Written by Nicolas Gautier, volunteer at the Children’s Home.

When I arrived to Kathmandu, I visited a very authentic paper shop in the Thamel neighborhood. Inside, there were nice decorations of paper and cardboard. Among them, I was struck by the star-shaped garlands. I thought it was a good idea to reproduce with the children of Balmandir.

Once I arrived to Bhimphedi, I discovered the children’s home. This first impression reinforced my idea, the children’s bedrooms were poorly decorated. So we began to prepare the activity, but I did not want to make only stars. I have drawn several shapes so each child could choose the one he liked the most.

Several steps were necessary to make these garlands:

1- We chose a shape according to his preference taking into account the level of difficulty of the garland.

2- We reproduced 8 times the shape accurately.

3- We cut out these shapes.

4- We coloured.

5- We chose a color string threat and beads to decorate the garland.

6- We made knots, put the beads and pasted the shapes.

7- Finally we hanged the garland in their bedroom.

Now, beautiful colors brighten their nights!