News From Khatmandu

You could tell something was wrong when I landed late on Tuesday night and there was only three  foreigners in the immigration hall at Kathmandu airport. Usually there are hundreds. Now here in our town, there is an alien, eerie stillness and quietness that creates a surrealness. The streets are not as noisy nor is there a constant hooting of horns and the few cars that are around, seem to just sneak by without much sound at all. Also, women in their brightly coloured kurtas and sari’s don’t seem brighten up what is generally a drab looking environment. As they say, Kathmandu is only half full.

Our town was so lucky to receive only minor cracking of homes but unfortunately suffered the tragic death of the little boy who lived next door to us at BFCH.

Though, everyone you speak too has their story that they want to tell you about that moment in time, the fear, the emotions and how they survived and the impact the earthquake had on their families. Then there are the stories told through welled up eyes of the grief of losing the family home that was
shaken incessantly into a pile rubble. The stories are never ending and the hardest part for me is that I can not help everyone.

This week, I am really looking forward to heading out to some remote communities, with Didi Nepal  to deliver relief aid to see first hand of the damage and as an Australia-Nepal committee we will assess the next stage of Didi Australia-Nepal’s options for our re-build program.

Also, Laxmi our medical adviser and I will be heading out to  deliver  the medical equipment donated by our awesome
supporters at the Pink Umbrella Foundation and heading to our favourite place Sindhuli Deaf School.

Looking forward to sharing the photos. Here in Kadhagari heaps has been happening this week, so here is an overview:

WOMEN’S CENTRE 

The vibe and energy of our last volunteers, Sam, Yvonne,
Summer and Genevieve still remains alive and well. Our Didi team has picked up from where we left off and are moving  with full steam ahead and our women’s co-operative is gaining momentum. Thanks to Cheryl M we have now employed a full time manager of the centre Jyoti who is also commencing her literacy and numeracy classes this week and our team is close to finalising the implementation of how the co-op will run and become a sustainable entity. Like I said it is full steam ahead.Picture a copy

​Yesterday I commenced the training of three of our graduate sewers who will be paid a wage to manufacture  ‘DAYS FOR GIRLS’ re-usable sanitary kits and Didi Nepal will deliver them to  various aid agencies as part of our relief aid. Women are often the forgotten ones in disaster zones.  Jenny A….I wish you were here:) 

Deliveries will commence to aid agencies in the next two weeks.

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THANKS TO DAYS FOR GIRLS for supplying the PUL fabric. At the moment the girls are practicing on a substitute fabric.

If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to assist this project to support women in crisis  then please donate to: 

https://donations.rawcs.com.au/Default.aspx?ProjectID=682&ReturnTo=4

Picture c copyOur technology girls are about to graduate from our first computer course and they now have the basic skills to apply for government courses and our second group will be starting in the near future. Our current girls have requested to know about email, google and of course Facebook so as it is so ingrained into our culture and now the Nepali way, the internet  is going to be connected to compliment the course. 

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A huge thanks to the Circle Movement for hosting a fundraiser tonight to support Nepal’s earthquake and thanks heaps to LInda and Sam for speaking on behalf of The Didi Foundation. For further information on this dynamic group of girls who support the empowerment of women world wide, go to

https://www.facebook.com/Circlemovement?fref=ts

Sorry for any typos and comprehension errors as it has been a huge day and it is late and I am so anxious to keep you updated on what has been going on. So from ow I can just do short updates. Hopefully the internet will behave itself and also my camera will behave itself on the downloading of photos.

A huge thank you to everyone who supports us to empower Didi Foundation Australia and Nepal and those who encourage  to keep moving forward.

BRIGHT FUTURE CHILDREN’S HOME

So great to see our munchkins and in seven weeks, they have all shot up like beanstalks and the girls are looking  like young ladies since the earthquake.

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Even baby monkey seems to have grown up but the monkey in her is very much alive and well.  The girls are even more beautiful though Krishala had a desperate or more like an extremely urgent need to get to the pharmacy to buy ‘clear skin’ as pimples are starting to raise their ugly heads. 

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Bipin is driving me insane with his science school project, which is to build a moving object with recycled materials. I must admit I am always amazed at their
ability to be resourceful, especially Bipin. Using my Iphone he sourced Youtube for instructions on how to make a motorised car from a soft drink bottle, old electrical wires and the battery from the TV remote. He is succeeding. Mel, you would be so proud of him.

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They seem to have taken the quake in their stride and have their house evacuation plan in place. They all sleep in the lounge room on foam sheeting for easy escape. Their school is now constructing a one floor school building to cater for many of the students who now have a fear of going up stairs to class rooms

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I wish you could feel the sense of excitement in the air when the  word got out that we are going out for the
day this Saturday. So today BFCH and NLCH are off to the swimming pool and restaurant for a snack. Thanks Carole Moss you are a gem as I said before they have been suffering cabin fever since the quake. Will post photos later today.  On Sunday the girls are dancing at the schools Yr 10 farewell so that should be a photo feast.

Hopefully the monsoon rain will stay away so we can enjoy a great day out. Will be in touch Jan

 Jan Pryor,
Founder:
  • Bright Future Children’s Home-Nepal
  • The Didi Foundation Inc (Australian registered charity)
  • Didi Foundation Nepal. A registered non-government charitable organisation in Nepal
  • Registered with RAWCS (Rotary Australia World Wide Community Service)