held at Lake Cowichan and Julie says it is going to be a yearly event. This was totally the Friesens idea and they did a great job in putting on this event. Our sincere thanks goes to them for their work and contribution to NEF.

Julie is also coming onboard with us at NEF helping in different areas where needed. I am very happy to have her as I need someone that I can fall back on when I need some help.

Sale at the Duncan Festival

This is one of our sponsors in a sweater that she bought from us. Mann, who works for NEF, choose this sweater and is certainly looks good on Helen. The other photo is of Elaine, another sponsor, who helped me out for a few hours.

I will be at the Chemainus street sale again next Saturday the 22nd from 8am to 3pm. I will have Nepali handicrafts and some second hand items from our garage sale stuff that I am still collecting. Come and say hello if you are there.

Return to Nepal and Dinner Draw

It has been a very busy summer for me this year, first with the garage sale and then a few street sales of Nepali handicrafts, some camping trips with our granddaughter and looking after my daughter who has just had surgery.

Unfortunately I have not done well selling the tickets for our dinner fundraiser as I just could not bring myself to ask people unless I really knew them well. I am always asking people for something it seems and this is not my strong point so when it came to selling tickets it was just too difficult for me plus all the other things I have to do.The draw date is August 15th so for anyone who has bought a ticket you will have good odds at winning. For those people who were helping to sell them please get any sold tickets to me by about the 13th. Or I can pick up. Whatever we make on this is more than if we had not done it at all. The money goes to our women's literacy programs so one $20 ticket paid for two months schooling for one woman. The literacy programs are extremely successful with not one drop out.

I am going to Nepal on October 7th but just for a short visit on route to India. I will there for the graduation of the first six months of our literacy women. So far they all want to continue. It will be wonderful to be there to present their certificates and Bob will be with me also. If you wish to send a letter or very small gift to your child or lady please get these to me by the 1st of October. Please bring to my home or mail to me as I cannot do pick ups on these.

Duncan Festival

I will be at the Duncan Festival for three days this week. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. July 16, 17 & 18th. I will be on Craig St. outside the old Wing On Building. I think I will be on the street most of the time but if not inside. I will be selling Nepali handicrafts and the dinner tickets. All for NEF of course. Come and say hello if you are downtown.

I was talking to Mann last night and everything is well. We have a few students starting college next month. I looks like all our literacy ladies want to continue for another six months when they have finished this course in October. This is a very rewarding project. We are still looking for sponsors for these ladies.

Sale of Nepali Items

I am at a street sale in Chemainus this Saturday July 4th from 8am to 3pm. I will be selling Nepali handicrafts and dinner draw tickets. I am right up at the end of the street. If you are there please come and say hello.
I am happy to report that our literacy program is doing extremely well. The ladies now can do basic reading and arithmetic. Mann says he cannot believe how fast they are learning. We have bought eye glasses for five of them.
School Leaving Certificate results are in and we have had 2 pass in first division and 3 pass in second division and one fail. One student that we have not heard from yet. The one student who failed wants to repeat the year and try again. We are very happy with the results. I will have a newsletter out in a few days.