Annual Picnic (2012)

The Sam's House gang celebrated its fifth anniversary last week with a picnic at Mahendra Cave north of Pokhara. The anniversary also coincides with the end of the school year, so it is a time of great rejoicing.

Photos from Dinesh below...

Loading up the bus.

Samjhana, Sharmila, Dipa and Mina

The boys: Dhiraj, Babit and Bishal

Ever the acrobat, Saran hanging out.

A little bit of dancing before lunch.

Mina, the eldest, cuts the cake.

Samjhana covered in balloons... perhaps left over from Ronnie's visit.

Sarita takes a whack at the clay pot (Nepalese version of the pinata).

Dhiraj's turn.

Shiva takes a turn, a successful one.

The ever-popular balloon stomp.

The older girls with Ramila.

Jamuna, Sandeep, Samjhana, and Parbati.

Inside the Mahendra Cave... famous for its bats. Really. Also a very neat place for the children to run around and explore (outside the cave).

Rekha with Sarita, Sabita, Amrit, and Ramila.

The venerable didis.

The whole gang at the cave.

So it's been five years. Hard to believe. When I look at that bottom picture I feel an incredible rush of gratitude for all the people who have supported Sam's House through the years and continue to do so today. For all the hard work put in by Dinesh, his board, Rekha, and the didis, none of this would be possible without you. We hope you will always remember that. You have given 26 children family, security, opportunity, and love. They thank you from the bottom of their collective heart.

Depeche Mode

Miss Ruby, one of the teachers at Gorkha English Boarding School is taking fashion design classes in her spare time. She designs western-styled clothes for teenagers. She asked Mina, Sarita, and Mamata to model some of her designs for a portfolio. Here are a few of the pictures...

Sarita, Mamata, and Mina with their teacher, Miss Ruby.

Holi 2012

Sam's House, and much of South Asia, celebrated Holi this week, the annual festival with religious significance to Hindus, but known by much of the world as the very fun-looking day of balloon and dye-throwing. Ask anyone who has been there to participate, it is blast.

Ramila pours out the dye while the children waited with baited breath.

Mina, Maya and friends prepare balloons.

Ganga and Jamuna, early casualties.

Sandeep.

Holi is typically playground chaos until the water and dye run out.

Sharmila

Ramila. The house mothers are not spared.

The baby in front, Samjhana, is spared. More likely, she napped through festivities!

Maya

Thank you for your support of Sam's House. Because of you, the children can celebrate these holidays and have fun like any normal child. Thank you.

Samjhana

Samjhana has arrived at Sam's House. You may recall that she is the little sister of Parbati. At the time, we could not accept both children because Samjhana was too young. So Dinesh arrange financial support for her grandparents to continue raising her until we had more room at Sam's House.

The note from Dinesh:

"Just wanted to inform you that we have recently admitted Parwati's sister Samjhana. Samjhana is now 3 years old. Although she comes from a small village in Syngja district, she was living with her grandparents in Pokhara for the last two years. Previously, she was in a day care center run by another NGO in Pokhara. Samjhana is a smart girl. She got along very well with everyone in the house from the day she arrived. She is now going to the pre-school run by Gorkha Boarding School."



Thanks all to you, our supporters. You made this new home possible for Samjhana.

Ronnie the Flower Clown

For those of you who joined us at the Sam's House Fab Friday fundraiser last August, you no doubt remember the incredibly talented (and patient) clown who entertained the kids for hours. That was Ronnie the Flower Clown and his family is staying at Sam's House this week. He did a routine at the house this week that I'm sure will spur many requests for repeat performances during his stay. He really is amazing.

GEBS Farewell

The Sam's House gang was asked to perform some formal (formal = costumes and makeup) dance numbers as part of their school's graduation day. Their performances were met by rave reviews... here are Dinesh's comments:

"Yesterday, Gorkha Boarding School organized a farewell (graduation) function for the students of class 10 who are leaving the school. Rani performed his magic and our children performed many dance items. Their performance was excellent!!! All the dance items were performed only by SH children. All the teachers and students were surprised to see their dances as it was their first performance in the school. They got a lot of clapping."

Ronnie the Flower Clown also graciously added his talents to the ceremony. Pics below.

Sabita, Ritika, Chija, Sharmila and Pratima

Sabita

The graduating class at GEBS.

Bishal, Saran and Suroj waiting to perform.

Ronnie entertains one of the graduating students.

From left: Chija, Sarita, Pratima, Sabita, Ritika, and Mamata.

Sabita, Mina, Sharmila, Maya, and Sarita.

Bishal, Rina, Saran, Pratima, Suroj, and Dipa.

Dipa.

Chija and Mamata.

After the performances: Maya, Mamata, Mina, Sabita, Dipa, and Sharmila.

What Dinesh's note doesn't say, but I know to be true: this was a real thrill for the Sam's House children. As they get older, we worry about the children being stigmatized by their situation, but opportunities like this help give them confidence and show their school mates they lead a normal, active life, no different from others.

You make this possible. Thank you.