About The Ama Foundation
The Ama Foundation funds Ama Ghar Children’s Home, a permanent care home, near Kathmandu, Nepal to provide a stable home and access to education for at-risk children. Working closely with the local Nepalese staff and the leadership of the Ama Ghar Board of Directors, Ama Foundation and Country Director, Bonnie Ellison, works to better understand the real needs of the children we serve and give them the tools they need to succeed.
Ama Foundation Staff
Administrator
Cathy has been working with The Ama Foundation in some capacity since her first visit to Ama Ghar in 2003. She served on the Board of Directors as a member at large until 2011, when she became Communications Director. In 2023, she took the position of Administrator, managing the Foundation’s database, correspondence and accounting. She has visited Ama Ghar 16 times and is devoted to the mission and the children.
Prior to that time, Cathy had a long career in communications and marketing, which included owning her own marketing agency in the Bay Area and finishing her career with an eight year stint as Communications and Marketing Director for the Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives at Arizona State University.
Communications Director
Jacole resides in Montana and first visited Ama Ghar in 2008 when she was living in Nepal for a few years. She visits nearly every year, and she has loved watching the older children (now alumni) become kind and independent adults and enjoys getting to know all the children who have joined Ama Ghar over the years. With over 15 years of experience working in international development (including time living in Nepal and Cambodia), she has designed, managed, and advised education and research programs around the world that primarily focus on improving learning opportunities and outcomes for marginalized learners. Some of her other professional experiences include consulting on communications content and strategy for an international donor agency, designing a statewide rural telemental health program for child survivors of abuse, and teaching high school English Language Arts. She holds a B.A. in English Teaching from The University of Montana and an Ed.M. in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Leadership from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and she received a Fulbright Fellowship to conduct her dissertation research in Nepal.
Volunteer Administrative Assistant
Barbara first visited Nepal in 1969, and fell in love with the land and the people. Born and educated in Australia, she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1974, and worked for many years in the biotech industry. Now retired, she is able to spend much of her time indulging her interests in painting, gardening, travel and cats, and is proud to be able to help the children of Nepal as a volunteer for the Ama Foundation.