What we've been doing in Kathmandu.

Nepal SDCN 2011

Coming off a fantastic and motivational lunch with my friend Betty Tisdale I though I might need to share an update on the September trip and happenings in October over in Nepal. We had an incredibly productive two weeks in Kathmandu Nepal with the kids at SDCN and some great people (thank you Raina, Jenara, Prakash and Dawa)! We accomplished much of what we sent out to do and also may have found an urban organic farm to purchase produce from someday! We also sent a great care package over with Karen Gardner, thank you again! She brought blank story books for the kids to get creative with storytelling, we'll scan the books and then my friend Austin's organization http://www.singmeastory.org/ will bring them to life! Thank you to those who supported us in this adventure and mission. The kids are doing incredibly well. We have big dreams for what the next year can bring in the shape of entrepreneurial projects to generate revenue in Nepal, getting our older kids out into the world and bringing the benefits of technology and internet communication to the children in the home. We have a library and computer now, just looking for further support in bringing more computers and consistent internet access as the next step. Speaking of which, if you want to support right now we're all set to take tax-deductible CC donations here: https://omprakash.org/DonationForm?go=DonationForm&p=234 If you have the desire to learn more, contribute advice or come to Nepal and check things out yourself that would be amazing. We are expanding our connection with Omprakash.org and there are tons of opportunities to volunteer from home, especially if you have experience in grant writing, education programming and non-profit paper-working. Write me back for me details!

Kathmandu Kids

An update from the field! Brandon and I have just returned and now mostly recovered from two amazing and action packed weeks in Nepal. The primary goal was to reconnect with the children and experience first hand how their lives are at Social Development Center Nepal. Returning to the home exceeded any and all of my expectations. The extent to which the children have grown emotionally, physically and mentally since my last visit is beautiful. Being able to converse with them all in English, and have them help me with my Nepali was easily the highlight of the trip. With such a short visit Brandon and I set out an aggressive schedule of being at the home each day to walk the kids to school, and then we tackled the project of moving into the second floor of the apartment building we rent. Doubling the size of the home in a week was a big task and we had plenty of help from Nepalis in the neighborhood. Ultimately we repainted the entire home, installed new carpets upstairs, repaired all the electrical, purchased curtains and chairs for use throughout the home. Two new bedrooms and a dedicated learning space upstairs means the children have more room to grow physically and mentally. We are working on filling the library and learning space with tools for the children to put to into action. Please let us know if you have ways you'd like to help!

Update from Nepal April 2011

Great news from Nepal! Sue Clark, our International Director just returned from a visit and has shared this brief update and beautiful photos of the kids:

The kids are great! We went to Chitwan and they had a ball! There was a festival right next to our hotel which they went to a number of times, we did elephant safari, elephant breeding farm and canoe ride...they saw 2 crocs.