Tihar (also called Deepawali) is the Festival of Lights, a big celebration in Nepal that falls this year on November 19. In preparation for Tihar, we clean the house and make everything look as good as possible so that we can welcome the Goddess Laxmi, who arrives on the third day of Tihar. The first day of the festival is …
Some Happy News for Pooja
Those of you who follow our blog probably remember the story of Pooja, who came to us in 2011 because her father had been killed while working in Qatar. As a widow with very few rights, her mother could not afford to feed and clothe Pooja, so she brought her to Ama Ghar where she would be loved, cared for …
The Art of Being a Child
Art, music and dancing are so much a part of the culture in Nepal that children learn to participate at a very young age. When the children came to Ama Ghar from their villages and neighborhoods, they were already talented performers and artists, and we encourage them to express themselves freely. Some of our children play guitar or piano, many …
Re-Use and Re-Cycle at Ama Ghar!
Because we have to be very careful with our money (the money that you donate!) we think a lot about how to re-use and recycle what we have at Ama Ghar, so we’ve become pretty creative about it! We thought our family around the world would get a smile out of some of our recycling tactics, as pictured here. Old …
Zoe’s Excellent Ama Ghar Adventure
In December, 2012 I fulfilled a 30 year dream of visiting Nepal. I had not been back to Asia since I lived in Sri Lanka in 1983. I was thrilled to also be able to fulfill a shorter-term dream – to visit Ama Ghar Children’s Home. I met Shrawan Nepali in San Francisco three years earlier when my friend Kushal …
Olympic Moments at Ama Ghar
The Olympics is one of those rare events that holds the attention of the entire world. We do have cable out in our valley now (we got it so the kids could watch the World Cup) and we had great Olympic coverage in Nepal, practically 24/7. We encouraged the children to watch between their study times and activities and then …
Jungle Gym and Swing Set Built By Our Boys!
After a long wait, our wonderful collaboration project is finished! It all started when Joyce Trapper and Heidi Feldman of The Didi Project gave us the funds to build some playground equipment. Then Bonnie Auntie’s brother, Ti Ellison, came for a visit. He designed a jungle gym and swing set and trained the boys in welding, grinding and the use of tools by …
A Life Changing Experience at Ama Ghar
Although it has been almost a year since our visit to the beautiful and magical land of Nepal and our stay at Ama Ghar, the two have not ventured far from our hearts and minds. We often look back on our incredible time in Nepal helping support the children of this wonderful nonprofit organization and trekking through the Himalayas as …
A Field Trip to Chovar
This post is from Meena, our 15-year-old Ama Ghar sister who loves to laugh and play games – sounds like she had a wonderful time on her field trip! “The day when we went for a field trip to Chovar was Friday 2nd of December 2012. We had all gathered and had a short discussion about it. I was really …
My School
Here’s a blog post from the winner of the our latest blog competition for kids under 14 – congratulations, Rupa! Rupa is a happy go lucky 12 year old who loves to have fun and make friends with our visitors. And judging by her post, she also loves her school! Hi, I’m Rupa. Today my topic is school so I’m going …