Awesome Diwali

Diwali or Tihar, is the biggest festival in Nepal which falls 20 days after Bada Dashain. It is a festival of lights filled with songs and laughter.The children at Koseli were busy with hush - hush preparations for some time and now I could see why. On 4^th Nov, they were all dressed in their most fancy attire to light up the room with their songs and dances.

 The little ones were guided by their teacher, Nabina,  but the older ones had prepared on their own.

Music filled the room. The choreography of the students was awesome, actually it was so awesome that it brought tears to my eyes. If the kids could do so well without any guidance, what their fate could be if trained properly. The program started with an introduction by their teacher Krisna and then the little girls perfomed a dance in praise of the Godess Laxmi, the Godess of wealth.

There were performances by all the classes, each better than the other. Srijana, Raj, Manju, Sulav and so many others are natural dancers. Chandra's singing touches my heart everytime.We had loads of fun singing along with the performers.

We finally ended the day with singing deusi-bhaili in praise of the Goddess so that soon she would smile at us too, lighting up our futures. I hope that SHE is listening :) 

the COOKIEMAN experience

The trip to City Centre Mall was something we will cherish for a long time. Our kids would not have been allowed to enter a mall if they were left on their own. Being shunned by the society is the saddest experience of a slum dweller. Nevertheless, on 12^th of October the kids were all dressed smartly in their uniforms  and were brimming with confidence.

The “city centre experience” was organized by Pulkit & Megha. Pulkit, along with his Cookieman team welcomed the children at the entrance of the mall. They went to the departmental store to finally see what they had only read in books till now. They were absolutely fascinated to see the display of the products.

After finishing browsing through Big Mart, it was time to go the other floors of the mall, which turned out be the most fascinating experience of the day. They looked at the stairs in bewilderment. These stairs were different from the ordinary stairs for they went up and down on their own. For them they were magic stairs, which for everyone else are escalators. It was both difficult and exciting to get on these for the kids but soon they mastered them and excitedly went up and down a number of times.

Then we finally went to the Cookieman counter. Saw how the cookies are baked. The children had a big round of treat from the Cookieman and a fantastic photo shoot too.

A big thank you to Cookieman for making the day special for us.

enjoying the magic stairs

The naughtiest kid showing so much patience..wow 

The wonder staff at Cookiema

The treat

Koseli - Newsletter, October'10

KOSELI-News Letter, October’10

Dear Mentors and Friends,

Greetings and Namaste!!

Computers and Cameras stole the show in the month of September. Children were introduced to computers. Almost all of them were using the computer for the first time. And obviously, they were quite excited. They were introduced to word, which they practiced daily for about 3 weeks. But what followed next, was even more enthralling.

Stefan Heinz, joined us to teach the children how to use the internet. All Grade VI kids browsed through the web. Their favourite searches were about Nepal, Michael Jackson and Switzerland, the country Stefan came from. They created their email id’s and exchanged mails with their friends. And to my utter delight, they exchanged mails  with us too. Stefan even introduced them to blogging . 

Stefan also brought cameras with him and the kids were only too happy to photograph themselves and their friends. It made me very happy to note that Santosh (our little gambler) showed a lot of interest in the activity. We sincerely hope some of them will take it up seriously when they grow up.

Thank you, Stefan for the gifts.

We also started simple “after school activities” especially for the kids who are engaged in gambling and street fights. They make bags out of old news papers, bookmarks and diya etc. We supplied our first lot of 121 bags, a few book marks and diyas to a local boutique.

October has been a fun month. The kids watched Anjaana-Anjaani, a bollywood  blockbuster at Jai Nepal theatre. We then went to see the City Centre Mall. The most fascinating experience for them at the mall was to get onto the magic stairs, which we call the escalators. There was a big treat by Pulkit Bhimsaria and his team at Cookieman.

Thank you Pulkit for organizing such a beautiful outing.

The school then closed down for dashain holidays.

Renuka (6yrs) and Januka (9yrs) were diagnosed with ulcers in their stomachs and are undergoing treatment . They are doing fine. Both the kids are back to school after the holidays.

We had to wait for a week before all the kids rejoined school. In fact we had to coax Madan to return to school. We have admitted a few more children and have are getting requests for more admissions everyday, which unfortunately, we have to refuse.

This month a special thankyou to Sanjay Golchha for sending in three computers.

Finally, we would like to thank all our sponsors and well wishers for their continued support.

Have a great month,

Koseli Family

MUKESH

Mukesh was 8 or 9 years when I first met him, 12 years ago. Having completed his first petty theft successfully, he was almost on the verge of taking to the streets of Kathmandu like hundreds of other kids who migrate to the valley from remote villages in search of a better life.

He lived with 5 other members of his family in a 6x6 feet room. Obviously till then he had not seen what a school in Kathmandu looked like from inside.

When Mukesh first went to school, the teachers were slightly confused for he was too old for pre-primary and not literate enough to be admitted in the primary section. However, soon he turned out to be a smart kid and within 6 months to the primary section. Mukesh was double promoted 2 more times. Today he is pursuing his undergrad studies in Public Health. He spends his afternoons in Koseli helping with school administration. He dreams of going to America for his advanced studies.

This is Mukesh's story. This is the story of hope. Sometimes all it takes to hold a hand to bring a metamorphosis in child’s life and fill his eyes with dreams of tomorrow.

Shikshantar Evening School

Shikshantar Evening School (also run under Shikshantar Outreach Program) runs from 4pm to 7pm. The school initially catered to children but now all the kids from the evening school have been transferred to Koseli. And the evening school is converted into an ADULT EDUCATION CENTRE for women belonging to the lowest income group.

Koseli

"Koseli" is run under a registered NGO (Shikshantar Outreach Program). It is a centre for slum and street children. Currently we have 75 kids with requests for more admissions every day.

These kids belong to the lower most economic strata of the society. Thus their biggest need is survival.

Koseli means a gift and the centre does exactly that. Our children come to school at 9am. Brush, bathe, change into school uniforms and settle down to study. At 1 pm they are served a hot, wholesome meal. They continue to study till 4pm and then have a light snack before leaving. However, from 5pm - 7pm we engage a few children in simple activities like making bags out of old newspapers, book marks etc. This is done to keep these kids away from gambling on the streets after school.

In addition to fooding, clothing, recreation and educational needs, the school also takes care of their medical needs. Our children survive in unimaginable living conditions so have a lot of medical issues and we know that there is nobody else to care of those.

Shikshantar Outreach Program's "Koseli"

Dear Friends,

Greetings and Namaste!!

The month of August started on a very positive note with the introduction of the hot mid day meal from the 1^st itself.  The excitement of the children knew no bounds and the tangible result was that absenteeism dropped dramatically right in the first week. There was a perpetual state of euphoria in the whole school. We would like to thank the group of women, headed by the Bhimsaria ladies who took charge of the kitchen. They not only sponsor all the kitchen expenses but also decide on the menu broadly. A special mention to Namrata Garg for the treat of Miho noodles.

“The children of Koseli would also like to thank them for the beautiful raincoats they sent for them”.

In August, we also ran the drive of collecting second hand stationery and loads of people came forward with their support. A special thanks to Jeanette Sollen who sent us stuff all the way from Switzerland and her friend Eumir, who carried it for us. Eumir is on an expedition to  Mt. Manaslu, we wish him all the very best in his edeavour.

This month also witnessed the heavy downpours of the monsoons which had a very heavy impact on our kitchen garden. The garden got flooded over and over gain until all the veges we had planted died. The children were next to feel the impact of the monsoon. The water entered their homes, toilets over flowed and eventually a whole load of them fell sick. Thus we once again observed high absenteeism in the middle of the month. Thankfully, towards the end of the month normalcy started to resume in the premises once again.

In the second week, Koseli went abuzz with nervousness of the first term examination, the pre primary children excelled in all the subjects and the results of the primary kids were satisfactory but they need to work harder. The results will be formally distributed in September.

In our monthly round of medical checkup, we had Maria going for her follow up. Chandrakala who had been complaining of a chest pain since she had joined was actually diagnosed with worms in her stomach and was treated for the same. She is fine now. Yogesh and Januka both were treated for eye infections and have fully recovered. Sanjib and Sabin were treated for ear infection.s Sanjib has recovered but Sabin needs another visit to the doctor.

To our delight, Ritu and Junu have joined us as a volunteer English teachers. Ritu works with grade Six kids on creative writing skills and Junu with grade one and two. We welcome them to Koseli family and also thank them for their services. We would like to extend a hearty welcome to Ms. Monica who has joined the teaching staff at school.

Finally, we would like to thank all our sponsors and well wishers for believing in us and supporting us.

Have a great month!!