FACE Nepal Newsletter > December 2009

Hello Friends, Team members, Contributors and all Participants who have contributed funds, time and knowledge.
Namaste Friends!

In September this year FACE Nepal again welcomed Zoe, our Chairperson and the Managing Director of second-base.org. She brought with her Heidi, Mike, Peter and Loretta who all helped to build the Indigenous Women's Centre in the Tharu village of Kumiya. >The project was completed in an amazingly short time - only 4 days! This illustrates that, along with the second-base team's generosity and tremendous work, the villagers are proactive and indomitable and able to work collaboratively to achieve their aspirations.

A grand celebration was held after the completion of the building where fine food was prepared and eaten and traditional Tharu dancing was performed. The second-base team and FACE Nepal volunteers were not left out and it was hard to tell the difference between them and the traditional dancers.

The Centre is now being used by the community and children and young adults attend English language classes each day which are run by our FACE Nepal volunteer Julian.

The children are very enthusiastic and most are regular attenders in sessions before their usual school day begins. There are two morning classes; the first is for 3 to 8 year olds and the second for 9 to 14 year old children. There is also a class in the evenings for young adults of around 17 to 20 years old.

Doors have been fitted to the building and fund-raising is continuing for a more weather-proof roof.

Jitu and Julian

A programme of events to help fundraise was arranged with a great deal of help from Jitu Mohato who is from Kumiya and is the Treasurer of the FACE Nepal Advisory Board.

Julian at Tihaar

Julian has come to Nepal after teaching English in Taiwan for a year. His experience of teaching English as a foreign language is proving to be invaluable here and he is evidently a very popular teacher - there have been up to 63 students in one class! He also has a background in geography and is interested in the environmental issues around Kumiya and Chitwan National Park. He has helped to gather data in the Park and has conducted a survey in Kumiya to establish community concerns and priorities. One of the main concerns highlighted by the survey is the state of the roads in Kumiya. Consequently, the whole village was involved in a 'Clean-up Day' where roadsides were prepared for sidings to contain the gravel surface, potholes were filled with earth, litter was collected and temporary litter bins were made. A competition was also arranged for the children who won prizes for collecting the most rubbish from the road and roadsides. Discussion of burnable and recyclable refuse is a classroom topic to reinforce the message of safe garbage disposal.

A formal proposal for funding for building the sidings and repair of bridges across irrigation channels has been completed by Julian and approved by FACE Nepal's International Board of Directors. Preliminary work on the roadside culverts and irrigation canals will begin in April next year and the proposal will be sent out to further prospective donors.

As well as working incredibly hard for FACE Nepal and the local community Julian is also keen to see as much of Nepal as he can, including the local vicinity.

Teaching is assisted by Ann, FACE Nepal's volunteer from England. She and Julian have started to cover the walls of the Centre with aids to learning the English language. Many of the resources have been left by previous volunteers so it's great that they were there and are being put to good use.

Our volunteers Sofia and Jessica have now left Nepal and are back in Australia after a successful and rewarding experience in Chitwan. Their project here formed part of their final year of their university degrees in Occupational Therapy.

Sofia and Jessica worked in Nepal Primary School with disabled children and adults. After several weeks of working there it became clear that they could pass on some valuable information and skills to the teachers and parents of the disabled children at the school. They therefore completed a tremendous amount of work including a documented 6 day workshop for training a Health Worker who will continue their work now that they have left. Several teachers from Nepal Secondary School (the umbrella school for the Primary School) were inspired to attend the workshops so several schools have benefited from Sofia's and Jessica's innovative initiative.

Sofia and Jessica also produced a manual for teachers and another for parents. They intend to instigate a collaborative arrangement with their University so that further final year students can choose to volunteer with FACE Nepal as their international work experience.

Sofia and Jessica also selflessly explored many drinking and eating establishments during their stay so that they could pass on recommendations to future volunteers.

Jeff is our volunteer from Seattle, USA. He has extensive experience in working with children with behavioural and emotional problems and disabilities. He is just at the start of his time here in Chitwan and has started to assist in the local school for disabled children in Patihani after initially helping with the English classes while Julian went up some hills. The school building and play area were previously improved with FACE Nepal's involvement but now has low attendance. Jeff will offer skills and strategies for engaging the children in learning and playing and help determine reasons for non-attendance which can then be addressed. Already Jeff has addressed issues such as hygienic toilet facilities for the children and improvement to the grounds and border of the school.

All the volunteers have been supported in their transition to living and working in Chitwan by wonderful host families who have extended unfailingly warm and friendly welcomes. Everyone has been included in daily family life and in festival celebrations.

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Community Projects Previously Completed by FACE Nepal
Learning Centre Project in Patalahara
Health Camp in Patalahara
Drinking Water Project in Ganganagar
Toilet Construction Project
Disabled School Project

Upcoming Community Projects
Toilet facilities Project
Repair of culverts and road Project
Plantation Project
School Painting Project
Sponsorship Project

Volunteer Projects available with FACE Nepal
Teaching English
Librarian Project
Construction Project
Environment Project
Health Specialist Project

Details of projects currently offered can be found on our website: www.facenepal.org Alternatively you can email the Managing Director Shreeram Devkota on: info@facenepal.org or shreedevkota@yahoo.com

Child Sponsorship
We currently support three children in their education by the provision of school books and materials. We are aiming to develop this aspect of our organization to help more needy children.

FACE Nepal is in the process of becoming registered as a not-for-profit organization in Australia and making progress towards registration in New Zealand and England. This will make the process of sponsorship and donations simpler and also facilitate clarity and traceability of accounts.

Details of how children can be sponsored, either for education alone or with the provision of a home and daily needs, are available by emailing us at info@facenepal.org

FACE Nepal
Narayangadh.
Chitwan,
Nepal
Est. 2004