Written by Isabel Valero, Bhimphedi Children Home volunteer

Shivaratri or Maha Shivaratri means the great night of Shiva or the night of Shiva: it is a festival to celebrate the Hindu deity Lord Shiva. Shivaratri is celebrated on the 6th night of the dark Falgun (March) every year.

Mahashivaratri marks the night when Lord Shiva performed the ′Tandava′, a traditional dance. It is also believed that on this day Lord Shiva was married to Parvati Ma. On this day Shiva devotees observe fast and offer fruits, flowers and leaves on Shiva Linga.

Dani and Jai next to the 108 Shiva Linga in the temple

At night, like the Sant Joan night, they lit big bonfires. So for two days the children and volunteers have gone to look for firewood for the bonfire to make in the shelter.

Some of the children having a refreshing bath before carrying the logs.

Kamal and Papu carrying a big log that we don’t know how many kg!

To make the party more memorable, the girls of the house decided that all girls, Didi and me wore the “sari” (the traditional gown). And so, while the boys prepared the logs and lit the bonfire we got the “saris” and it is not an easy task! All we had one in a different color. What joy!

Didis, Binita and Isabel wearing the saris

The girls wearing the sari and Sumit in a smart suit for the occasion

The girls wearing sari and Dani posing for the photo

Once all preparations were ready, everyone gathered around the bonfire to dance and sing while Didis or any of the guys made sound with “madal”, the percussion instrument typical of Nepal.

Some of the guys about to put the log in the bonfire

Some of the boys posing nex to the bonfire

But it seems that was not enough in Bhimphedi these fires, they also wanted to coincide the “controlled” burning of the undergrowth. You can often see lines of fire in the mountains (which fail to burn the trees), but this time it is oute of control…

blog 2 — One of the mountains of the valley in fire.

blog 3 — Behind the fire made for the Shivaratri, you can see the big fire on the mountain to burn the dry grasses of the forest.

Bipana dancing next to the bonfire while there is a fire in the mountain.

There is no festival in Nepal without a special meal for the occasion. For Shivaratri Didis prepared “halwa“, a type of mash meal, granulated sugar, milk, ghee (a type of butter), cashews, raisins and cardamom. Everyone went through the kitchen to go to eat some pieces, until Didis decided it was time to distribute it, and all had a binge of it!

Now there are two more days holidays: Women’s day and Gyalpo Lhosar or Sherpa New Year Eve (men of the east), a caste that is mainly in the eastern Himalayan Nepal. Children will use these days to study a little and especially be ready for final exams.

[:ca]Esports[:en]Sports[:es]Deportes[:], Children of the Home, General

Sport competitions in Bhimphedi

Monday February 29th, 2016 isabelvalero

Written by Isabel Valero, Bhimphedi Children Home volunteer.

Children in Balmandir had already been warning some days ago that sports days approached, they went to play volleyball or jogging in the evenings when they returned from school, but I never thought this sport event was in the most stylish Olympics.

The last Friday and Saturday there was only a feeling of sport competitions. It was an annual event organized by the Sport district council. It was the first qualifying round of this event among the various institutes across the country. Bhimphedi was one of its four district in Makawampur. 10 different schools participated in Bhimphedi (24 possible schools that are located in 10 different towns).

On Friday there were no classes, and everyone was preparing to go for a run, jump, throw the javelin or playing volleyball. You were on the main street and all you saw was a lot of young people dressed in sports equipment ready and waiting for the moment they had to compete.

Even didis and MAnoj didn’t want to miss the competitions!

The event began on Friday at 11 am with a parade of all schools with their representative flags. They were competing until six in the afternoon. They started with the 100m and 1200m races, after the long jump, relay race, shot put, javelin and volleyball matches.

10 school prepared to compete in a queue

Some children in the shelter are qualified for the next phase: Saran was first in the 100m race, Love in the shot put and Sita and Aarati were classified in relay race . Now they have to wait 10 days to go and compete the final in Hetauda. That exciting! If they won in Hetauda, they should go to the regional competition in Chitwan, and then to the national competition in Kathmandu, but there’s high level and has been classified now is a great prize!

On Friday afternoon and Saturday morning there was only volleyball matches. The place chosen was the excellent sports field in Balmandir! So around noon everything was already finished, and as a gift for the shelter to cede space, gave us the sticks, volleyball net and ball for practice for next year.

The first volleyball match in Balmandir field

Everyone expectant looking at the volleyball match

After a half day of sport, everything returned to normal and the streets and Balmandir already returned to be with the family environment again.

Here you never know what will happen the next day, what will be the next thing happens in Bhipmhedi?

[:ca]Activitats i tallers[:en]Activities and trainings[:es]Actividades y talleres[:], [:ca]Idiomes i lectura[:en]Language[:es]Idiomas y lectura[:], General

The Amazing Buffalos

Thursday February 18th, 2016 isabelvalero

In April we started English classes for high school students in the public school in Bhimphedi. The only specialty that is offered in school is “education” for those boys and girls who want to become teachers, specialty in English.

Most of these students do not speak English. And they have studied in a model school where they are learning by rote, where teachers used physical punishment, lack of punctuality and determination (not a day that all school teachers appear in class). So, we thought that if we provided some different classes, where they could improve their English (to be taught in a few years) might be interesting to think how they want to teach in the future.

The classes are presented as follows: “The classes are completely optional, and do not put any note or give any certificate. Come only if you are interested in learning, do not have to pay anything, nor get teachers paid. But teachers will come every day to class, so all we ask is that you come every day and you may be punctual.”

IMG_20151011_093225 — Nerea and some of the students in the english class

IMG_20151011_093122 — Some of the English students

Since the first week we saw that these instructions were not as easy to follow for these future teachers… Every day, a different number of students, and every day there were and reappeared old who had not come the day before. Why? “Big problem at home”.

So we gradually reducing the number of students, thinking that if they saw that we were strict, they would be responsible. But eventually only one student has survived. But what a wonderful student! Just for him it is worth all the work.

Prabhat comes every morning at 9:30 at the shelter, once finished high school classes (which hopefully are 6 to 9 am). When he is with us he practices English grammar, reads Harry Potter in English, learns typing or using the computer.

20160212_104552 — Prabhat and Isabel doing an English class in Balmandir

In addition to strengthen this guy, we decided to sign him for teaching us help small children at the shelter. So he can gain experience and earn some money.

There can be no other way to end this post by thanking the wonderful volunteers who have been taking these classes in high school: Laura Conde, Nerea Guezuraga and Isabel Valero! Thank you and thank you!

I leave you with the first video of Prabhat directed by Sergio Rodríguezm an original story that Prabhat has prepared in class! The video has the option to add subtitles in English to follow better the story:

https://youtu.be/sPb5O_UZqXo

Children of the Home, News

Magic night

Wednesday February 17th, 2016 isabelvalero

Written by Isabel Valero, a volunteer at the shelter in Bhimphedi

Everyday life here, as I think I said in an earlier post, is never the same. You seem to have only two things to do and suddenly you realize that you have been invited to celebrate the Sonam Losar, as the new year of the Tamang caste, you have to collect loose stone for the new outdoor kitchen being built or have to prepare a magic show, as happened with Rojan birthday.

Rojan loves the magic, always leaves us speechless with his card tricks and hands tricks! Friday was her birthday and Tonyo came to mind to do a magic show for all children in Balmandir. And so it was!

We spent a few days looking for easy magic tricks so he could do a part from those he had already knew and we were preparing them a few days earlier.

On Friday we rehearsed everything and secretly! We found him a magic kit, prepare all the material, and Rojan was getting more and more nervous! He had to make handkerchiefs, coins and people disappear! How we would be in front of everyone?

And how was it? It was perfect! Rojan has the amazing ability to improvise, disguise the nervousness, leave us speechless with his tricks and especially make us laugh, and a lot!

The astonished audience, singing Happy Birthday to Rojan

And even he knows how to train a buffalo!

Here I leave a video with the tricks which he blow us away:

https://youtu.be/1j2suF1G3zw

[:ca]Activitats i tallers[:en]Activities and trainings[:es]Actividades y talleres[:], [:ca]Cantar i ballar[:en]Sing and Dance[:es]Cantar y bailar[:], General

Bhimphedi, village of dancers

Friday February 12th, 2016 amicsnepal

The cultural activity in Bhimphedi is, almost in its totality, about traditional celebrations (some Hindus, some Buddhists) of the different casts who live in the different neighborhoods of the village: the Tamangs (mongols who are mainly agricultures), the Newars (the traders), the Chhetri y Brahaman (religious and farmers), the Praja (woodcutters)…

Some of the young people of the village have found, though, a huge common passion that makes them be united and work hard to improve day after day: the dance! with a lot of influence from Bolliwood. Some of these boys started a very active group called “Bhimphedi Guys”. They organize daily dance classes (morning and evening). Often, you can find them around the village shooting videoclips.

Leaded by Nirmal (one of the boys of the village that some time ago won in a national channel dance show), this team has collaborated with the Children’s Home in many occasions. The children of the Home have partaken in the dancing classes and some videoclips, even in some of the dancing tournaments the Bhimphedi Guys have organized in the village. This group of dancers created a videoclip for Mònica Sans (Singer and responsible of the AWASUKA project and the Bhimphedi Children’s Home in the Amics del Nepal Board).

Last Sunday, the Bhimphedi Guys recorded a new dance videoclip. Many of the scenes were in the children’s home, with the kids, staff and volunteers of the center as audience. You can already see the result:

20160207_153924 — One of the scenes of the new videoclip of Bhimphedi Guys, recorded in the Bhimphedi Children’s Home.

20160207_154907 — The older children and the staff looking at the shooting from the distance.

After years of practice, many of the children of the home love to dance, they don’t do it bad at all. They don’t miss any opportunity to use their dancing skills, for example when Sara and Xavi came to Bhimphedi. These two wonderful volunteers of Amics del Nepal, who apart from recording for AWASUKA project, they visited us to the children’s home and we enjoyed with them for few days. Thank you for coming Xavi and Sara, thank you for making us the Bolliwood dance workshop!

Sara and Xavi recording for AWASUKA project.

IMG-20160105-WA0003 — Sara teaching one Bolliwood choreography to three of the girls of the Children’s Home.

IMG-20160105-WA0000 — And Valeria also joined to the dancing workshop.

Very happy to live in this village of dancers!

[:ca]Idiomes i lectura[:en]Language[:es]Idiomas y lectura[:], General

Harry Potter

Monday February 8th, 2016 amicsnepal

In the Children’s Home we have some books: novels, stories and comics. But it is very unusual to see a kid reading any of these books. However, it is quite common to see a kid with the school bookd memorizing them. It is as if they were training for playing a Trivial tournament. Reading anything that does not prepare them for it, it’s considered “wasting time”. It is absolutely essential here to know who named the Pacific Ocean; or which is the lake located in the highest altitude; or the exact high of the mount Everest.

Nepalese use the same word for “to read” and “to study”: parnu (पढ्न). The number of literate people has increased a lot in the last ten years. But the culture of reading for pleasure is not widespread yet.

A few months ago Nerea Guezuraga started an activity with the secondary level kids of the Children’s Home to promote reading and to improve their English level. Every evening, after dinner, from 7 to 7:30, we have met in a room all together and listened a couple of pages of the first book of Harry Potter, read by the actor Steven Fry. In the most interesting or complicated passages, we stopped the recording and by turns a kid re-read the passage, and discussed it.

For months we have had this good habit. At first the children were a little bit reluctant, but towards the end of the book, the kids used to came quickly after dinner to the reading room. Many days requesting to read an extra page.

Finally, Sunday we finished “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”!

Tuesday is holiday: Sonam Losar (Tamang cast New Year), so we decide to project the film of the book we havejust finished reading. In this way we celebrate the first book of over a hundred pages all these children have read!

Within two months the children have to make the final exams. Once finished, we will begin the second book, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.” Until then, children will keep training to be the best Trivial players!

[:ca]Activitats i tallers[:en]Activities and trainings[:es]Actividades y talleres[:], [:ca]Visites i excursions[:en]Visits and excursions[:es]Visitas y excursiones[:], Children of the Home, General

End-of-year visit to Hetauda

Tuesday February 2nd, 2016 isabelvalero

In Bhimphedi there is a public school that offers classes from first grade to tenth. And there is also a small community school that offers from kinder-garden till fifth grade.

We take the kids of the children’s home to the community school until it is possible, because the number of students per class is lower, and they make more classes in English and mainly because classes are much more regular.

Each year, the community school organizes at the end of the term a trip for children in fifth class, and therefore their last term in the community school. The day before, all children in fifth class and teachers prepared everything for the trip: they bought food and cooked everything can be prepared the day before and put the sound system to charge, nothing else needed.

The program was simple: the bus reserved for the occasion, go to Hetauda and visited three different places: first a temple (Kusmanda Sarobar), then another temple used as picnic place (Banaskhandi) and finally a children’s park (Puspalal Park)! Everyone is very excited!

In the morning the two kids from the children’s home who study in fifth grade woke up very early and got ready to go to town! At 07:40 they were already in school. But teachers send them back home and tell them to return once they have eaten dalbhat. Finally at 9:30 we left to Hetauda!

The first stop, Kusmanda Sarobar, is a curious temple in the middle of the river bed. Around the temple there are 108 cow heads shaped fountains. 108 is an auspicious number in Hinduism and Buddhism. Then we put them all a “tica”. And everybody made a wish to the ear of a small metal cow. And ready, we return to the bus to go to the next stop!

0_excursio 2c — In the right Ramesh and Ashish, the two kids of fifth grade from the children’s home. Next to them two of the teachers of the community school, Manisha and Ranjita. In the left, I, Daniel, the coordinator of the children’s home.

How easy! how simple! A small temple surrounded by a lot of fountains. An old man placing a colored dot on the forehead. A small metall figure and all students and teachers, delighted and happy! On the countrary spanish children can be bored visiting even the Alahambra…

But then things get interesting. To go to the next stop, we have to cross the river, and the bridge is under construction, so the driver without hesitation went through the river! The water enters through the door of the bus, but no problem, we move forward. This really has been exciting, and without planning, as the best things in Nepal.

The next place to visit, Banaskhandi, is a forest where there are several temples and some shelters for picnic. We spent there five hours. Eating, dancing, singing and taking pictures next to the temples. Many other groups of children and not so young also where doing the same.

When I say picnic, do not think of snacks of bread, no! They make a fire on the ground for rice, another for preparing fried vegetables and other to prepare the chicken (which in many cases chop in that moment. Change the environment, but not the menu.

0_excursio 8 — The shelter on the left side is a temple. The shelter on the right side is to do the picnic. In the background you can see some teachers and students preparing the meal. Like these two shelters there were many all over the place, where other groups were also celebrating.

When it’s 4 o’clock, and I think it’s time to go home, then in a flash, they pick up everything and return to the bus to go to the children’s park. The bus driver, who had also thought we were about to go back home, complains that the bus was only booked till 4pm. But despite complaining, he smiles and drives to the Puspalal Park.

When we arrived at the “children’s park” I understand why we go so late. It’s just a garden where there is a huge “pool” maybe it was built as fish hatchery. And there is now a boat. We pay the tickets, and they take us on a round on the boat by the pool. Everyone is very happy. It seems that I am the only one who has found it a little bit ridiculous as a children’s park… but I hide it and finally I also have fun!

[:ca]Activitats i tallers[:en]Activities and trainings[:es]Actividades y talleres[:], Children of the Home

Birthdays in Balmandir!

Tuesday January 26th, 2016 isabelvalero

Written by Isabel Valero, Bhimphedi Children Home volunteer

One thing I like to celebrate birthdays here is that we never held in the same way. And this month we have had a lot of them!

You can start the day with a “happy birthday!” and making tickled early in the morning to wake them up, or maybe you have to pursue some of the teens because they are ashamed of you go shouting “Happy birthday,” but it is a thing which makes you happy to any age!

Or maybe you have to say double happy birthday as twins Kush and Love, that drop a smile even bigger than they have, which is nota little thing!

And then there are the special and risky birthdays activities, as we did on the birthday of the smallest in Balmandir, Manuj.

Dani came to mind that we could make a treasure hunt throughout the shelter to find gifts that he had prepared (such as crayons, balloons, a little cap and gloves for the cold and a wood crocodile). But in the end we inspired and the treasure hunt was extended to the whole town!

We did a treasure map with marked places where he had to go. The mission was complicated when reaching places, he had to say “Hoy es mi cumpleaños” (in Spanish!) And if he said well, he got the present.

We picked up Manuj at 16h at the exit of the school and after telling him how the game worked we started to search.

Manuj buscando uno de los regalos — Manuj looking for the presents

Here in Nepal it is not very common doing a gymkhana, so it was quite fun to watch Manuj embarrassed going from one place to another, saying the sentence in Spanish. After spending over an hour and a half walking around the village in search of “treasures”, making a stop to make a tea at each house and eating all sweets offered us finally got them all the presents!

20160124_164511 — After having found the first present, a cup of tea and pastries to get some energy.

IMG_8103[1] — Some fo the found gifts and other done by the shelter’s children

The birthday ended, without a doubt with Manuj offering candy to all the other children Balmandir!

Cooperation, Water

Water Paani

Monday January 18th, 2016 amicsnepal

At the request of community members, Amics del Nepal began in 2012 a project coordinated by Monica Sans, which cares about the quality of drinking water in the village of Bhimphedi.

The first action was to analyze the water quality. And we saw that it was contaminated by E-coli, making it dangerous for consumption without treatment.

The second action was to improve the main supply depot in the village, turning it into a filtration filter, improving water quality.

The third action in 2013 was to organize an awareness play directed by Miquel Comas. In this play, the children of the village explained the importance of taking only drinkable water (boiled, well filtered or chlorinated). In this play the children also sang a song that Monica Sans composed especially for this event: “Water Paani”.

The success of the song that every child of the village used to sing whenever they crossed by volunteers of Amics del Nepal, Monica Sans was encouraged to make the video for the song, and with the collaboration of a group of professionals, finally they have finished the work. The video premiered on the day that the song was awarded by Tarannà Travel Agency.

Here you can see the result!

[:ca]Art[:en]Art[:es]Arte[:], [:ca]Esports[:en]Sports[:es]Deportes[:], [:ca]Visites i excursions[:en]Visits and excursions[:es]Visitas y excursiones[:], Children of the Home, General, News

Recharging the batteries

Sunday January 17th, 2016 amicsnepal

After the exams, 8 days of holidays for the small kids, 3 for the bigger. We have being using these days well.

We visited the army camp (although they didn’t allow us to cross the front door), Dhorsing, the bridge of Suping, we have to gone to the forest for firewood to cook (India still maintains trade blockade with Nepal, so we have no cooking gas) and we went to the forest again to look for “tarul” (a type of potato that is eaten in a festival called Sangratri).

20160113_113457 — Excursion to Suping, less than one hour walking from the Children’s Home.

We played many sports as well: basketball, football, table-tennis, activities directed by Kul (one of the big kids who studies the ten class and helps a lot in the Children’s Home)…

20151222_171254 — Some kids getting ready for a relay race organized by Kul.

And volunteers have organized fun activities:

– A group treasure hunt with sweet rewards:

– A game where both teams had to memorize the symbols that were at the quarter of the other team, then ran to their own quarter and reproduce them as similar as possible: