The Leaf Plate Project, conducted on June 19th, 2023, involved the active participation of women from the community. Prior to this significant day, we embarked on a market study to gather valuable insights on leaf plates.

Following meticulous aftermarket research, we procured leaves to kickstart the project. The core objective was to tackle plastic waste and foster environmental sustainability. However, this initiative held a deeper cultural significance as well. In various cultures and traditions, leaf plates have played an integral role for centuries during religious ceremonies, festivals, and special occasions. By advocating for the use of leaf plates, we not only embraced sustainable practices but also upheld our cultural heritage and the traditional values associated with utilizing natural materials. Eleven inspiring women who enthusiastically joined the project fondly reminisced about their past experiences.

On June 12th, students from classes 6, 9, and 10 of Shree Balkumari school actively participated in a drama event aimed at raising awareness about various important environmental factors.The event focused on highlighting new perspectives and ideas. A total of 27 students took part in the event, while 32 students from class 6 served as the audience. Distinguished guests, including Krishna Prasad Subedi, the Executive Directorof CDS, Pradeep Shrestha, the Program Manager, and the school principal, Indra Bahadur Rai, were present to encourage the children.

The students showcased their creativity through different dramatic presentations, emphasizing the significance of planting trees and waste management. They highlighted the importance of separating decomposable and non-decomposable items, as well as the negative impact of improper garbage disposal. The students eloquently demonstrated the consequences of throwing garbage irresponsibly. The event was conducted with clear language and meaningful content, ensuring that the message reached the audience effectively. The presence of esteemed guests added to the encouragement and motivation provided to the participating students.

On June 5, 2023, Glenn Family Foundation Helps Nepal (GFF) joined with the students of Shree BalKumari school to plant a diverse array of trees including juniper, guava, and orange. This collaborative effort holds immense significance in promoting environmental sustainability. By introducing these plant varieties, the project aims to enhance biodiversity conservation, prevent soil erosion, sequester carbon dioxide, ensure food security, and foster community engagement. The juniper trees contribute to soil stability, while the guava and orange trees aid in carbon sequestration and provide nutritious fruits for both humans and wildlife. This initiative serves as an educational platform for the students, instilling a sense of environmental responsibility and encouraging active participation in conservation efforts. Through this joint endeavor, GFF and Shree BalKumari School demonstrated their commitment to creating a greener and healthier environment, ultimately building a sustainable future for all.

Throughout this month, our organization has provided steadfast support to our partner NGO on various fronts. One notable area of assistance has been the health clinic, where we have facilitated basic treatments for students. Additionally, we have supported them by updating their social media. Moreover, we actively contributed to the success of the SEEP program held from 16th June 2023, extending our unwavering support to empower the community.

Raising awareness about menstrual health and hygiene for early adolescent children is very important as the early adolescence period, typically between the ages of 10 to 14, is a crucial stage in a child’s development, as they experience significant physical and emotional changes. We empower them to navigate this transformative phase with confidence, understanding, and respect for their bodies by providing them with the necessary awareness and knowledge about menstrual health and hygiene. Many young girls may feel confused, anxious, or ashamed when first encountering menstruation. By offering awareness sessions, we normalize the process, reassuring them that menstruation is a natural bodily function experienced by millions of individuals worldwide. so, we tried to provide them with knowledge and confidently accept the natural process, Samikshya Tiwari nurse facilitated the session and taught them practically by showing safety pad and mensural cup how to use and make it hygienic.

The program was organized on 9th May 2023. Female students from Shree Balkumari School and Gramshikshya school below 14years participated in the program. Altogether 51 children participated and shared their ideas and understanding on it.

With an aim to spread education that “Human trafficking is an act against humanity”, an awareness program was conducted at Janakalyan Secondary School, Bouddha, Mahankal, Kathmandu, on May 16, 2023. The students of 6 and 9 took active part in the program. The program was focused on explaining all the dimensions of the issue and safety measures. It is important to offer awareness sessions on human trafficking to students, prevention and protection, and personal safety, recognize the sign and internet safety. Awareness sessions equipped students with the knowledge to identify potential traffickers, deceptive recruitment tactics, and situations that may lead to exploitation. We believe our session was able to empower them to protect themselves and their peers, reducing their vulnerability to trafficking.

They also learn about safe online practices, the importance of privacy settings, and how to recognize and to report suspicious activity. After the thematic counseling, two different sports such as balloon blast and musical chair was organized in order to motivate the participants to involve into the new challenges and focus on the self goals. Additionally, the sports had proven a message that “age doesn’t matter when self interest is high” as many made their participation with full energy and enthusiasm. Lastly, the program was ended with a brief feedback from all the attendees including the participants, counselors, CDS staffs and the organizers. it was right in this phase, prize distribution tasks was also done. The winners of the two sports Mrs. Ruma Giri (balloon blast) and Mrs. Ruma Khatri (musical chair) were awarded with a plant and a packet of corridor seed which symbolizes the moral of the program. That is to say, if the plant gets care, it will definitely grow well and provide necessary services such as oxygen, fruit and beauty to the environment.

The two-day “Psycho-social First Aid” program was held on May 21 and 22, 2023, at CDS Training Hall with the goal of introducing simple coping abilities to overcome the stressful circumstances. The program’s facilitators were Mrs. Sapana Basnet, the SEEP In-charge for the PNGO, and three psychosocial counselors from Budhanilkantha Municipality Wards 10, 11, and 12,respectively, Mrs. Bhawana Kharel, Mrs. Bhandhana, and Mrs. Kamala Lamsal. A total of 28local women participated in the program. The session’s major objective was to raise participants’ awareness of the fact that stress is a normal part of life and that it may manifest itself in a variety of ways, including social, environmental, familial, and mental components. While the first day of the session was devoted to the theoretical exchange of knowledge on subjects like the concept of stress, types of stress, effects of stress, and its links with other dimensions (i.e., mental, social, emotional, and physical), the second day of the session was used for practical applications. The beneficiaries were asked to participate in different games like sharing the meaning of names, lifting the mat with a single hand for a certain amount of time, and other similar activities. The session grew more motivating as a result of both academic and practical understanding. The beneficiaries’ interactions throughout the session, in which they revealed their own stressful events and coping mechanisms, was another area of attention. As a result, they were able to conclude that stress is common and part of everyday life based on the beneficiaries’ responses. Instead of placing the blame for the issue on oneself, a person should adopt methods to get out of their predicament, such as yoga, meditation, self-encouragement and calm thinking.

Where we get enrolled in our own projects all the time, we also assist our PNGO during need. On 13th May, 2023, there was “Annual Day” program . So for the program, we were asked for doing some volunteering tasks. As per the instruction of the PNGO staff, we were involved in management of wheelchairs for distribution, making decorative items, doing field visit, report writing and above all two videomaking.

We engaged in assisting at health clinic also. In the absence of the Health Clinic In-charge Mrs. Samiksha Tiwari, we provided some simple treatment to the patients who came across. Usually the students of Shree Balkumari School and people from local community come to seek treatment. This month we assisted the patients with certain treatment such as picking out the paper from her ear, putting on bandage. cleaning the wounds to stop excessive bleeding, giving steam for toddler who were having problem in breathing in guidance of the doctor, etc. This month, we helped the patients with specific treatments including removing the paper from the patient’s ear and applying bandages. In accordance with the doctor’s instructions, the wounds were cleaned to halt excessive bleeding and steam was administered to a kids who was having breathing difficulties.

On the 18th of April, 2023, a visit program to Shrijanshil school in Naikap was successfully conducted. This visit was organized to provide support to the school and its children in the form of various materials that can help them in their development. The supporting materials included stationery items, a football, and puzzle blocks, which will aid in the children’s motor activities and contribute to their physical health by promoting exercise. The program was a great success, and the school authorities were very grateful for timely support provided by GFF. The materials provided will be beneficial to the children in several ways. Firstly, the children will develop their social skills and teamwork abilities through activities such as playing football together or solving puzzles collaboratively. This will assist them in forming meaningful relationships with their peers and understanding the importance of working together, the use of puzzle blocks will also improve cognitive abilities, such as problem-solving, as they will need to use their critical thinking skills to solve the puzzles. This will aid in their overall academic performance and help them to develop strong problem-solving abilities.

With the aim of enhancing awareness on the importance of caring selves, the program was organized on 11th April, 2023 in co-ordination with the Child Development Society (CDS). The program was targeted towards the local women who have been investing all of their time in caring the family and involving into the domestic works thus ignoring to prioritize themselves. For increasing the effectiveness of the goals, three major activities were focused such asthematic counseling, sports and feedback. All these were done according to the schedules. During the initial phase, the counselor of Budhanilkantha Municapility- 12,Mrs. Kamala Lamsal provided short counseling through her presentation and the counselor of Budhanilkantha Municipality-10. Ms. Bhawana also gave her active participation. Similarly, the program had developed the open space for the interested participants to share their experience and knowledge on the subject matter. Hence, the thematic counseling had covered all the contents regarding what, why and how to take care of self along with its benefit to others.

After the thematic counseling, two different sports such as balloon blast and musical chair was organized in order to motivate the participants to involve into the new challenges and focus on the self goals. Additionally, the sports had proven a message that “age doesn’t matter when self interest is high” as many made their participation with full energy and enthusiasm. Lastly, the program was ended with a brief feedback from all the attendees including the participants, counselors, CDS staffs and the organizers. it was right in this phase, prize distribution tasks was also done. The winners of the two sports Mrs. Ruma Giri (balloon blast) and Mrs. Ruma Khatri (musical chair) were awarded with a plant and a packet of corridor seed which symbolizes the moral of the program. That is to say, if the plant gets care, it will definitely grow well and provide necessary services such as oxygen, fruit and beauty to the environment.

GFF Helps Nepal has always been initiating the child- friendly tasks and the beginning of the New Year 2080 was also guided with the same vision. Within the CDS Day-care premises, the meal program was conducted on 17th April,2023. The core goal of the program was to access a nutritious and balanced meal to the children, which is essential for their growth and development. Futhermore, providing a meal at a day care center can also help to promote healthy eating habits among children. Children who are exposed to a variety of healthy foods are more likely to develop a taste for them and are more likely to continue eating them throughout their lives. In addition, a short warm-up program was done to ensure proper digestion. Overall, providing one day meal at a day care center can have a positive impact on the health, well-being, and development of children.

GFF Helps Nepal has always been devotedly assisting CDS in every initiatives possible. Within the month of April, GFF team had volunteered in day-care and on two programs conducted by CDS such as second session of SEEP and Wheel- chair distribution. Usually, the GFF team had been assisting the CDS day-care by helping the staff in controlling and looking after the kids and playing with them to make the environment child- friendly. The second session of SEEP program was organized on 7th April, 2023 at CDS premises in which the Ward Chairperson Mr. Shambhu Bhattrai handed over the second installment to the Women’s Group such as Sagarmatha Women Saving Group and Himal Women Saving Group. The main tasks done by GFF team was by helping in arranging materials , capturing pictures and distributing the snacks to the participants.

Similarly, the wheel-chair distribution program was organized on 13th April, 2023 which was attended by the sponsors and the other guests. Altogether 8 wheel chairs were provided to the students of Shrijanshil School. In the program, the GFF team had assisted in arranging the chairs, providing snacks to the guests, capturing the pictures and videos along with the actual statement of the sponsor which was laterprovided to the CDS Executive Director Krishna Sir.

The community clean-up campaign in Faika, Kapan served as a fantastic platform for individuals to take an active role in promoting sustainability and making a meaningful contribution towards building a cleaner and healthier planet. Student’s efforts in keeping our surroundings clean and promoting environmental awareness for a brighter, more sustainable future. Equipped with gloves and masks, these students selflessly dedicated their efforts to cleaning up the area, collecting a significant amount of litter, and making a visible difference to the surroundings. Through this initiative, aimed to raise awareness about the critical need for environmental sustainability and the role each one of us can play in achieving it. In community clean up campaign in Faika Kapan, aimed at promoting environmental awareness and ensuring a cleaner, greener future. The event witnessed a tremendous turnout, with 25 enthusiastic and socially responsible students from Shree Balkumari School volunteering their time and energy towards this noble cause.

The international Women’s Day celebration was important event that brought together women from different walks of the to celebrate their achievements and contributions to society. It was a platform for women to connect, network, and build relationships with each other, and to acknowledge the vital roles that women play in our families, workplaces, and communities.

The events was organized by our team in collaboration with CDS, SEEP project, and Day care Mothers, and was a resounding success. The highlight of the event was the initiative taken by the SEEP Project mothers, who planted beautiful flowers, representing the growth and empowerment of women in our society. At the same time, we were encouraged by the resilience and strength of the women we met at the event, and the powerful connections that were formed. We believe that events like this provide a space for women to come together and support each other, and we will continue to work towards empowering and uplifting women every day.

GFF Helps Nepal Representative Link Psychosocial counselor of Budhanilkhantha municipality Ms. Kamala Lamsal with Bal Kumari public school. Discuss on future plans on the roles and responsibilities of the counselors and school in supporting children struggling with issues.

According to the coordinator of Balkumari most of the children are seen to have a negative social and family environment, including lack of family and love. Identification of issues and supporting the general issues while referring major and intense issues to transcultural psychosocial organization Nepal.

The psychosocial counsellor will refer the children below 10 to a child psychologist. Identified list of the children given by school will be supported by the counsellor once the school reopens. Two session with four of the students of Shree Balkumari has been completed where counsellor ma’am has been working on identifying the problem for the purpose of improving wellbeing, alleviating stress and enhancing coping skills.

The positive parenting project is a collaborative initiative undertaken to address the issue in parenting recognized by the school authorities. With the objective to help support both parents and their children in developing healthy relationships, and in bringing positive change in the lives of families. A two days session was conducted on the 9th and 10th February, 2023. These sessions were conducted by two facilitators Mr. Shiva Gurung (CDS Protection Officer) and Ms. Kamala Lamsal (Community Psychosocial Counsellor). The session was conducted in the CDS head office located in Kapan, Kathmandu. There were over 28 participants, the feedback from most participants was positive.

Summarizing the psychosocial intervention work which was conducted from February to July of 2022, and a follow-up session which took place on 20th February of 2023. The Psychosocial Intervention was aimed at supporting the care givers of children with disabilities in a school very remotely located within Kathmandu city. The scarcity of effective and efficient resource individual in guiding and supporting family care givers has been an underlining issue in Nepal. To bridge the deficit in the system of social support, GFF Helps has been regularly taking visits and building connections to help family care givers get psychosocial support.

Under the youth empowerment project, there have been over four individuals who have supported and who have been supported by GFF Helps Nepal. Ms. Anu, Mr. Abhisek and Mr. Paras who worked as an intern each with a period of six months and currently Mr. Pradeep has been interning with us. Youth empowerment is a project set to empower young people to learn and grow in several skills such as: technical work in editing and videomaking, field work, team work, coordination, cooperation and overall collaboration skills. In a short period of 6 months, not only do they get to showcase their individual skills but also learn skills and tools for personal as well as community betterment.

The GFF Helps Nepal team had previously conducted a Psychosocial Intervention at Srijanshil School for Special needs children from February-June of 2022. The same has been documented in terms of assessment of all the students, which were converted into Case Studies for future reference of each child. additional support was provided by Mr. Rampukar Shah (Clinical Psychologist) and Mr. Krishna (School Principal). Regular follow-up sessions with children from the school and regularly supporting school authorities in website update which was created and supported by GFF Helps Nepal team. The websites are regularly updated.

The vegetable gardening project intends on imparting young learners to experience out of the classroom gardening hands on knowledge. Class eight students from Bal Kumari community school have been taking the lead in this educational project While, Phase I focused on cleaning and uprooting, Phase II took longer as the process of sowing took longer.

Adolescence stage of one’s life is crucial for one’s developmental growth or degrowth. As, pointed out by Yeager who finds, effective programs for adolescents focus on mindsets and climate. Taking the model of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) this project focuses on making classroom environment more positive. Allowing children to accept themselves and the difference that they share. While, tending to the bigger picture of making young people contributors to their communities. Ms. Mei Quie Sherpa conducts the SEL Sessions with class VI students. The ongoing sessions are based on World Bank SEL model for young adolescence. For the past three days sessions were focused on Self-Awareness exploring of one’s strengths and weaknesses.

Women in today’s modern Nepal have been both appreciated and challenged to be independent and earn a living. With the objective to empower women with underprivileged backgrounds. GFF Helps teamed-up to work on a cushion cover making project for a pre-order of over 100 with women across Kathmandu Valley. While, the women team were given a limited time of two weeks to completed this order, the results are commendably successful. Each of our four women who completed this challenge were given their payment and have indeed received a hefty satisfaction and joy along with it.

The weekly emotional learning session at Bourghandi Children has been ongoing. We have seen fruitful results as more and more number of children have been taking interest in our sessions. The month of September focused on understanding waste management and becoming responsible individuals for the society. While, our major focus being on emotional learning activities such as: Painting, singing

GFF Helps Team organized a Tree Planting Activity with the children of Shree Bal Kumari Basic School on 21st August 2022. The prime objective of this project was to impart in community school students the hands on learning experience outside of the classroom. It is expectant that sowing goods seeds will bear fruits of joy and abundance. Four different types of fruits seeds have been planted in the school ground they are namely: orange, guava, Japanese persimmon and kumquat.

In the month of September, GFF Helps Nepal has been able to provide support to our PNGO CDS in taking care of children at Day Care Centre. One of the meals for the children was provided by Ms. Sulochana Thapa (GFF Helps Volunteer). Supporting the Day Care Staff when necessary and tending to the needs of the children has been constant as a means maintaining harmony between the PNGO’s partnership in Nepal.

The children of Chandragiri Municipality attend school everyday. They are taught basic speech, movement and disciplined by the staff working in this school. Apart from the daily routine, GFF Helps planned to organize a musical therapy session with these children in order to cater to their emotional well being. The children enjoyed singing along with the dance session. This therapy helps in releasing and exploring the children’s emotions, helps with active listening, use of both gross and fine motor movements, recalling of song, non – verbal and verbal communication, self – management of behaviour. This session also help them to improve their social interaction and improve relationships with their peers and teachers.

As the saying goes “Health is Wealth”. GFF Helps Nepal has been supporting the Child Development Society Health Clinic as a regular part of a work-day in the office. As, certified in Basic First Aid training, the GFF team has been taking care of patients suffering from physical injuries such as: sprain, cuts, wounds and allergies, with the knowledge from the first aid training received from Nepal Red Cross in the month of December of 2022. The beneficiaries mostly consists of students from Bal Kumari school or children and parents from the CDS Day Care Centers and the local people from in around the office region.

English as a Second Language (ESL) classes with the students from Bal Kumari school has come to a three months of completion. The best performer were rewarded dictionaries (Nepali to English) as a means to encourage them. English language as a global language is crucial for learning as a life-skill. Within Nepal the students from community schools have a hard time learning English. The purpose of ESL classes was to support children’s emotional health alongside building a bond of trust and respect for one another.

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