Sitting in an office in London it is easy to lose sight of the overall aims of a charity such as Our Sansar. With our projects being undertaken over 4,000 miles away there are times when we all need to take a step back and appreciate what is being done. With the opening of our children’s home in Birgunj, Nepal, taking place in under two weeks this seems to be the perfect time to do this.
Recently our targets in London have been to promote two major events, the first of which is a 10 km run taking place in Derbyshire. This is an event which is highly important to the organisation and can provide us with a great deal of funds to carry on our projects throughout the year. We are still currently looking for runners to take part but we are confident that this year will be the best ever. The second of our two events is a comedy night to be held at Bar Rumba, Leicester Square. We are ecstatic to have such a fantastic line-up including both established and up and coming comedians. So far confirmed comedians include, Paul Chowdry, Holly Walsh, Lembit Opik, Marcel Lucont, Matthew Crosby and Michael Fabbri. This should be an amazing evening and anyone interested in coming along should visit www.eventelephant.com/comedyrocksbarrumba.
However the promotion of these events can make you lose sight of the long term aims of the charity, or essentially why we are holding these events in the first place. A reminder of exactly why has come over the last two weeks, with the fruition of two of our long term projects. Firstly the children’s home, this is a project that could prove to be essential in the lives of young children living on the streets of Nepal. Our Sansar representatives have spoken to many children that will benefit from this home and have heard the horrors of what these young people have had to go through, from drug abuse to sexual abuse. Hearing these harrowing tales puts all our work into perspective and makes us realise how important it is that we give as much support as possible to these crucial projects. This home will offer a children a safe haven where they can sleep, eat and educate and by doing so provide themselves with a platform on which they can build for the future.
The second project that has recently been completed has been our teacher training scheme.We believe that empowering local communities is the best way to achieve positive development within those communities and as such it is with pride that we train local people to become teachers of the youth within their own regions. So far the feedback we have received has been overwhelming with one student having been quoted as saying:
‘The teachers there say that this training will help them on delivering new teaching concepts in child centered teaching. In addition to that they will learn more methods on child friendly teaching. Similarly, through this training they feel that it will help create a fun environment for kids in classrooms.’
It is the belief of Our Sansar that education is crucial in the development of youth and through education we can help many of these children escape the lives they have found themselves in.
After seeing these projects develop it becomes clear instantly that the work being done on the ground in Nepal is crucial to the success of Our Sansar as an organisation. Therefore any events that we hold, including the FSI and the comedy night are ways in which the team in London can contribute to the work in Nepal and, as such, all members of the team are inspired to make these events as successful as possible.
