Mysmallhelp Nepal Newsletter Summer 2010 released

Dear friends we have recently released the latest newsletter. Please have a look and comment us if you have any. Here is the link. http://www.mysmallhelp.org/summer2010.php

Marybert School children celebrated Children's Day

The children of Marybert school celebrated Children's day on 14th September 2010. There were lot of games which were being held at the school premises. Winners in the games got prizes. Everyone enjoyed the day.

Children's parents were invited. Some parents handed over the prizes to the winners.

Small help can make a difference to child's life

Kiley and Virginia, volunteers from Texas went to visit Susma and Susmita in Dhulikhel on 13^th August with one of MySmallHelp Member, Pramila K.C after reading their story on the website. They wanted see in which areas they could help Susma and Susmita in. When they reached their school, they were informed by their teachers that they didn't came to school because of the bad weather as it had been raining heavily non-stop for the past few days. Kiley and Virginia had a little talk with their teachers and came to know that Susma and Susmita had been coming to school without any textbooks for almost 6 months because they couldn't afford it. To help Susma and Susmita, Kiley and Virginia gave NRS 1500 to one of the teachers to buy for them textbooks..

Students donate blood to make a difference

MySmallHelp (MSH) ran its first Blood Donation Camp at the Quest International College, Lalitpur on Friday, with 44 students and friends of MSH donating much needed blood to fill the gap in Nepal’s donation supply.

MySmallHelp, Gwarko, Lalitpur, facilitated a motivation camp at Quest International College in coordination with the Nepal Red Cross Society. Nepal is currently running with approximately 500-600 pints of blood per day, but with a requirement of 1,000 pints. Kalpit Kumar Tripathi, of Red Cross, held an informative session to motivate the students into wanting to give the gift of life, under the “Give Blood, Save Life” campaign that MSH has premiered. For every 4 students who gave blood, there was at least one who could not as a result of being underweight or having low blood pressure, but this will not deter them in the future as many are determined to be able to give blood for the benefit of others.

In anticipation, many students from Quest International College looked on as their peers began the blood giving, only to see that the process is very quick, painless and nothing to worry about. What’s more they will have made a difference to the lives of those who require blood transfusions in the future. Some light refreshments and the students were back in class to continue with their studies, all in a hard day’s work.

As the first programme of its kind ran by MSH, and due to its huge success, MSH will continue to run these Blood Donation Camps every three months to do its part in helping students to make a difference. Each and every day hundreds of people require blood transfusions, and with donations of certain blood types scarce, each and every one of us should consider donating blood. It does well to remember that the recipient may be your friends, your children, your parents, your grandparents, your relatives, your neighbours, or even yourself. Do something amazing today; give blood.

Together we can make a difference.

Kate Baker
Volunteer August/September 2010
My Small Help

Paskay project in Ollantaytambo

“I arrived on the Paskay project in Ollantaytambo 6 days ago and have been busy getting orientated and finding out what the project is doing in different areas. Ollantaytambo is a beautiful place and I have been made to feel so welcome by Leander who has really made an effort to involve me in Paskay and encouraged me to decide for myself the best contribution I can make in its early stages of development. On Sunday I visited Paucarbamba (one of the areas that Paskay is trying to help following the floods) and collected local villagers in a minibus to take to Cuylandia, the guinea pig rearing training centre. The villagers were all really keen to come and many, dressed in traditional Peruvian clothing, ran out of their homes with pencil and paper ready to take notes – they´re taking their learning very seriously!

At Cuylandia I met Nelida, the agronomist who is running the guinea pig rearing training sessions. She is one of the salaried workers for Paskay

and does an excellent job not only running the sessions but visiting the families in between sessions to check on their progress as well as keeping track of accounts and adminstration for Paskay.

On Monday I went with Nelida and Leander to Tastayoc , a rural community in the mountains above Ollantaytambo where the children have been supported with their education through the building of a greenhouse to provide fresh vegetables to eat in their kitchen. We observed a lesson taught in Spanish and Quechua ( the children´s mother tongue). The teacher there was keen for me to teach some English and I plan to return to Tastayoc for the following three Mondays to teach a two hour class.

We took with us to this school, a girl called Lurdes. She is 18 years old but because of her physical disabilities (she suffers from brittle bone disease) and family circumstances (alcoholic parents), has not spent more than a week in school in her life. She is really keen to read and write and was excited to be in a lesson at T’astayoc. Since then, Leander has visited the school in her village, Rumira and made arrangements with the teacher for Lurdes to begin attending school full time. In addition to this, Paskay are sourcing an electric wheelchair for Lurdes to enable her to become more mobile. These improvements will completely change Lurdes life as at the moment she sits alone for most of the day in a rural setting.

On Tuesday, myself and Leander worked on the Paskay website which Carlos wants to get up and running as soon as possible so people are able to see the work that´s being done here.

Today, Wednesday, I´ve been on a river clean up organised by the Council office here. After the floods, the river is still in need of attention and we filled around 10 big plastic bags with rubbish! This afternoon we were lucky enough to go to see a traditional Peruvian dance competition at the local high school in Ollantaytambo. The costumes were beautiful and the dances were energetic in the heat of the afternoon. I felt really privileged to have the opportunity to see it. Tomorrow we´re taking one of the girls who missed out on the dental mission to Cuzco to have her teeth checked and we will probably be staying over in order to make contact with fundraisers and to gather some resources and materials for my first teaching lesson on Monday!” Vicky Armstrong

Godwari Village Park – National Botanical Garden

Members of MSH took 12 children from Marybert Orphanage on a picnic to the National Botanical Garden on the 11th of August, 2010. The children enjoyed playing Frisbee, card games, visiting the pond and splashing in the stream.

Blood Donation Campaign

On Friday 27th August, a group of us from My Small Help went to the Quest International School, Lalitpur, Nepal, to present a Blood Donation Motiviation Session with the support and expertise from the Nepal Red Cross Society.

Around 60 students packed out one of the classrooms with Pramila K.C. from MSH introducing the session before Kalpit Kumar Tripathi from Nepal Red Cross Society providing the motivation for students to participate.

Nepal currently has a huge blood supply shortage; meeting only 500-600 pints of the 1,000 pints of blood required every day. After weeks of hard work, MSH proudly completed their first session under the ethos “Gift of life; give blood, save life” campaign.

Kalpit captivated the students with some interesting facts:
Per 100g, males and females have 76ml and 66ml of blood respectively; only 50ml is needed, leaving a surplus that is unused
Red blood cells can only live for 120 days inside our body, after which time they die; this makes that surplus even more attractive for donation!
There are four main blood types; A, B, AB and O.
One unit of donated blood is separated into components before use (red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma, platelets etc)
Frozen red blood cells can be stored for 10 years +

In order to give blood you must:
Be over 17 years of age
Weigh over 45kg in weight
Undergo a check up to ensure that you do not have HIV/Hepititus
Not have had jaundice/typhoid in the last 2 years

As a volunteer at MSH, the motivation session appeared a success, with 50 students alone signing up to next week’s Blood Donation Day, and more friends and family of MSH anticipated on the day.

We are now only 2 days away from the actual Giving Blood session. Anyone wanting to give blood, would be more than welcome to attend. MSH will be providing refreshments and of course, a certificate to thank them for their donation. A reminder of the details:

Blood Donation Camp
Friday 3rd September,
Quest International College, Lalitpur
12 midday

I personally know the importance of giving blood, as I am sure many of you do, and I know that just one single donation can save many lives. Always remember that friends, your children, your parents, your grandparents, your relatives, your neighbours and even you may require blood due to some unfortunate condition at some point in your lives; give blood, save life.

Together we can make a difference.

Kate Baker
Volunteer August/September 2010
My Small Help