Much to our surprise my dear friend and travel agent videotaped one of the last fun nights with the sponsors on the trip. We had dinner at Gokarna Restaurant in Thamel where we had a delicious Nepali dinner including a little Roksi (a little goes a long way) served in tiny clay cups and then watched Nepali traditional dances and enjoyed good conversation.

The sponsors have returned home from their trip to Nepal, hopefully recovering from the long and arduous air travel and jetlag.  So I am here staying in Sukedhara, a suburb of Kathmandu, at the office building in the guest apartment on the third floor.

Our partner, BSF, rents a large building that meets our needs. It provides for office space, a small group facility on the first floor for kids who need a place to stay in transition to new schools or who can't find a suitable hostel, and a guest apartment for me or for volunteers.

Operating since 2002, Mitrata-Nepal Foundation for Children now has a large group of kids who have graduated 12th grade and are making future plans for their careers or have already started attending universities and vocational programs. Our partner NGO provides personal counseling, career counseling and special workshops to help each child determine his/her focus for a career and assist when interpersonal or family problems arise.  It is sometimes a challenge for the children to stay focused due to family pressures and the usual issues of growing up and launching into independent life.

Newer sponsor Jacque Richmond, who sponsors several younger children, Ruplal, Milan and Januki, attended the graduation ceremony and shared her thoughts:  Graduation ceremonies are always an important rite of passage, filled with emotion by students and their parents.  Even more so for Sunday's Mitrata-Nepal Foundation for Children’s graduation ceremony in Sukedhara Kathmandu, where we celebrated five graduates --Anita, Rukesh, Pawan, Sangeeta, and Pratima -- each of whom has overcome enormous hardships to successfully complete a degree in nursing, hotel management or science. All of them are now out and working and supporting themselves.

Our sponsor trips always include some sightseeing to local World Heritage Sites and temples as part of understanding the cultural heritage of our kids. So here are some impressions from Ralph Caraffa. “2600 year old Pashupatinath Hindu Temple with its accompanying 518 temples and monuments for prayer and preparation and cremation of the dead is a study in contrasts. Many hundreds year old buildings with stone and wood structures ravaged through use, war and earthquake fill 650 acres in the center of Kathmandu surrounded by bustling people packed streets. The Bagmati river—a sacred river to Hindus—runs through the middle.

Every year at our Trivia Night we raise money to provide for special outings for our kids.  So this year we took the 29 kids in the Contact Center to the zoo and had a picnic of guess what? Momos and pizza! Everyone’s favorite. 

There was a mass of children from schools all over Kathmandu on field trips that day. The lines were long getting into the zoo and the place was packed. We ate at the pavilion and played Simon Says with the kids and and shared photos and fun. I cannot believe how many momos such small children can devour! 

This was a day of pampering, healing and rejuvenation from our busy schedule.  Two of our girls, Ishowri  and Laxmi, have completed beauty school and the women in our group received a spa day from them. It began with a facial, proceeded to a manicure and hand massage.  

Dinner with the sponsors and the kids who are currently in 11th and 12th grade was at Zen Bistro in Maharajganj. It was lively and full of conversation and laughter. It is so great to see them growing up! They are all in school taking classes towards their careers, working part-time and or in apprenticeships in hotel management and even barrista training. 

Our NGO partner staff work hard to make sure the kids are learning responsibility and getting out into the world to learn needed life skills. In Nepal children need to focus on their future career path in 10th grade which is early compared to American children s. The Nepal school system requires children to choose an area of study before entering 11th grade.