Finishing up at Hope for Himalayan Kids & Future possibilities for HFHK...

So this week my time at HFHK has finished up and I feel I'm about to leave family behind. I conducted my last workshop and the staff were hard at work as usual, appreciating every piece of knowledge I could give them in the dying minutes...  

They put on a beautiful going away afternoon tea with speeches and gifts, I felt overwhelmed with gratitude.

My colleagues/students and friends all attempted to express their thanks in English. A request that I had asked, that even if they could try one word I had taught them they would have succeeded and it would be the best gift. In order increase their confidence I translated my long speech (if you know me you know I don't mind the spotlight), however this was different as I know that I was attempting high level Nepali with rubbish pronunciation!

 

(Me trying to pronounce...) 
 

(My colleagues trying to understand...Although at the end they swore they really did understand so I was stoked..even tested them on it!)

 So then we celebrated with some traditional Nepali Masala Tea and Nepal's version of samosa....so good!

 In the last few days since then Hope for Himalayan Kids has moved offices as we have outgrown the small headquarters we were in. This has been an exciting time for all staff as this was the first HFHK office: (Nicki's briefcase 6 years ago...)

Then over the years as more donors have come on board and HFHK has been able to hire more case workers to care for the children, they moved (from the briefcase) to Nicki's spare room, to a small one room office, then to the office I was in...... And now we say goodbye to this office:

And we look forward to the new range of possibilities that our new office can bring for the children of Nepal currently residing in  institutions. 

  To merely move into a new building means greater capacity for work, influence and productivity. It means the deistituionalisation process will happen quicker and the children will receive the much needed support a lot sooner, so everyone is excited about this. One of our children, Ashis, whom we are currently finding alternative care for (as he is living in one of the residential centres associated with HFHK) came to visit the new office. I asked him what he thought of all his new helpers (his big brothers and sisters-social workers) and the big new office...I didn't need an interpreter this time, I understood he was as stoked as us.

So we look forward to the new realm of future opportunities for all the children like Ashis. My favorite Blog will be introducing you to Ashis' new family when we find him foster or adoption parents, or any of the alternative care arrangements we are piloting. It's then he will get the individual love and care he deserves.

Doing the best with what you have....

Work has picked up at a rapid pace after the dramas with the disrespectful English language teacher. I got my money back and am now looking for a better teacher...One who treats adults like professionals, not boot camp attendees....
But in the mean time I have combined my normal workshops on best practice Child Protection with their English language learning...Teaching has been been a lot of hard work and taken me out of my comfort zone...

(My collegaues hard at work with the challenges I set them...)

My main objective in this teaching is to boost their confidence again about learning English, to create an avenue for enthusiasm and a culture of encouragement. I wanted to reinstall the initial induction they were given about professional development and becoming passionate about the deistituionalisation process to see the lives of the children changed for the better.
So with the use of some scrabble tiles (Doing the best with what you have!), we have worked through the alphabet building up a gambit of verbs and adjectives.

For example to attempt to combine the global best practice information, boost their confidence and enthusiasm, teach them english and reinstall their belief in the values of Hope for Himalayan Kids we simply worked through the alphabet and learned words like:

A for attempt: If you merely attempt to speak English in my class, even if you think you got the grammer wrong, then you have succeeded.

B for belong: At HFHK you belong to a team and despite your role, caste, religion, gender, etc you are all treated equally.

C for confidence: We talked about how you can grow your confidence...

D for determination: Not giving up until we have acheived our goal together, deinstitutionalisation oif the child residential centres in Nepal.

E for equality and encourage...

O for observation: Looking with the intention of learning something....

P for protection: How are we protecting the children?

Q for questioning: What are appropriate questioning techniques?

R for rights: What are human rights and child rights?

S for support: What does it mean to support the children, each other, the organisation?

(Every verb, adjective and noun we have learnt so far keeps them thinking about these little monkeys! I love visiting them and cannot wait until they all have proper small families to call their own. Soon they will.)

So we have been discussing everthing directly involved with their actual roles as case workers, accountants, office and data managers, in order to reveal that every role is necessary and important...(This is not a commonly communicated culture in organisations and businesses over here. Heirachy, caste and inequality are everyday, normal practice.)

So I am happy and my colleagues are looking forward to using the words they have learned and moving on to the vital step of using their new vocab in reports by learning past present and past tense rules next (I will start with them and hand over to the potential new teracher for when I leave very soon.) My next challenge is to hire a good teracher and hand my other work (research/policy development etc) to some new interns arriving soon, and the relevant staff at HFHK.

The common challenge of staying on my toes and being thrown into situations that are out of one's comfort zone have been both difficult but equally rewarding. I'm learning the art of making do with what you have, I think it is a beautiful skill to learn, keeps you out of that aweful comfort zone...Plus who dosn't think scrabble is the best game ever created?! Me and my Mom do so why no the Nepalese...

                              

So it is with cautious optimism that I say bring on the next few weeks of challenges, a sprint to leave behind something of worth.... 

(I was in the mood to include a corny cliche motivating happy touristy picture, nice to get out of the office....feel like I'm in a post card sometimes.)

To pour your heart and soul into something…and have it almost slip away…Challenges only make us stronger!

You may remember me talking a little about my roll at Hope for Himalayan Kids being one in regards to capacity building with the new and existing staff members including case managers, data mangers, the accountant etc. The way in which I feel that professional development is going to benefit the organization and in turn the children the quickest was to send 8 of our staff to English Language training at certain reputable institution here in Pokhara. So off they went last Wednesday for their first day of school

 

 (I was like the proud mother sending her loved ones to school, 

even made these profession case workers and accountants do a group photo…)

I had spend a majority of the last two months researching best practice deinstitutionalization documents for the teacher to incorporate into the curriculum once they got past beginner level so they start to use and comprehend global best practice report writing and case notes (about the kids) in English.

The challenge came (to make a very large and emotionally charged story short) when I sat in a couple of lessons this week and was a completely shocked by both the style of teaching and the content of the curriculum. This teacher has (what we now realize a self created excellent reputation in Pokhara). Both my self and my director screened him several times and talked about expectations and what we needed him to provide. We wanted them to be able to read, comprehend and write for the reports and case notes on the orphaned, abandoned and at risk children they will be working with. We wanted this training to be in line with the values and in the context of child protection, equality and human rights.

After sitting in on a couple of classes I realized that reputations and first impressions can be so terribly wrong. The two areas of concern I observed and which were reinforced by staff feedback were about: a) The style in which the teacher was conducting the class, and b) A lot of the English curriculum he was teaching was actually wrong (hard to sit in the corner and observe while biting my lip….more on that in moment)

So first point: The atmosphere and environment in the class room (and this is while I was there so I can imagine he was altering it to be more profession with a foreigner in the room) was like army camp for preschoolers…no more like puppy school actually, but with less love or rewards like schmackos (metaphorically speaking-just a “well done, that was correct, great effort would have done…”)… Anyway, hand gestures to stand up , sit down, stop…He would be an excellent drill sergeant, or king in the 1900s who likes to read dictionaries, pretend to know all the words in them, and then brag even though he doesn’t know the meanings….

What made me most upset was that after only one week in this school the motivation of these new green case workers as well as the existing staff to learn English and develop themselves professionally was peaking on Wednesday…and it had been sucked from them by Sunday. I had worked so hard to teach them about how important professional development is and the mutual benefits for them, the children and the NGO. I worked so hard to set up a culture for them and explain to them about how we will be investing into them and supporting them to be the best they can be to change the lives of the children they will be working with. I had worked so hard to explain in the induction that we value equality and respect and do not distinguish between gender, caste, village group or age in our organization…And to have this contradicted by this training was gut wrenching. Not really the capacity building I was after.

 

The second point of concern (and if I hadn’t just had the meeting to sack this man this morning I could find some of this funny) was that some of what he was teaching was sooooo wrong!!! He would stop my colleagues mid sentence with NO! Wrong! And proceed to give an alternative sentence, to the one they were trying so hard to say. This occurred even when what the student was saying was correct! And then he would either give an alternative way of saying the same thing, or give an incorrect alternative!…

I didn’t bite my lip in those instances I would ask the teacher “Sorry guru, is that a Nepali word you have just given?” He would respond with: “No, English”. I respectfully would answer “Um actually no its not a word guru, that sentence does not make much sence”. Of which he would respond, “Yes it is.”  And move on with the “class”. (Yep, that’s right, the Nepali teacher, with English as his second language was telling me, little English woman in the corner-with English as her first language that he was right and I was wrong). For those who know me well, don’t worry, this man is still with us today with dignity intact and only for the reason that all my precious colleagues were in the room and I have learned that biting my tongue is delicious and useful in international development.

So this morning I professionally went down with my director during what would have been our normal class time to give the feedback, (in a respectful manner-Army camp was only mentioned once by my Nepali Director) and deliver the news that we were pulling our students out of what would have been 3 months of classes with them. When giving the reasons why my ability to deliver constructive feedback kicked in thank the Lord and civil war did not erupt. In fact he took it quite well and I was impressed with his demeanor as Nepali culture as many Asian cultures do, has an element of saving face so he took it well given the cultural context.This challenge took me and is keeping me way out of my comfort zone. This will make me stronger and more well equipped for this type of bump in the road in the future. So new challenges this week:
1)Make an appointment with the manager of the institute in an attempt to get my money back!!! (Policies don’t really exist here, especially when it comes to consumer refunds.)

2) Find a new English Language teacher ASAP
3) Prepare the English Language classes I will now be giving every day until the new and improved teacher is found. PS: My Nepali will be put to the test!

Being taken out of my comfort zone so often has forced me to dig deep to find out just what I can achieve when I focus and not allow irrational draining emotions to get in the way. The capacity I have when options have seemed hopeless has been drawn from some of the amazing people I have met since being here. This week I will come out on top and be stronger for it. Bring on the whole gambit of emotions that will come this week with the challenges that lay a head, satisfaction, happiness, stress, tears and all. Here I feel. Here I am sentient. Bring it on!

Pokhara Street Festival and HFHK Awareness Campaign

So much has happened since Christmas so I'm going to squeeze in everything to get you up to speed. First up the Pokhara New Years Street Festival which has run for the last 6 years and was an absolute riot. Full of different ethnic groups, their music and dancing, many carnival activities (and carny folk-turns out not reserved for the West).The festival was also graced with the presence of the HFHK stall, the platform for an awareness campaign and fundraiser selling some gift cards the children had drawn pictures for and we had prfessionally printed....I will learn to use shorter sentences when I don't have so much to say.....

As the street could get a little crowded with the dancing and festivities........You Just had to learn to hang out with the right type of person....

The Stand did well and we sold a few cards but more importantly we began the epic task of playign a part in educating both the locals and tourists that large children's residential centres (orphanages) are not in the best interest of children and deinstitutionalisation is starting and needs supporting. Because of the miscopnception amongst tourists that cometo Pokhara that the children's centres are these happy places and should be donated to, they don't realise they can be misguiding their resourses of which usually does not reach the children.

The Broshure we printed and handed out (The What, How Why and Who of Deinstitutionalisation) reached the hands of some key individuals, including some key local business owners, some international development students, and also some children's residential centre owners, so I was happy about this.
Once it was dark and the stall was packed up it was time to enjoy what the festival had to offer...

(Thier version of hooky, try and get the bamboo ring over the prize...)

Check out the politically incorrect prizes: ciggies, mini bottles of wisky...super strong red bull cans...100 rupee notes...great for the kids...I loved it!

Great Places to eat... You leave feeling...happy...when not food poisoned....

Places to avoid.....Although I think it is just a trecking business...
And the jusxtoposition of certain atmospheres to soak up:

(Traditional Nepali Dress, so beautiful...but I feel like a giant over here...)

A little bit about Christmas night….

After the most beautiful start to the day, mentioned in the blog below, Jessica and I took some rest before helping prepare for Christmas Dinner at Gauri Shankar Guest House with my family away from family….

Just like being at home...

Well sort of...

The menu for the evening was: Entree: 

Broccoli Soup with a tomato and onion relish:

 Main: Which I helped prepare was stuffed capsicums with a tomato, rice, onion and buffallo cheese mixture, served with a baked vege and chick pea salad with a dill and lemon juice dressing....mmmmm vegetarian based Christmas!

Then dessert was a meringue kisses cake, so it felt a bit Aussie as it reminded me of pavalova!

Dinner with all the long term guests and staff was such a great night, we did crackers, danced, and replaced each other as we all missed our family.

And of coarse the giving of the gifts!!!

Thank you Mom and Nai for the packages they made me cry!

Happy little Vegemite!!!!!

(My Guari Shankar Family and their new drum)

A Beautiful Christmas!!!!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

LET ME TELL YOU BOUT' CHRISTMAS!!!

So this Christmas was bitter sweet in the truest sense of the saying. On the one hand I missed my family terribly at what is my favourite time of year in getting together with the ones I love the dearest. They know that I would have loved to be with them during this festive time.

(My beautiful family- I love you!)

However this Christmas day gone was one I will never forgot. I visited every child associated with Hope for Himalayan Kids (both currently still residing in children's centres, and those who have already been integrated into smaller family based alternative accommodation) to deliver gifts to everyone of them. We shared also shared the spirit, culture and story of Christmas with all of them!!!! So as a team we delivered about fifty presents, which are funded by the same international donor every year.

The first group we visited was the George Ella girls group. This is a supported accommodation (rented house) where teenaged girls live with a mentor. They had all previously lived in Sahara Children's Centre since they were young, now they live almost independently, worry about normal things like what cool clothes they get to spend their Christmas cash on!!!!!

(The girls patiently listening to my colleague interpreting the culturally adapted Christmas story I told... tried to make choose to as many local adjectives as possible...)

(I think they got it once I told them that when they couldn't find any room at any of the guest houses Jesus had to be born in the goat house and then the three gurus turned up with gifts.)

(The happy girls, their cash for buying their new clothes- we didn't want to assume we knew what was cool!)

The next house we visited was the family group. Again, a successful deinstitutionalisation case, as the 6 children who have been "fostered/adopted" by a mother and father live as a small family now. Here they are so greatfull for their gifts.

At that point in the morning I also got to go pick up my American friend Jess who is visiting me for Christmas and she was thrust into all of the festivities!!!
So we moved onto New Ray of Life Children's Centre. An institution with with about 18 children still residing in it. So amazing to see the expectation on the faces of the children as this is the only gift they get for themselves for the whole year. They sat patiently through the Christmas story and then the chaos erupted when the gift giving started.... Back packs, hand bags, hacky sacks, wrist watched, trucks, transformers....And  the gratitude was at a level I had never seen in children before!!!!

The last stop was Sahara Children's Centre where there were about 25 children waiting for us and we recieved a beautiful greeting of a decorated poster of a tree with fairy lights and everything (very fancy!).

We were waiting for a long time and we did not know why there was a delay in getting all the children in the room to give out the presents..Not usually a problem... then we realised they has been dressing Swikritee (the youngest child at Sahara) up like Santa! It was the most delightful and mildly destrubing thing I had ever seen:

Again an eruption of wrapping paper and smiles from ear to ear. This was the last of our visits and we spent the most time here, dancing and celebrating with the children. This Christmas taught me a lot about gratitude. I want to learn the gratitude of these children. And I look forward to seeing my family and friends again. More about these special children soon. I wish you all a festive season. xoxoxoxo

(Happy boys with their Hacky Sacks!)