Our Staff
The “Easy” Work
Every day at Ama Ghar is an ebb and flow of activities. The staff and the children cook, eat, make lunches, get ready for school, provide snack after school, engage in playtime, help with study time, prepare dinner, eat, and get ready for bed. When the children are at school, the staff do laundry, clean the house, shop, and take care of the little things that come up like taking a child to the doctor or manage repairs.
The staff is responsible for monitoring the children’s behavior, attitude and health during all activities. Anything of importance is reported to the office for documentation and problem solving if necessary. This could include who is fighting with whom, who is not sharing a game, who is having a meltdown – whatever is happening. Office staff are also expected to have awareness and interaction with the children. The children are asked to go to the office to ask for paper, scissors, tape and any games and cards that have multiple parts, in order to keep the parts together.
During the evening gathering after dinner, the staff review and compliment the children for their daily positive activities and reminders for good behavior. They also review an endless list of regular reminders: Put your things back in the same place, return books to the library, don’t forget to brush your teeth, make your bed, keep your books in your study area, and more.
There is a staff meeting every Friday to review the upcoming week and discuss any issues about the children, food, school, trips to the doctor/dentist/counseling, coordinate days off, repairs, vacations etc.
The Harder Work
All of the above is done with care, patience, love and giving individual attention to 40+ children, every day.
Over the years the staff have had many training sessions to assist them in their jobs. Children come to Ama Ghar for a variety of reasons – some are orphans, others are rescued from human traffickers, some were rescued from natural disasters, and some lived on the streets. Many – if not all – have experienced trauma from early childhood and our staff has the awareness and extra training to meet their needs. Our staff adeptly handle issues including severe malnutrition (which results in less or slower brain development and stunted growth), PTSD (resulting from severe past trauma including abuse, the death of a loved one before arriving at Ama Ghar, etc), ADD, ADHD, fetal alcohol syndrome, and much more.
Meet our staff
- Kyamuna Khadka, Manager
- Sajan Shakya, Office Assistant
- Uma Singh, House Supervisor
- Bindu Laxmi Tamang, House Mother
- Anita Khadka, House Mother
- Apsara Gurung, House Mother
- Ram Bahadur Bohara, House Father
- Sandesh Shrestha, House Father
- Dil Maya Majhi, House Cleaner
- Radhika Silwal, House Cleaner
- Amrita Tamang – Laundry
- Pashupati Tamang, Gardener
- Urmila Dutraj, Gardener
The staff work as a team, doing their individual duties but working together caring for the children and engaging in various activities with the children.