Archive for January, 2009

The last few days feel like they have been a colourul wind storm.  With the girls having parents day at winter camp, Lars and I attended to see soooo many smiley faces, that shone of happiness as they traditionally danced and sung and received rewards for winning colouring in competitions, eating competitions and dancing competitions.  Each girl had a part to play in the afternoon, with their pretty outfits, blush to their cheeks and their ticcas adorned they were so proud of themselves and we so proud of them.   The afternoon was a success with music playing, the children singing, parents clapping along with the beat it was enjoyed by all.

Sunday came and it was Scott’s last day who had enjoyed participating in the girls activities for a few afternoons in between going to Chitwan.  As the afternoon unravelled the girls gradually presented him with pictures and gifts of flowers, at the end of their english lesson they were asked to tell Scott about themselves and their feelings on him leaving.  Sneha and Dikshya gave a beautiful speech wishing him a safe journey and letting him know that they would miss him and would like him to return to Forget Me Not Children’s Home.  The girls gathered together singing a goodbye song, very tear jerking.  Scott sat in wonder, entirely taken by each and every girl.  He had enjoyed the experience, taking many wonderful moments with him.

A whosshhhhhh, here comes Tuesday morning, it is time for the big excursion day.  To Kids land, which is a theme park not unlike the rides you would see at a show.  With all the girls in their forget me not shirts we were off, first the taxi ride to the park.  In we clamber 1 by 1 until there are 8 of us in one of those Suzuki mini’s, littlies of big sisters laps, mumu’s in, Aunty and Uncle in amongst many arms and legs.  Away taxi away……  With little bottoms moving side to side with each corner taken, heads trying to pop over the dash board and the door to see out the window as the watch the wash of colour of fruit and veggie stalls , dress shops and many people walking the streets.  This was much excitement.

15 minutes later our destination reached, out we piled onto the pavement, lines formed and the count was on 1-21, all girls accounted.  There was a hum of excitement around.  Through the gates we walked, it was a little deserted when we first entered but we continued to follow the path around to the rides, fun, fun, fun……  With Lars at the front guiding the way we were to embark on an adventure.  Emu 1, 2, 3 took the girls fancy with some hesitant so therefore not standing to close.  Then came the rides, big ones, scary high ones, fast moving rides, water based rides and people in the middle fixing some of  them.  Two groups were formed under 10’s and over 10’s.  With the little girls having 6 rides for less than $2.00 a child they were delighted.  The plane ride was first and round and round they went, with heads just peaking over the top of the plane they enjoyed immensely.  With one ride down Lars Uncle decided to take the older girls to some of the other rides leaving Carla Aunty with 12 happy, bubbly princesses.  Boat ride was second, two by two they piled into a boat, with a splish and splash the ride began with the operator manually pushing the ride round n round.  Hands in the water collecting as many balls as possible, laughter from all directions and a glint in their eyes, fun, fun and more fun.  Train rides, a ball galore ride, Mickey and ducky rides plus slippery dips, swings in between this was one joyous day.  A vanilla ice-cream to add to the sweetness before the last few rides.  Each girl licking slowly and carefully savouring each moment of vanilla taste till it had disappeared. YUM!!

Last two rides of the day, Lars Uncle thought the Ferris wheel would be a good choice for all to do together.  This was no normal Ferris Wheel, this was an old style one where it had to be correctly weighted to work.  Carla Aunty piled into a carriage with Alisha, Barme and Sangeeta, there were no closing doors just a cage.  Sitting comfortable with Alisha squeezing my hand and Sangeeta looking at me with excitement and fear in her eyes we started to move, up, up, up, and round, round and round.  At first we were happy looking out at the view of Kathmandu, enjoying the mountain ranges, the different blend of colours in the distance and then after about the third loop it started getting faster and then the motor stopped controlling the speed and the carriage weight took control, a very strange sensation, similar to a falling motion.  At this point the girls felt that was enough and so did Aunty, probably after 3 more rounds Alisha wanted it to STOP, so we started yelling  Ruknu, Ruknu, but probably another 5 rounds and we started to slow and gradually each carriage was allowed to disembark.  Phew, no spewage, a few worried expressions, yet some fun as well.  Carla’s head continued to spin for a while after.

Smiles, and more smiles as the pony ride had opened. Girls where ever you go like horses so ours being typical girls wanted to finish the day with what we would firstly say merry go round,  was soon to be seen as the galloping merry go round, colours of the horses blazing around.  The younger ones holding on tightly the older girls enjoying the ups, downs and speed, all were happy except for Jumuna who had buried her head downwards.

With tiredness creeping through the girls, it was time to leave Kids World.  Fun was had by all.  With the ride back to Forget Me Children’s Home a little quieter, a glint of happiness was seen in the sleepy eyes of the girls. 

With a blaze of colour from my eye to yours 

Carla xoxo

“My name is Miss Pukali!” is the Junu cry over the last few afternoon visits to Forget Me Not.  Apparently Puja (Forget Me Not manager) had nicknamed Junu as Pukali which means cutey or doll when translated. Junu then took this nickname to school and now has all her teachers calling her Miss Pukali and of course being the youngest in the family she is also known as the ‘Big Boss’ in the Forget Me Not Family!

The plans for the next week (as they seem to almost always do in Kathmandu!) have changed. Due to the number of strikes anticipated for this year, School which was always resuming on the 8^th Feb is now resuming a week earlier, so the girls we now start this Sunday instead of next. This meant that our plans to take them to the movies next Tues couldn’t quite happen so instead we decided to push forward the excursion day to today! After talking with all the girls the general consensus was that they didn’t particularly want to go to the movies and instead they would prefer to go on an outing somewhere, anywhere so long as it was out and about! So after talking with Puja we decided on somewhere that none of the girls had been to – The Kathmandu Fun Park!

It is only very slightly similar to our theme parks and they have the standard Ferris Wheel, boat rides, kids area etc!

So this morning we all piled into three taxis at 10.30am ready for the 15mins ride to the park. All the girls, Madavi, Janu and Carla and myself were dressed in full Forget Me Not garb ready to take on the thrill of the day!

We then split up into two groups, the older girls with me and the younger ones with Carla, Madavi and Janu. We paid for a multi ride pass for each of them and the girls for the next hour and a half enjoyed the slides, the flying aeroplane ride, the boats, swings and heaps more.

The first ride that some of the older girls wanted to go on was the massive Boat swing, that is pretty much what the pirate ship is at any standard amusement park, but this one seemed to go on forever (about 10mins) and on the ride were all 1^st timers Basandahara, Sunita, Rabina and Sita who almost lost their stomachs a number of times.  Sitting next to me was Sunita and every time the boat ‘free fell’ her face would have this look of terror mixed with excitement! At the end she was all smiles and clammy hands from holding on so hard but wanted to get straight back on and have another go!

With my head still spinning a little and my stomach not feel quite right I was then pulled over to boat ride where eight of the girls then used some peddle power for the next 15mins in a small pond! For a few of the girls that was the highlight ride of the day!

Then it was ‘toot, toot’ on the train for a very short ride. According to the girls we were steaming all the way to Australia. A very short trip that involved a lot of waving and saying goodbye to everyone that passed.

By that stage we had been there for 2 hours so we thought that it was time for some icecream, so everyone sat down in a big circle and licked a slurped a very tasty vanilla icecream.

It was then time to take on the giant Ferris wheel so with everyone seated on-board (except for Sita who felt a little too scared) the giant wheel started. But unbeknown to Carla and me, this particular Ferris Wheel in Nepal was very different to the nice and easy pace of the ones in Australia. It started off not too bad, but after a few minutes the pace had turned into a spinning frenzy  with most of the girls screaming!!! I had Dikshya in the carriage with me and she spent most of time clenching my hands in a death grip and screaming in terror. There were a few that were an exception to this, Sunita, Devaki Basandahra all loved the ride! But it was nicknamed afterwards the ‘Ferris Wheel of Terror’ Beware all those that have sensitive stomachs!

Carla and I decided that it was time to find a finishing ride, and we thought the nice horse merry go round looked like a winner. So everyone found a horse and the ride started. Well everything looked like it was going well and the pace wasn’t too fast and the girls were all waving and laughing and having a good time and then for, who knows what reason, the pace started to pick up, and then pick up again, until little Junu was gripping her horses neck and clinging on, and little Jumuna was looking very pale from all the spinning around and around. 

So in a quiet, tired buzz we piled back into the taxi’s and headed for Forget Me Not. Junu was fast asleep on Carla’s lap within minutes of the taxi leaving, tired and happy.

As Carla and I were leaving this afternoon Devaki and Goma came up to me and told me that it was one of the best days they had ever had! And thanked us for taking them!

This afternoon Carla and I are sorting through a heap of pictures so that we can give the girls a picture album when we leave. We are also having a large cork-board made up so that the girls can pin their pictures or letters on it.

Tomorrow morning  Nabin, Carla and I are on an early bus to Pokara, then from Pokara to Beni and then from Beni to Myagdi – for our village visit and research trip. Providing everything goes well we plan on being back in Kathmandu on Sunday night.

Om, Shanti.

Lars

The Wonders and Fascination of Life!

Anita….Miss Anita and miss Molli-Anne, Freja’s (my sisters) first born baby. Ever since we told her 5months ago that Freja was going to have a little baby she was soooo excited (as were all the girls) but Freja built up a special relationship with Anita the two times that she has visited Forget Me Not and I don’t think that Anita has ever really forgotten that connection. Anyway this time when Carla and I told her that Freja had a little baby girl at the end of November she had this little (very cute) Anita smile, that only Anita can do, smiling with her hands, mouth, eyes, and body and said, ‘Lars Uncle have you got photos of Freja aunties baby’ and I told her that I would bring them the next day. Well the next day came and I had forgot to download the photos on the external hard rive to show her and the other girls. I snuck past her hoping that she would forget, and she seemed to have for the 1^st 30mins that we were there but then she came up to me and plonked on my lap, played with my curls and asked me,’ Lars Uncle where is photos of Freja Aunties baby?’ So then I had to own up to my forgetfulness and promised that I would bring them the next day (which luckily I managed to remember) then she sat in my lap (which is quite a feat now as she has gown so very much, and said to me ‘Lars Uncle you are Freja Aunty and I am baby Molli’ and then she proceeded to gooo goo ga ga at me with a big smile on her face. So when I brought the photos of Molli-anne the next day all the girls crowded around the little laptop and watched the slideshow of photos, all of them them exclaiming how cute she was and how beautiful she is. Anita had me play the same photos four times and I told her that I would get Freja to send some more for them to look at.

The amount of love and girls these girls possess never ceases to amaze me…….to have a connection with a little baby that is in a different continent and to welcome that little baby in with open arms, open hearts and consider her to be a part of their family, gives me a toe tingling warmth inside! 

On the same afternoon as the baby photos we also gave out the sponsor families letters and photos they sent, getting each girls up individually and having them try and read the letter out, or and if she got a little stuck on a word or two then I would give her a little hand. They were all buzzing with excitement at receiving their letters and they waited so very patiently for each girl to come up and read hers out, get a few photos taken from Carla and then go and sit down again with a smile from ear to ear looking at the letter in her lap. I know I have said this in the last email but the girls English has improved so very much and even Janu (one of the Forget Me Not House mums) is taking English classes and is practicing on us every afternoon. Their rapid improvement I put down to 5months ago the decision to employ an English tutor to come Mon – Fri to for 1 hour. 

After all the sponsors letters were given out, the girls led Carla and myself upstairs and proudly sat us down for a dinner that they had been preparing all day. They were so excited to be able to have us there for dinner and as the older girls have been learning to cook certain dishes in the past 6months they all made their signature dish for us and served us up with a smiley pride that radiated from their very beings!

After the feast Carla and I gave each of the girls a chocofun (wafer chocolate bar) for dessert and we all chilled out enjoying the feeling of a full belly, and the comfort of so much love in such a small place! If I was to have a highlight of the trip so far I think I would have to say that afternoon and night would take the cake, hands down! 

Back in Australia just before we left to go to Africa Carla and I had the pleasure of visiting the Year 4 class at Morayfield State School just outside of Caboolture as they had been preparing lots of goodies for the girls as Forget Me Not and all the children had written letters to them. Unfortunately we weren’t able to take over any gifts this time but we were able to take the letters from the children which we gave out yesterday morning before we went to Winter Camp with them. Each girl had their own personalized letter with pictures and drawings and they all loved receiving them very much. Ruma (in true Ruma style) read hers out to me (which she can do with such clarity and diction now) and then straight away sat down and started writing a letter back to the boy that had written to her. 

Carla and I brought some traditional Nepali paper yesterday which over the next week we will distribute to the girls so that they can write to their sponsor families and to the children of Morayfield State School. 

After they had all read their letters we sat down to breakfast with them (daal bhat) and then we went with them to their Winter Camp, which saw about 30 of us crammed in a mini bus, 3 girls on my lap bouncing around and singing all the way there! 

We stayed at the Winter Camp until lunch-time and watched them all enjoying themselves so very much. There is about 60 children that attend the camp and they are broken up into groups, and during the 16 days they learn different dances, songs, games, drama skills and then at the end they put it all together in one BIG performance for all the parents. Parents’ day was going to be on this Sat but due to the low setting in the whole of Nepal, meaning that Kathmandu currently has 16hours of no power a day, they changed it to today (this afternoon) as the power in that suburb will be on from 12 – 4pm. So that means in a matter of 3 hours we will be sitting down at Winter Camp, most likely with a steaming cup of masala tea in one hand watching our girls, go through everything that they have learnt and practiced over the past 12 days. As you can imagine Carla and I are both very very excited, probably just as much as the girls. 

Yesterday we found out that next Thursday the girls will be getting their report cards for the last term, and they are all so excited about it, especially since a couple of the helpers at the Winter Camp are their school teachers and have been slipping some of the girls results to them early, and they have been very very positive! 

From smiling little girls to smiling Aunties and Uncles, a very BIG Namaste from all! 

Om, Shanti and Namaste 

Lars

Personalities Shine…..

Yummy, yummy for my tummy.  Dinner at the orphanage!  Wednesday afternoon Lars and I arrived at the orphanage to a lot of excitement.  Aunty, Uncle we are cooking for you.  Dikshya, Goma, Sneeha Ruma, and Basundhara ad all been busy getting their favourite dishes prepared. 

Dikshya – Fried Potatoes; Goma – Curry broccoli; Sneha – Paneer and Peas; Ruma – Rice; Basundhara – Tomato Relish.

The smells from the kitchen were divine; garlic, sautéed onion, curry spices all that you would imagine.  There was a hum as the girls fussed around their dishes , with the staff their to help and guide them as they went about their cooking.  You definitely need a lot of food to feed 21 girls, 5 staff and 2 Aussies.

We sat down to a home cooked meal served on traditional Nepali plates (silver metal plates that are divided into sections to separate each dish).  As it was given to us each girl was so proud of their efforts and the dinner was “so tasty”.   Their Aunty and Uncle thought that were wonderful and had excelled.  The older girls have been learning more daily living skills at the children’s home, like cooking, sewing, computer skills and also have been helping out with the younger ones.  This giving them a greater responsibility, and a role to play in the Forget Me Not household.

Smiles, laughter and happiness all round.  The room was filled with contentment, love and delight as the girls chattered with each other and were relaxed to be themselves.  As each girl grows and develops each one’s personality shines through more and more establishing their strengths and how they fit into the jigsaw puzzle.

Goma is a beautiful soul, and has a kind, gentle and nurturing nature.  She helps the little girls with ease and takes everything in her stride.  One of the winter camp teachers complimented her abilities and told us she had been given the role of the Craft assistant, as she has many skills in this area and has good patience to teach and demonstrate to the others.

Sneha is currently in exams for her final high school year.  Nine days of examinations, pretty tough!!  She has completed her Maths, English and Nepalese assessments which were all 3 hours in duration.  She was telling us that after this exam period she will have three months off, and then the results will be published.  From there the results will be submitted to the different colleges to see whether you get accepted into one.  Even though Sneha has pressure and stress involved with her studies, she is her smiling, friendly self, ready to help in the kitchen or with the young ones before she continues to study for the next day.

A gift or talent is only as good as your will to strive for what you want.

“Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there” – John Wooden

Each of our girls have determination and a whole lot of character and they now have a chance to reach their top.

Om, Shanti , Namaste

Carla xox

Enjoy the latest photos of our girls from Nepal

Surprises for All!!

From the red dirt of the African planes to the mountain tops of the Himalayas to the warmth and love of our forget me not children’s home in Old Baneshowr KTM.   

It was time for the suprise! Our beautiful 21 girls were unaware of our arrival into Nepal, with them on school holidays and going to winter camp (similar to our vacation care) we wanted them to have the joyand thrill of being suprised.  With a knock on the side gate and lars trying to get the gaurds attention to let us in, we hear from over the belcony Uncle, Aunty followed by giggles and laughter.  Up the stairs we went to the welcoming hugs and excited faces of Dikshya, Ruma, and Deveyki, happiness glowing from within, with the delight to see us.  Cuddles and Kisses and many spoken words letting us know they were studying english while the other girls were at Camp.  3.30pm pitter patter, pitter patter the centrepede had arrived,  yelling Uncle, Aunty the girls tumbled through the doors and up the stairs with arms flying everywhere trying to get hugs and kisses to us. 

With it only being approximately 5 months since my last vist I can’t believe how much each girl has grown, not just in height but also in personality, confidence, and independance.  With  an English and Math tutor providing extra teaching in the afternoons the girls have advanced remarkedly.   

One of my most memorable moment of the afternoon was spent with Junu our youngest at around 3 years, was sitting on my lap playing with my hair, and face just wanting to be close.  She began to softly sing firstly in Nepalese then with some encouragement from Goma sitting across from her she started singing in English.  What a “wow” surprise to me =-). With her soft sweet voice singing ‘butterfly butterfly’ and then ‘I love you, you love me we are one big family’, my heart welled with happiness.  One year ago Junu came to Forget Me Not a very shy, and hidden child, at 6 months of arriving she was dancing and blossoming and now her personality has been unleashed with more independance, confidence, speaking english and a cute cheeky smile.   

A child who is willing to learn who is internally driven and is open to the ones around them; given a chance in an environment filled with love, safety, compassion, sharing and stimulation the child will develop in leaps and bounds. 
 

With the warmth from heart to yours  

Namaste 

Carla

A wave of enjoyment! 

Where to start?  

Well it is Tuesday and so much has happened- so much information to process and take in. 

First I will start with the girls. They have all grown so very much in the past 5months and are all looking so healthy and happy and as always so full of love.  

Carla and I arrived at Forget Me Not yesterday afternoon and surprised Ruma, Dikshya and Devaki who were at home practicing for their English conversation exam that afternoon. We arrived and it was smiles galore and Ruma who in the past has been a very shy little lady ran straight up to me and gave me a great big hug! For the next 30mins we were the judges and the three of them practised their English with us.

Lars with Cabita and Jamuna

I was so impressed with how much Ruma’s english has improved, out of all the girls I think her improvement has come along in leaps and bounds. Our shy little Ruma is shedding her shell and is so much more sure of herself….I feel very privileged watching her growth over the past years. 

At about 3.30pm all the other girls came rushing in from Winter Camp full of laughter and energy and then for the next hour it was cuddles, photos, asking about their families in Australia. Devaki must have told me about 20 times, with the biggest smile in the world, how very happy she was that we were there. 

Some of the girls had grown so much that I found myself have to look twice to recognise who they were. Sita’s hair is now down to her shoulders and looks great, Barme proudly showed me her new glasses (which look great) and told me of her Javelin achievements at the sports carnival – so very proud  

When we visited Prem and Shova this morning for Breakfast they both told me that Barme is enjoying her schooling much more now that she has made friends and her Braille is coming along very nicely, although she comments quite frequently (in true Barme style) that she doesn’t know why she has to learn this for as she can still just fine! 

Cabita and Barme

Within 5mins of us being there Anita (who has grown about 10cm) ran up the stairs with the laminated photos that her sponsor family sent over last time, showing them of very proudly. 

All the girls have loved the Winter Camp which has been held at Ringingbell School, Kalikasthan. 

Their program for the 16days. 

1. Opening ceremony with Dance
2. Table dance competition
3. Naming their friends
4. Table manners
5. Anchoring
6. Matka breaking
7. Master & Miss Talent
8. Eating competition
9. Finding their partners
10. Speech competition
11. Dressing their partners
12. Balancing an orange
13. Dance Competition and parent Day
14. Master &Miss Winter Camp
15. Camp fire with kids
16. Closing ceremony

 Yesterday was the eating competition day where they had to eat as much Laddu (sweet rice pudding) as they can, and you will never guess who won the overall competition? The youngest and smallest of all the children, Junu who is only about 3 years old just kept eating and eating, outlasting all her other competitors. All the other girls who dote on her anyway were so proud of her they just couldn’t stop talking about it. 

Sunita, Rashila and Junu

Carla and I are going to go and visit them on Sat (parents day and dance competition) and they were soooo excited when we told them.  

The only person we didn’t get a chance to see yesterday was Sneha who was busy studying at Fern school from 9am – 6pm for her final exams which are being held today and will finish 3pm Nepali time, so everyone send through your good thinking vibes! 

At 4.30pm Meera Panthee the girls English Tutor arrived and all the girls rushed to the downstairs room ready and excited about the lesson. Meera is a 22 year old teacher and comes at 4.30 – 5.30pm every afternoon to help the girls with extra English. She is a lovely young lady and the girls all look up to her and you can tell how much they have improved just from the extra tutelage in the past 4months. 

English lessons with Meera

As for other Nepal changes – lots has happened over the past 5months. The Aussie dollar is trading at the lowest that I have ever seen it, 49.81 rupees to the $ and everything is so much more expensive.

Most restaurants have implemented the 10% service tax and 13% VAT as an extra on all their menus. Internet which has previously cost 40 rupees per hour is now 100rupees per hour. Hotel costs are now 30 – 50% more expensive than what they were 5months ago!  

3months ago the Maoist government axed the Social Welfare program that looked after and oversaw all the orphanages within Nepal, and instead set up their own NGO for the money to be placed into for the ‘eventual’ setting up of their own orphanages! This means that things like re-registration of our NGO status in Nepal every year will be a little more difficult and this could also potentially cause more problems as well – only time will tell! 

This morning Nabin and I worked out which village we would be visiting. It is a very poor village called Myadi, which will take us 2 days to get there from Kathmandu, 2 days to get back and we will spend 2 days there completing a study on what programs are most needed in these rural areas. From this I will develop a report to present back to the management of Forget Me Not in order to decide what are next step forward will be.  
 

Om, Shanti, Namaste, 

Lars 

 

Inside Queensland, a Channel 9 television show,  recently spent a day profiling Lars Olsen for their show. The episode has now gone to air – you can view it here: http://www.insidequeensland.com.au/Story038.html

We are very grateful for the publicity this generates for Forget Me Not and hope that people are uplifted and inspired by our story!

Namaste,

Today I received a wonderful email from Nepal regarding Barme. As you will know if you have followed our journal entries, Barme’s eye sight is deteriorating rapidly.  We have been investigating various medical options for Barme however last month received the sad news that nothing more can be done to save her sight. On a more positive note however, the specialists who reviewed Barme’s file did say that she would not have received better care than she has already – so this was some comfort for us.

Today, we found out that Barme recently competed in her school sports carnival and came second in the javelin competition!

Here she is proudly receiving her certificate:

What wonderful news this was!

Also, the other girls are now on Winter vacation – and will be attending camp!

Lars and Carla are currently in Nepal completing the Everest Base Camp trek, following that we are sure to have more news!

Om, shanti,
Kate