At Ama Ghar, we celebrate Christmas as a season of giving back and sharing love with our worldwide family. Most of the children come from Hindu or Buddhist backgrounds, but they enjoy the spirit of the holiday and the traditions and rituals we have developed over the years at Ama Ghar. Traditionally, we have bought plain cookies from a …
Looking Forward to Holiday Cookies!
We will have a very merry cookie baking during this Christmas season, as the Ama Ghar briquette factory is in full swing… Sajan has his team working in shifts, and we received a wonderful gift – a good friend with an olive grove brought us a truckload of olive seeds, which are perfect for making bricks for our oven. They’re recycled, …
Ama Ghar Celebrates the Festival of Lights
The Festival of Lights, known as Tihar in the Kathmandu Valley, was happily celebrated last week by the Ama Ghar kids, their aunties and uncles and visitors. The most beautiful ceremony of the entire festival is the Newari tradition of Mha Puja, or celebration of the self. At this event, intricate and beautiful designs are drawn on the floor where …
Planet Freddo Raises Ama Ghar Funds with Artful Ties!
On November 7 and 8, Ama Foundation Board Member Fred Doar hosted a showing of his art ties and gentleman’s accessories in Mill Valley, California, with all profits donated to support Ama Ghar. The event was a great success, with over 50 people attending each night and sales of 20 ties, 12 scarves and 6 micro paintings, resulting in …
We’re Proud of Pabita!
So many of our older Ama Ghar children are doing wonderful things that we’re going to start providing profiles of them and their activities. As donors and members of our Ama Ghar family, you should feel proud at the accomplishments of Pabita, who was recently selected to take part in an organization called Women LEAD. This organization teaches young women …
Ti’s Excellent Ama Ghar Adventure
Here’s a wonderful note we got from Titus Ellison, our Uncle Ti’s son, who visited Ama Ghar this summer… we love this! “Ama Ghar was one of the best places I’ve ever been. Although the rest of Kathmandu was crowded and noisy, it was very peaceful in Godavari village. I had so much fun and I liked the simplicity. In …
Unika at Home
We know many of you are concerned about the progress of Unika, our house father’s daughter who had brain surgery two months ago. The good news is that thanks to the efforts of our Ama Ghar family around the world, she is home and healing very well. When we visited her recently, we found her playing “Pick Up Sticks” with …
Gai Jathra Celebration!
Last week was the week of Gai Jathra, a very special celebration in Nepal. The festival of “Gai Jatra”, the procession of cows, is generally celebrated in the Nepalese month of Bhadra (August-September). The festival of cows is one of the most popular festivals of Nepal. According to tradition, every family who has lost one relative during the past year …
A Monsoon Week at Ama Ghar
Life at Ama Ghar during the monsoon takes on a very special rhythm. It’s sunny and dry in the morning, so we do our chores, hang our laundry out to dry, and take walks in the incredibly lush foliage around the villages and Botanical Gardens at the end of our road. On weekdays, the kids go to school in …
Another Ama Ghar Recycling First!
The monsoon season has arrived, and with the rainy season comes the never-ending quest to keep our umbrellas in working order. No matter how hard we try, umbrellas just don’t last around here, and it seems like a waste to throw them away. So Uma had a brainstorm: the waterproof material for the umbrellas makes colorful dance skirts for the little …