November is here!…and it is actually one of the best months to be in Nepal. Many areas have just finished the rice harvesting, and although it’s a bit colder, it is pleasantly fresh, and the sky is usually blue and crystal clear so you can see the beautiful mountains that surround you. During the rainy season one can easily miss them altogether and to have been to Nepal but not seen the Himalayas would be a shame. Diane and Su have been teaching at the Pame Basic school this week. You may remember seeing pictures from the health and dental camp we held for them in September. And the uniforms they got in April. This is a government school that has 67 children who are all from very poor families. They approached Alliance Nepal nearly a year ago and asked if there was any way they could get some support, as the $200 or so a year that the school gets nowhere near covers even the basics for a school, and certainly not enough for uniforms. We are so pleased that we are able to help. And yesterday each child got a warm jumper, a hat, socks and shoes. For some this might be their first pair of proper shoes. They were also given materials for the school. We spent $1800 from the ticket sales for our music event in Oxford later this month (now sold out!). It’s so amazing to be able to do this, and all thanks to people like you, reading this, who have a bit of money to spare and are willing to share. Well, why not?, say $15 is easily spent on just parking for a few hours in the western world. In Nepal it goes a long way and can make a huge difference to someone. So MASSIVE THANKS again!
The other thing we wanted to mention is this family we’ve come in to contact with through Alliance Nepal, from the school in Sarangkot…Just feel it would be amazing to be able to help them. Yes we do realise there are many, many families who need help, and why help one and not the other…but let’s start somewhere, and it’s not for any particular reason, just something we would like to do, just one place to start. And of course we realise that there are those much, much worse off too. Anyway, the family living together consists of a grandmother/mother whose husband is quite old and unable to work, and 9 children / grandchildren (they have 6 girls (one died of breast cancer) and one boy, one daughter’s husband is in prison), and they also have chickens living in the house (probably from the hen we gave them for Dashain last year!). This woman provides for all of them, doing whatever (hard) work she can find, maybe making a couple of dollars on those days. The little dwelling is on a terrace about 20 minutes walk down a slope on an uneven path. It has a small hall/kitchen and one room where they all live. There are 3 wooden structures as beds. The floor is earth, there are no windows, there are holes in the walls, the corrugated roof is partly broken, there is no electricity, which means when it’s dark, it’s pitch black, there is a type of ‘kitchen’ (see pic), meaning a small area where logs are burnt in the corner (which makes the whole house smoky inside) and there are barely any utensils. I’m not sure if they have a tap for water. Of course, they are not complaining. Or asking for anything. They’ve always lived like this. With so many of them, 2 of the kids of the daughter who died are now living at a children’s home. We have been in touch with them for a while, and provided them with food during Dashain festival last year and this year. Now we would like to help them fix up the house a little bit, rebuild the walls, so that at least it is sheltered for the winter, provide them with a bit of light after dark, and improve their cooking facilities. Take a look at the pictures. In the last few weeks we have received another £300 (thank you!), and there were £120 left over from last time. So the plan is to first fix the holes in the walls and to buy them some warm blankets, and probably get the solar cell power installed (waiting to confirm cost). The roof and the rest would probably cost about $700 to fix, so if anybody would like to help us help them get this done, please go to the donation site or get in touch with us.
As you may have seen, we will also be at 3 markets selling handcrafted ceramic pots, bowls, little figures, and butter/spread knives, and various bits and pieces, so if anybody is thinking about getting someone a special, unique gift…or for yourself, please take a look on e.g. Instagram or under the fundraising tab, or get in touch and we can show you what we have for sale (we can send it to you if you can’t come). By buying something it will mean you help these kids in Nepal as that’s where every single penny will end up.
Another update soon! Diane is there now, so a lot of exciting things are happening every day. On Monday they are having a clothes donation day!
November is here!…and it is actually one of the best months to be in Nepal. Many areas have just finished the rice harvesting, and although it’s a bit colder, it is pleasantly fresh, and the sky is usually blue and crystal clear so you can see the beautiful mountains that surround you. During the rainy season one can easily miss them altogether and to have been to Nepal but not seen the Himalayas would be a shame. Diane and Su have been teaching at the Pame Basic school this week. You may remember seeing pictures from the health and dental camp we held for them in September. And the uniforms they got in April. This is a government school that has 67 children who are all from very poor families. They approached Alliance Nepal nearly a year ago and asked if there was any way they could get some support, as the $200 or so a year that the school gets nowhere near covers even the basics for a school, and certainly not enough for uniforms. We are so pleased that we are able to help. And yesterday each child got a warm jumper, a hat, socks and shoes. For some this might be their first pair of proper shoes. They were also given materials for the school. We spent $1800 from the ticket sales for our music event in Oxford later this month (now sold out!). It’s so amazing to be able to do this, and all thanks to people like you, reading this, who have a bit of money to spare and are willing to share. Well, why not?, say $15 is easily spent on just parking for a few hours in the western world. In Nepal it goes a long way and can make a huge difference to someone. So MASSIVE THANKS again!
The other thing we wanted to mention is this family we’ve come in to contact with through Alliance Nepal, from the school in Sarangkot…Just feel it would be amazing to be able to help them. Yes we do realise there are many, many families who need help, and why help one and not the other…but let’s start somewhere, and it’s not for any particular reason, just something we would like to do, just one place to start. And of course we realise that there are those much, much worse off too. Anyway, the family living together consists of a grandmother/mother whose husband is quite old and unable to work, and 9 children / grandchildren (they have 6 girls (one died of breast cancer) and one boy, one daughter’s husband is in prison), and they also have chickens living in the house (probably from the hen we gave them for Dashain last year!). This woman provides for all of them, doing whatever (hard) work she can find, maybe making a couple of dollars on those days. The little dwelling is on a terrace about 20 minutes walk down a slope on an uneven path. It has a small hall/kitchen and one room where they all live. There are 3 wooden structures as beds. The floor is earth, there are no windows, there are holes in the walls, the corrugated roof is partly broken, there is no electricity, which means when it’s dark, it’s pitch black, there is a type of ‘kitchen’ (see pic), meaning a small area where logs are burnt in the corner (which makes the whole house smoky inside) and there are barely any utensils. I’m not sure if they have a tap for water. Of course, they are not complaining. Or asking for anything. They’ve always lived like this. With so many of them, 2 of the kids of the daughter who died are now living at a children’s home. We have been in touch with them for a while, and provided them with food during Dashain festival last year and this year. Now we would like to help them fix up the house a little bit, rebuild the walls, so that at least it is sheltered for the winter, provide them with a bit of light after dark, and improve their cooking facilities. Take a look at the pictures. In the last few weeks we have received another £300 (thank you!), and there were £120 left over from last time. So the plan is to first fix the holes in the walls and to buy them some warm blankets, and probably get the solar cell power installed (waiting to confirm cost). The roof and the rest would probably cost about $700 to fix, so if anybody would like to help us help them get this done, please go to the donation site or get in touch with us.
As you may have seen, we will also be at 3 markets selling handcrafted ceramic pots, bowls, little figures, and butter/spread knives, and various bits and pieces, so if anybody is thinking about getting someone a special, unique gift…or for yourself, please take a look on e.g. Instagram or under the fundraising tab, or get in touch and we can show you what we have for sale (we can send it to you if you can’t come). By buying something it will mean you help these kids in Nepal as that’s where every single penny will end up.
Another update soon! Diane is there now, so a lot of exciting things are happening every day. On Monday they are having a clothes donation day!
Maths teacher helping the little ones put their jumper on
Trying on her new hat, jumper, socks and shoes
Pame kids in their new winter uniforms
The house. The roof is not great, and the walls are broken and unstable.
Kitchen. They cook in that corner.
4 of the kids living here (plus 2 you can’t quite see)
Hole in the wall
