Written by  Anna Brunet, viceprecident  of Amics del Nepal 

Over the past few weeks we have had many visits, all from people who have come to help us to make this house a place to live and grow happily.

At the end of October Madi and Dani visited Balmandir, they spend a day to see the house and meet with its small inhabitants. However it was a school day and we could not share a lot of time together. We would like to give thanks ! With they donation we have been able to buy blankets and bedspreads, now that winter is coming, it will make our nights more confortable !

The same day cames Enric, the current president of Amics del Nepal and myself, we spend 4 days in Balmandir. We could check how all the children grews up in one year and to find out about the new small children: Bikram, Manisha, Binita, Kushal and Ekendra, all them came to Balmatir last April and they are already very well adapted to the new family. The visit was also very useful to talk with the new director, all the staff and volunteers that are working in the centre. We hope to have made a great push to continue working and improving!

In November we had two more visits. First came a group of climbers, they had crowned a mountain of great technical difficulty, Ama Dablam (6812m). Sergi Mingote and his colleagues wanted to spend they last day in Nepal to meet Balmandir. We received them with a presentation and a video that had been prepared by the children to tell them how Balmandir is doing every day. Kush, one of big boys, also gave them an explanation with Power-point.

The climbers brought us a flag of Amics del Nepal that was crowned Ama Dabalam and all us signed on it.

They give also another surprise, they bring a Dron, that children wanted catch, luckily they could not, on the other hand, the Dron did really good images from us.

The second visit of the month of November filled the House of Magic. Once again we would like to thank the Mágic Andreu, who, during his stay in Nepal, came to visit us. We all enjoyed and laughed a lot with their tricks! On the next day the Magician also went to make a show in the school, so children from Balmandir had a double session.

THANK YOU ALL TO HELP US TO FOLLOW FORWARD !!

Written for Guillem Pujol,volunteer at Bhimphedi Children Home’s

The second most important festival in Nepal is here! This October we are in constant celebrations and we like this. So how has this holiday gone? Well perfect! Many different things have happened and others similar to Dashain.

First of all, say that Tihar consist of five days of followed celebrations, this is also called Diwali or Deepawali.

Although there are several stories of the celebration of Tihar, the most famous is the story of the god Yama (God of death) and his sister Yamuna. It is said that these brothers had been separated for a long time and, in an attempt to contact, Yamuna sent a crow, a cow and a dog to his brother. When she did not receive a reply, Yamuna visited Yama herself, bringing with her exquisite delicacies to honor her brother. Once together, she blessed him by putting the tika and a flower necklace, and Yama gave her presents and money.

The tihar is very important in Nepal because for five days it shows respect not only to humans and gods, but also to animals such as cows, crows and dogs. People make drawings in the houses or in the front yards with colored rice, flour, colored sand and flower petals, called Rangoli, to welcome the gods.

Decorate the houses with colored lights and at night groups of people come out to sing and dance. Every day something different is celebrated: the first day honors the crows, the second the dogs, the third the cows and Laxmi (the goddess of money), the fourth the oxen and the last day brothers are honored and venerated.

In Balmandir the day of the brother is the most awaited day of tihar. The boys sat on the floor forming a square that surrounded the girls. They drew small circles on the ground where they then put calendula petals and gave water to their brothers. Then came the moment when the sisters put the tika on the forehead of their brothers, one by one. The tika of tihar, unlike that of the Dashain, is composed of several colors placed vertically. Once the tika was put on, each child was given a flower necklace and given a box of sweets and nuts. At the end of the ritual each brother gave money to his sisters and everyone enjoyed family lunch.

Written for Guillem Pujol, volunteer at Bhimphedi Children Home’s

In the month of october takes place the biggest festival in the nepalese annual calendar, Dashain . It is celebrated all over nepal, just like Christmas in our country. But what is the story behind this festival?

This commemorates the  victories of the gods against the demonds. One of the reasons of this tradition is because god Rama killed Ravana, the boss of the demonds. But he didn’t do it alone , since he was helped by de goddess Durga. who was the one who overcame the demond.

That is why the first days of the Dashain symbolize the fight between deities.  Now, the goddess Durga is adorated like the deceased mother, offerings and  sacrificies are made in her name.

During these days, everyone travels the necessary miles to meet at the family home and spend all these days together offering diferent things and making rituals for Durga and all her manifestations. For that, the Balmandir family couldn’t be less and we also celebrate Dasahin.

In the dining room everything was ready: a tray with rice mixed with flowers, a tray with pasta for tika- rice, coloring and yogurt- and only sprouds were lacking.

According to tradition, the oldest people of the family  put tika to younger relatives to bless them abundantly in the coming years and give them Dakshina (a small amount of money), along with blessings. So Didi Maya started: she first took flowers and, as if she was baptizing, she scattered a little water over her heads. Then he tossed some rice with flowers on top and put the tika on the forehead, between the eyebrow and the eyebrow (where there is the third eye). Finally, they gave them a germ sprout wrapped in money. This was done one child at a time, from the smallest to the oldest. And the great surprise was that she also did it to us! Then it was the turn of  Surendra and finally, the Didi Belly.

During these holidays other rituals are also made, such as animal sacrifices. Normally we only eat “mass” (meat) on Saturdays night, which is the holiday day  of the week. But during the days of Dashain “massu” is quite present in each meal. And the surprise was yesterday morning when Surendra arrived at the center with an unknown man . He had expressly come to sacrifice one of a goat, previously bought by Kush, a young boy from Balmandir.

We went wherever they were doing the ritual and,  Basu helped by Ram  under the eyes of the children of the house, began to peel the goat, clean it, spread it with an orange paste (which for what they have explained is to conserve and to give flavor) and to squash it. After removing the different viscera, the children helped to clean them.

The next day came the members of the Nepal Children’s Organization to put the tika and all together we took some pictures in the garden of the house.

Written by Isabel Valero, volunteer at Bhimphedi Chilren’s Home 

We were really looking forward to this weekend! And we have been able to set up two projects that had thoughtful many times! For two days, some young people from the Kathmandu Youth Project visited Balmandir to carry them out among them:

BALMARKET

Many people donate clothes to reach the various projects of Amics del Nepal, and so we do. This time we wanted to make a different process. So that children know how to value everything that comes from other countries, we have created a market in Balmandir, where children can buy some items as well as seasonal clothes, having earned a “salary.”

The aim of ​​the market is to make the children and youth of Balmandir more involved in the housework and develop new skills by doing their own projects. In order to earn points, which will subsequently be exchanged for balman rupees, children also participate more actively in the housework, they can learn to make paper crafts, hand crafts, videos, etc.

To our surprise, on the market day, the children decided to make their own products that they put up for sale and thus make more money to buy clothes. The market was a success, and the delivery of clothes we made in a different and fun way and Didis could even enjoy helping the younger ones.

PICKLE or ACHHAR

The tradition of spicy in Nepal, and generally in all Asia, is very common. The pickle or achhar is a set of vegetables previously cut and dried in the sun for 2-3 days and later mixed with different spices that give this special flavor and accompanies any dish. Among all, we were able to make enough pickle to keep it for a few months and to enjoy it with our favorite dish, Dal Bhat.

In this way, children and youth have learned that the effort of one day becomes pickle, a meal that they like but they do not always have, during a long season.

PAPAYA JAM

Since we put to the maintain of the pickle, we wanted to try if we could also make jam to preserve it. We brought papayas and cut them to put them with sugar and cook until they got the texture of jam. The next day we could not suppress to finish with two jars of jam together with some rotis at snack time, so delicious!

It has been a very positive weekend to learn how to keep food, and fun when buying clothes and creating their own projects!