Sansar Nepal at The Garden

It is with the greatest pleasure that, in the midst of these troublesome times, we are able to celebrate the very special union of Roshan and his beloved of 5 years, Ganga.
The wedding, attended by 75 family members (the maximum number of guests permitted) took place on the 7th May in Pokhara. This is the fourth photo where the couple are dressed in gold, red and green.
The engagement party was held several days before the wedding according to Nepalese tradition. Roshan and Ganga met through paragliding and are clearly a prefect match for each other!
At present they will live at Sita's (Roshan's mother's) home in north Lakeside along with the rest of Roshan's family who have been living together and taking care of each other during the Covid pandemic. We are very happy to report that, as yet, none of our loved ones in Nepal have succumbed to the virus and are continuing to attend schools and colleges in between lockdowns.
We wish Roshan and Ganga a long and happy married life and look forward very much to celebrating with them in person as soon a we can.

It is with great love and affection that we remember Dawnell Joy Albers, a dear friend and part of the Sansar Nepal Family, who departed this life last Wednesday. Dawnell loved Nepal and gave generously of her time and energy to help our family and many other children and families during her visits to Pokhara.
Her kindness, grace and gentle humour touched all those she met, and she will be very much missed by every who was lucky enough to know her. She planned to return to Nepal and spend more time with us once she had recovered from her illness, but sadly that was not to be.
We will cherish our memories of many beautiful and happy times together. Rest in peace, dear Dawnell.
❤️❤️❤️

Our sewing ladies are multiplying!! This week 5 new ladies arrived and joined the group bringing the total to 11, which is just about as many as we can fit into the small room we have been allotted in the community centre. We are hoping for the first batch of finished cushions to be ready next week. Its so rewarding to see the enthusiasm with which they learn the new skills, and also to watch the SN helpers step into the role of teachers.

The Garden kids all started back to school yesterday after a long but productive holiday (sewing and making crafts) over the festival season. They were excited to meet their friends and teachers again and happily got down to their homework as soon as they arrived home!

Fresh vegetables for dinner delivered by Prakash! He and a friend have started a small farming project just outside Pokhara to create some income for themselves as they work towards their Batchelor's degrees in Civil Engineering.

Yesterday was our second visit to Kaskikot. Our ladies had all completed their test cushion panels successfully, and are now working on their first "real" pieces. We are impressed by their skills and openness to learning and are looking forward to seeing how this project develops. It is off to a good start. Next week, we will train 6 more ladies, and also hopefully have our first finished products. We are also impressed by our Sansar Nepal assistants, Binod, Sarita and Bimala, who play vital roles in this endeavour.

We had lots of playing tennis for the first time followed by football at the indoor sports centre

Yesterday was Sansar Nepal's first meeting with a small group of women from Kaskikot, a village near Dhawa, which our team identified as being a community in need of some support. Last year we conducted a survey of 63 women in the village to assess their needs and interest. As a result we are now teaching them how to make saleable items for the international market using recycled saris. The first item with be padded cushions with decorative top stitching. Most of the work is designed to be done by hand as our space in the village commmunity building does not yet have electricity or a communal sewing machine. Depending on the response of the women, which was very positive, we are offering to help them to set up a small cooperative. It will be a gradual process, as this is how, in our experience, such initiatives are most successful. The young SN team members played an important role as intermediaries, interpreters and assistants. We are looking forward to our second visit next Saturday.

As always, its wonderful to be back at The Garden II. We are fortunate to have Julie Holt back for her third visit, and for the loving kindness, generosity and endless patience she brings with her. The kids are all totally engrossed in creating beautiful crafts; some are knitting, some basket weaving, some making hand stitched cushion covers, and some embroidering! It's a hive of purposeful activity! We have been able to set up a temporary sewing and craft space in the hallway outside the apartment, which keeps the lounge somewhat tidy!

It is good to be back with the family. We started work first thing this morning. Just missing Sarah.

Our work continues! We are grateful to a recent visitor from China and an employee at Expedia, Elevyn Jieming, for her kind donations of stationery sets to the children of Sri Bijaya School, Dhawa.