Photos from our week :)

Hi everyone!  We hope you're having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  We are enjoying two day weekend here due to a local strike. Rain finally swept through last night.  We had some flooding but thank goodness it cooled things off a bit.  Here are some photos from around Kopila this week :)

Kris and Nena made a brick/clay oven!  We're hoping that birthday cakes, homemade bread, and pizza is just around the corner.  My little easy bake oven just isn't cutting it.

 

Monica and Namraj helped out :)

 The Dzanis's came for a visit.  We had so much fun with them and their sweet niece Alli who is a neonatal nurse.  They gave inspiring talks about life, their careers, and doing what you love.

 

The boys won their big cricket match and made it to the finals!  They are soooo stoked for their match today.  If they win they get to compete in regionals.  Even after all these years, I still don't really understand the rules of cricket but watching them all rush the field yesterday and cheering from the sidelines was a lot of fun.

 I was walking around school one day this week and was blown away by all the activity. Our after school program is going amazing.  There were kids rehearsing skits, tutoring club, soccer practice, volleyball practice, and drum lessons.  We are such a lucky bunch!

 

School is also buzzing for art month.  Can't wait to show you the kids creations!

 The corn in our garden is so tall, I think the kids could get lost in there.

 We just said a really sad goodbye to our friend, teacher, and big brother Ben.  Last night was filled with tears, Ben strumming the guitar, and a Kopila Fellows last dance.

It still hasn't fully hit us that he's gone.  Ben is an incredibly gifted teacher, inspiring mentor, and one of the kindest souls I know.  When I talked to Ben's references before he came here, everyone referred to him as their "favorite person in the entire world" and I thought to myself, "there is no way this guy is that perfect," but he really really is.  We're just so thankful to have had him here for the year and grown to love each other so so much!  Best of luck to him on his job search and settling back into life in Maryland. 

It's only been a couple hours and the house doesn't feel the same.

PUPPY LOVE!

It's been a long and emotional week with one thing after the other. We have a few extra kiddos staying with us this week because of some difficult things that are going on in their lives. I sat in the Women and Children's Welfare Office yesterday afternoon sweating and pouring my heart out. Police cases, lawyers, filing reports and paper work; the side of social work and child rearing that makes me bite all my nails off.

Our Fellows who have been here for an entire year are getting ready to say their goodbyes and we're all feeling pretty sad. Obviously it's hard on the kids and it's hard on all of us.  We've been working side by side for a year. We're like siblings and we've gotten in this groove of being together and working together, and raising kids together. Change is hard and the time flew by too fast. It's also really hot, which makes us all sticky, sweaty, and lethargic. When there isn't power and the fans aren't running it's almost impossible to sleep. And don't get any of us started on the mosquitos.

The kids sleep scattered on the roof and the balconies. We are praying for rain to come through but all we seem to be getting are a few minutes of sprinkles and wind storms. We cover the kids in prickly heat powder to minimize the heat rash. Women and children line up every day with containers for water because our entire village is completely dry. All I can say is thank God for our well because without drinking, cooking, toilet, and shower water on top of everything else, you'd probably find me curled up in fetal position right now.

But enough complaining.  When the going gets tough, the tough get puppies!!! Poor Tiger passed away last week.  He is a mountain dog and I think the heat was too much for him. We were all very sad. Then Tope decided to pick up two sweet puppies and brought them from Kathmandu to surprise the kids. We still haven't really named them. The boys are fighting for Rocky and Nacho for the boy and the girls want to name our dog Safira, after our Home Fellow. They also like the names Romeo and Juliet and Bollywood actors and actresses. The pups have brought so much laughter and love to our family and even I, who was kind of opposed to bringing any more living things into this house, have fallen completely in love.  If there is such a thing as puppy therapy, I am definitely a believer. I've loved watching the kids care for these two and constantly giggle watching them play.

BRING ON THE PUPPY PICTURES!! (and the rain) pretty please :)  

p.s. For those of you who follow me on instagram, I apologize in advance for a feed filled with puppy pictures!

Mallory OT

Prior to moving to Nepal, our Early Childhood Development Fellow, Mallory was a pediatric occupational therapist working for children with learning disabilities in an elementary school in NYC.  In the weeks leading up to her arrival, the other fellows called her Mallory Ot, thinking that Ot was her last name.  It wasn't until a day before she got here that I realized her last name was Grundstein and OT stood for occupational therapist.  But Mallory OT stuck for good. 

We've been so fortunate to have her here with us for the past 6 months and will miss her tremendously now that her time has come to an end.  I can't even begin to express how valuable having her expertise around here has been and the ability to constantly bounce ideas off of a trained expert.  She was kind of a genius when it came to figuring out what issues were holding our kids back and finding really practical ways to work with them to become better learners.  Mallory described her job as solving a mystery or cracking a code with her students and she is incredibly gifted at this.  She worked hard in the classroom along side our teachers, conducted trainings, and gave special attention and focus to our students who needed extra attention, one on one, and in smaller groups in the resource center.  She also put in endless hours sorting through administrative work, (my least favorite job in the universe) filing systems, and scheduling at our school.   Mallory implemented a "Sounds in Motion" curriculum with our nursery, kindergarten, and first grade students that has worked incredibly well for us.

In her own words...

One big difference between Nepal and the USA is the education system.  In Nepal, they teach using a rote memorization method.  When learning how to spell, the children will memorize C-A-T = "cat".  Although the children can very easily spell words they were taught, they lack the phonics skills to sound out new and unfamiliar words.  After meeting with fellows Kelly and Nena, we decided to introduce a phonics program utilizing whole body movements and phonics games.  The program teaches individual movements associated with each sound and sound combinations.  The kids first learn how to identify the sound associated with each letter and then begin to string sounds together to read novel and difficult words.  We've been able to implement this program in nursery, kindergarten, first and second grade with an added focus on training the teachers to continue phonics every year with all the Kopila kids.  I am thrilled with the progress these students and teachers have made!  Every day they come running up to me acting out the new sounds they've learned and are so excited to participate in the class.  I am so amazed by these kids' thirst for knowledge and education.   

Mallory has been such a gift; hardworking, incredible with kids, quick to laugh, and compassionate.  We scored big time having her by our side.  Mallory, on behalf of all of us, I would like to thank you for being a part of our family this year and giving it your all here.  Things would not have been the same without you. You've left your mark on these kids forever. We love you and can't wait for your next visit!

Kopila women! woot woot

We had our first meeting for Kopila Women's Center yesterday and we were so happy with the turn out.  64 women between the ages of 15-60, all of whom signed up for health, literacy, sewing and business classes. Our sewing machines have arrived (with big thanks to Mia Amicas Globally and our wonderful friends in Atlanta!) Classes begin this week!!! I am so excited for what's in store and all the potential these strong women will bring to our project. They were standing up yesterday, talking, participating, and sharing their ideas like I've never seen before. They seemed so willing, eager and excited do everything they can to provide for their children and lift their families out of poverty.  

The ladies were all coming up to me after the meeting with smiles on their faces and sharing what particular skills they thought they could bring to the group and what their interests were. We were all so fired up. One woman said she wanted to learn how to cook different kinds of foods and make momos. Another woman said she's always dreamed of learning to read and write. Another young woman told me she can't wait to sit behind a sewing machine and help make the kids uniforms and bags. Our big dream is to have our own local store with things that our women make and sell and obviously sustain our school with the clothes and local materials we need.  

Right now we've got about a million ideas running through our heads. We are looking forward to sitting down with our women, breaking them into smaller support groups and having them lead us forward based on what their DREAMS are.  The dreaming phase of every project is so much fun.

How sweet does our center look?  It's coming along!!!

Special thanks to ALL OF YOU for your support and enthusiasm of this project! Please share (in the comments below) any ideas you have and or let us know about other women's empowerment projects you think we could learn from. Women for Women International seems to be leading the way—we are eager to learn more about their programming and other groups with similar goals models and curriculums.

Also, this may seem frivolous but it's about 107 degrees in the women's center because it's on the top story and absorbing a ton of heat.  I sit in there for one minute and my skin is sticking to itself.  I really want to splurge and surprise the women with an air conditioning unit so they have a comfortable place to work!  If anyone would be interested in funding or investing in this, please let us know.

Check out Mia Amicas fair trade market place—a percentage of the proceeds of their sales support our women's center! Donate directly to our project right here. Gifts made in support of the Kopila Women's Center will go towards:

• Knitting needles, yarn, thread, fabrics, and additional sewing machines to get us started. (All purchased locally)
• Reading, literacy and basic math workbooks and curriculum
• Jewelry making materials
• Stipend salaries to support our trainers/teachers

Okay, I could go on and on but REALLY thank you!!!!  #awesome #excited #wahooooo #KopilaWomen #MothersUnite

xoxo  Maggie

Field Day!

Hi everyone, this is John guest blogging for Maggie once again!  We’ve had some exciting things going on here at Kopila Vall, including our first Annual Kopila Field Day.  Field Day kicked off our Inter-House competition between Sun, Moon, Star, and Sky house and this year the stakes have been raised.  In addition to competing for the house trophy, we’ve also promised the winning house a year end MoMo party.  For those of you who were not following last year, the inter-house competition is a year round event, with points awarded for excellent behavior and achievements.  As for Field Day, the morning started off with lots of energy, and the enthusiasm lasted throughout the day.  Whether it was the Sun House and their award winning house cheer, or the oldest kids rooting for the nursery and KG students the day surpassed even our most optimistic expectations.  Some highlights were the Donut eating challenge, which involved seeing which student could eat a donut hanging from the ceiling the fastest, an epic tug of war tournament, a nursery fruit & vegetable themed relay race, and last but certainly not least a Sari wrapping competition, where 4 Sr. Boys dressed up their house teachers.  When all was said and done the Star house emerged victorious, and the day concluded with a school wide dance party up on stage.  Next up for the inter-house competition is art month, which kicks off this Friday!  Enjoy Ben's Photos.