sunrise children’s association inc. “bringing a … children’s association inc. “bringing a...

Sunrise Children’s Association Inc.

“Bringing a brighter future to the needy children of Nepal”

1 www.scai.org.au

Dear Friends, In case you have missed out on any emails or Facebook updates this year, please enjoy reading

below all our news so far this year!

SCAI News In July 2014 SCAI Australia and NGO partner in

Nepal, Sunrise Orphanage (SO) celebrated their 9th birthdays, which also represent 9 years of

partnership. On the same day we also celebrated some of the childrens birthdays, the great

results of our SLC graduates and Teachers Day. As always we had a wonderful celebration,

with cake, games, song and dance, and we were

blessed with the company of many of the college children and re-integrated children.

Above: Celebrating the 9 year birthday’s of SCAI and SO at Sunrise home in Nepal.

News from Sunrise home 18 children re-integrated to their families

At the end of the school year in April, 17 children were re-integrated back to their families,

then 1 college student in early August. As is part

of the agreement with their families, we are continuing to fully support their education to the

same level as when they were at Sunrise home. We are also monitoring them closely through visits to

their home, school and phone calls to those further

away. Most of the children that are close enough to Kathmandu have continued to return to Sunrise to

share in any major events at Sunrise home, such as

quarterly birthdays.

5 new children and 2 new staff join the Sunrise family!

Sadhumaya Buddha (15 years) was re-integrated back to her family in far western Nepal in early

2011, however was left orphaned when her mother

passed away a few years later, so returned to Sunrise in April 2014. 3 year old Gagan Karki also

joined in April when his mother Shanti moved to Sunrise as a live in carer. Sisters Yasodah and

Anuradah (9 and 11 years) joined Sunrise in May

2014 and last but not least bubbly 6 year old Josanna Rana Magar joined us in early September

after the previous home she was in was closed down by the government of Nepal in an emergency

rescue. Kaptan Tamang joined us in July, mainly to

care for our new cows and calves (more about that below!) Welcome Sadhumaya, Gagan,

Anuradah, Yasodah, Josanna, Shanti and Kaptan!

Above: In pink, 6 year old Josanna, and in

brown, 9 year old Yasodah, 2 of the 5 new

Sunrise children this year.

More exam results to be proud of... We are delighted that even with it being their first

year at their new school, that all children passed except 3 (94% of total) in their 3rd Term exams.

11 children (20%) got a Distinction, 24 (44%) got

1st Division, 16 (30%) 2nd Division. 40 children improved from 2nd to 3rd term - 23 children

improved by 10% or more.

NEWSLETTER January-September 2014



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School Leaving Certificate (SLC) graduates pass with flying colours and now at college!

Our 4th group of SLC graduates (class 10) ALL

passed with fantastic results yet again, with 7 of the 9 children attaining 1st Division (with Khim

Maya only missing out on a Distinction by 2%) and 2 attaining 2nd Division.

To put these great results in perspective, only

43.9% of SLC students across Nepal passed.

All 9 youth have now gone on to college, to study the courses of their choice, Science or

Management. HUGE congratulations to Khim Maya

in particular who won a full scholarship at NIST College to study Science.

Above: This year’s 9 successful SLC

graduates, now all at college in Kathmandu

Congratulations Pasang – our second Sunrise son to be married!

After meeting at Kalika Devi School while teaching, Pasang and Nisha soon fell in love and sealed their

union in marriage in April.

Above: Pasang Sherpa with new wife Nisha

Karki, with some Sunrise sisters during their wedding celebration with the Sunrise family

First Aid and Earthquake Training In March all staff underwent 1st Aid refresher

training with the Nepal Red Cross and all staff,

teachers and senior children underwent earthquake preparedness and evacuation

training, both theoretical and practical.

Above: First Aid refresher training

Above: Isak Tamang, one of the Sunrise teens practising using a fire hydrant

Above: Staff and teachers during earthquake

preparedness and evacuation training



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Recycling Training Under the guidance of long term volunteer and

Sunrise ‘grandpa’ Michael Jackson, Sunrise staff

Krishna and teen Pramod converted an old water tank stand into very cosy new dog kennels for our 4

dogs.

Above: Pramod and Krishna with new dog kennel from recycled water tank stands

Jobs/Work Experience Two teens, Bishnu Sharma and Lal Bahadur BK

from Sunrise home undertook a 3 month chef course in their holidays, giving them both

theoretical and practical experience in addition to

their Hotel Management studies at college.

Outreach (social) work The Sunrise teens have enthusiastically participated

in a few trips to the Kalimati slums to help distribute

donated clothing, new school bags and uniforms and most exciting of all, to introduce “plastic

bottle lights” which have brightened up around 15 homes so far. When sunlight passes

through the top of the bottle it is refracted by the water in the bottle, producing the equivalent of a

50watt light bulb on a sunny day. Chlorine helps

prevent the build-up of algae in the bottle, enabling them to work for up to 5 years.

Above: Mansingh Aidee helping install the bottle lights into some of the dark homes in

the Kalimati slums

Above: Saugat Mainali from Sunrise helping distribute uniforms to the children in the

Kalimati slums

Festival fun

The children have also had the opportunity to appreciate and celebrate numerous festivals this

year so far; across January to March there was National Martyrs Day, Buddhist Losar Festival,

Sarswati Puja (worship of Sarswati, the goddess of

education and knowledge), Democracy Day, Women’s Day, Shivaratri Festival (worship of Lord

Shiva) and one of everybody’s favourites “Holi” in March, the beautiful bright colourful water festival

were celebrated.

Above: Nikki Thapa and Jeevan Tamang enjoying the wet and colourful festivities of

“Holi” Festival, where people around the country cover each other with coloured dye

and water to welcome the monsoon rains and

crops



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The April to June quarter was quieter in terms of festivals but some of the teens did make it to

Ropain, the ‘Rice Planting Festival’, which turned

into a game of rugby in the muddy rice fields with about 40 other crazy people!

Above: 2 of the Sunrise teens at the muddy

Rice Planting Festival before getting totally covered in mud during a rugby game!

July-September The children enjoyed their summer (monsoon)

vacation in July (with some holiday tuition thrown in), followed by Teej Festival in August. During

Teej women and girls from all over the country fast and dress up mainly in red and flock to the temples

to pray for the long life of their husbands (or

husbands to be!). It’s also a great opportunity for women to get out of the house and enjoy some

time celebrating with other women, so the Sunrise teens and staff did just that!

Above: Some of the Sunrise girls heading out

to celebrate “Teej” Festival

General Activities and Outings...

Educational trip to the “Eco-Fair”

A few of the teens enjoyed a day out at the eco-fair in Kathmandu where we visited a host of different

stalls and learnt more about solar technologies, rain water harvesting and a myriad of other interesting

things we can hopefully put to good use. One of particular interest is a bicycle that with additions

can be pedalled to grind grain, do the washing...will

keep everyone fit if nothing else if we trial it soon!

Above: Saugat Mainali testing out an eco-bike

The children enjoyed various activities at home as well as a few outings during school holidays. As

many as possible also spent some time with relatives during the end of school year holidays in

April.

Above: The Sunrise children at the zoo

International Music Day jam with the littlies The Sunrise children enjoyed a crazy jam session

with some new tambourines and maracas on

International Music Day – let’s just say we are not planning on putting out a demo tape in the near

future!



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Above: Some of the Sunrise children enjoying a jam with their new instruments

Special visitors Special friend Dr Chintamani Yogi generously

gave his time to visit us and share his knowledge about ‘values based education’ and provided

counselling and moral guidance to all staff and children. The staff and children are always

captivated by his energy, his song and his inspiring

words. Thank you Dr Yogi!

Dr Yogi is a founder of several organisations in Nepal all with a strong and conscious commitment

to inspiring and unifying young people, and visits

Australia annual, most recently on his “2014 Art of Life” Tour.

Above: Dr Chintamani Yogi greeting the very

enthusiastic children from Sunrise ad Kalika

Devi school on his arrival

Volunteers Ron Olson, retired Science and Maths teacher from

Australia, joined us for a month earlier in the year.

Ron was of great help at the school, putting his knowledge and expertise to very good use, which

was appreciated by all. In addition Ron spent time

helping the senior children with their homework and going for long walks and other activities in the

holidays. Thank you Ron!

4 Sponsor visits We were thrilled to have visits from four of our

monthly sponsors in recent months – Paul,

Vanessa, Jade and Kane Hameister, Jimmy Gibbons, Pat O’Keefe and Laura Taylor. The

children are always excited to meet in person the very generous people who make their education

and life at Sunrise possible and who they write

letters to each year. Thank you for your ongoing support and for making the time to visit us!

Above: Kane, Paul, Jade and Vanessa

Hameister from Melbourne

Above: Jimmy Gibbons being warmly welcomed to Sunrise home



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Above: Pat O’Keefe being welcomed by his

sponsor child Palchhen Lama

Above: Ex volunteer and now sponsor, Laura

Taylor on her visit to Sunrise, helping paint the new playground at school

Other visitor & donations Inneke, a long time friend of Sunrise, along with

her friend Akka from Holland visited us at Sunrise home and very kindly donated wardrobes for the

staff as well as sports equipment for the school. Everyone at Sunrise is always so happy to see

Innekes smiling face and jovial laugh on her visits!

Sunrise Children’s Village (SCV) (Project name of Sunrise home and new English curriculum school block for Kalika

Devi Community School)

After moving in to our new home and school in June 2013, we have slowly been getting the garden

established, planting fruit trees, vegetables, getting the new playground going at the school and finally

getting the bio-gas up and running, which is

now being used to cook the meals for 1 of the 4 flats, another step towards our plan of self

sustainability in the future.

Above: The early stages of our lawn, paths, and gardens out the front of our Sunrise

home

Above: Amber one of the many Sunrise children who are actively involved in the

development of the crops and gardens

Meet Ronaldo, Messi and Coco and calf! Ronaldo and Coco are now not only providing

fresh milk daily for our Sunrise home, but we

are now also selling the excess to generate income for the home. They are also responsible

for driving a significant portion of the bio gas through their waste!



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Above: Ronaldo and Coco, our new suppliers of milk and bio gas

Above: Binam and Bipin helping feed the

calves at Sunrise home

Kalika Devi Community School (in partnership with SCAI and SO)

This year we have 232 students (51 from Sunrise)

and our SMART goal is to increase this to 300 students in the new school year in April 2015. There

are only 70 houses in our local village so we are looking to extend our facilities to children from

further away through the provision of a school bus, so that many more children can receive a quality

education, equivalent to a private school in

Kathmandu, in the beautiful natural surrounds of Gurje Village.

Above: Some of the children enjoying their new school

To recap, before Sunrise partnered with the local

school there were only classes from 1-8 in Nepali curriculum. In the last 2 years Sunrise has enabled

the school to now run classes up to 10 (SLC) in

Nepali curriculum as well as added a whole new English curriculum from Nursery to class 10. The

government of Nepal is hoping that all schools will be teaching in English within the next few years.

Above: A series of planning sessions with the

staff and management of Kalika Devi school

Education Scholarship Programs The 5 Education Scholarship Programs are

still going very well. Through these programs we now sponsor the education of 482

children, an opportunity many of these children would not have had if it weren’t for our extremely

generous program donors. The programs are vitally important for keeping children with their families,

helping reduce the trend of families sending their

children to orphanages or other institutions for a better education, which often leads to unnecessary

long term separation. It is also helping reduce the number of street children, particularly in the

Kalimati slums.

1. Kalimati Program – now sponsoring 172

children (91 at school, 10 at college, 71 at pre-school) thanks to the incredible support of

Kathmandu Kids in Perth.

Kathmandu Kids just held their annual fundraising

event in Perth on September 15th and raised over $56,000 which goes to support both the

Kalimati and Jhapa programs. Thank you Kathmandu Kids!



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Above: Pre-school students in Kalimati slums 2. Kathmandu Valley Program – now

sponsoring 91 children (81 at school, 10 at

college) thanks to Paul Hameister and his family in Melbourne.

We were thrilled to have Paul, Vanessa and children

Jade and Kane visit us at Sunrise home (where they also sponsor 2 children) as well as some of the

schools and homes of the children in this program.

This year Jade and Kane made the special effort to launch our new schools program

“Live like a Nepalese child for a week” at their college, Haileybury, raising over $4000.

Thank you Paul, Vanessa, Jade and Kane!

Above: Paul, Jane, Jayde and Kane visiting

one of their sponsored children

3. Jhapa Program – still sponsoring 100 children this year, in a very poor and basic

rural area, also thanks to the support from Kathmandu Kids

Above: Some of the children sponsored in

Rajgadh, Jhapa District in South East Nepal

4. Sindupalchowk Program – sponsoring 59 children, in an area prone to exploitation of

girls, thanks to Paul Cody and family

5. Mustang Program –sponsoring 60 children

in a poor mountainous region, thanks to Michael Tetzner

Community Sewing Centre The sewing centre in the Kalimati slums continues

to attract new students each month, and on completion of the 6 month course, enable many of

the women to gain employment.

Above: Some of the women being trained at

the sewing centre in the Kalimati slums

Fundraising Challenges Two schools have taken up the “Live like a

Nepalese child for a week” fundraising challenge

for school children in Australia – Pembroke College in Adelaide and Haileybury College in

Melbourne, raising over $2300 and $4000 respectively.

The challenge, which involves school children giving up things like electronic equipment or

hand washing dishes clothes and floors for a week, was kindly facilitated by Angus Sobels and

his family at Pembroke and Paul Hameister's children Jade and Kane at Haileybury.

A huge thank you to all the participants and the staff at both Pembroke and Haileybury for

their wonderful support of the program!

With great thanks and appreciation to

everyone that supports our work in Nepal, SCAI Team

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