Early in May, Ama Ghar had its own version of the tragic tornadoes that have blown through Oklahoma. Around midnight on May 6, there was a heavy downpour of rain – a huge, booming thunderstorm with horrendous winds. The wind blew the rain under the balcony doors all the way across the house and swirled like a tornado. The tiles …
Happy Mother’s Day Around the World!
“A mother is not a person to lean upon, but a person to make leaning unnecessary.” Thanks to Bonnie and our Ama Ghar house mothers, shown in this photo being honored by the children on Nepal Mother’s Day with fruit and treats, flowers and tika blessings. One of our older girls, Kalpana Thapa, made a presentation of thanks for …
Child Care Advice from a Big Sister
Our older Samjana is a teenager with a flair for drama, a great sense of humor, and now we’ve discovered that she’s a great writer – enjoy this story of her outing with Rekha! Time I Spent with our Sweet Little Rekha “I had to take Rekha to the Photo Shop to get a photo. First she was inside the bus and didn’t …
Becoming Young Ladies
For those of you who have been frequent visitors over the years, this photo will make you nostalgic for the adorable little girls who somehow magically morphed into these beautiful young ladies! The girls in the photo have finished Class 12, and as is traditional in Nepal, they have a farewell party which everyone attends wearing their very best finery… …
The Festival of Colors – Holi!
Holi is a favorite holiday at Ama Ghar – and in fact, all over Nepal! The celebration, which will start March 27, lasts for a week, in which the entire country gets covered with colored water… all over Nepal, people are throwing colors and water balloons, locally called “lolas”, on each other. Legend has it that Krishna loved to pull practical …
Ama Ghar’s Star Performers
We were thrilled when The School of Performing Arts Kathmandu (SPAK) chose Ama Ghar to be included in a six week workshop to teach drama and music, which culminated in a live performance. The mission of SPAK is to encourage cultural and creative activities for the enjoyment and benefit of the people in Nepal. SPAK is a safe cultural playground where every …
The Next Generation of Good Citizens
We often say in our published materials that our goal is for our children to grow up to be good Nepali citizens and good global citizens. So it’s thrilling to see so many of our children reach out, usually un-prompted by us, to do good in the world. Below is a blog post from Pratima, one of our older girls …
What It’s Like to Be An Orphan
Below is the winner in the 13 Years and Under category of our Ama Ghar blog contest. Jenuka’s writing is very sincere; we hope you’ll find it moving. “I think everybody knows the meaning of orphan. Orphan means a person who don’t have father, mother or person to take care of them. The life of an orphan is very touching and …
Christmas, New Year’s – End of Year Fun!
During the month of December, the Ama Ghar kids waited anxiously for the package of cookie decorations being sent by our good friend Mary Averill, also known as Christmas Cookie Auntie, but when it hadn’t shown up by December 19, Bonnie Auntie took action. She received an email that two families were coming from the US for trekking – and …
Everybody Dreams…
What is a dream? Let’s get it straight…everybody dreams. Oh, you’ll always hear one of your school friends or a relative who’ll say “I know I don’t dream,otherwise I’d remember something in the morning!” Well, that’s one of the most interesting things about dreaming… often you can’t remember anything about what it was you were dreaming about as soon as you wake up, …