Nepal in the Park

Cultural day and fundraising walk

Bring the family and enjoy a fun day out and you’ll be helping Nepal Australia Friendship Association (NAFA) build a children’s nursery in a remote village in Nepal.

Sunday 11 September 2011

Simpson Falls picnic ground, Mt Coot-tha off Sir Samuel Griffith Drive

Fundraising Walk starts at 9am  – Adults $10, Child $5, Family $20

You can join in an easy 90 minute hike in the beautiful Mt Coot-tha bush

Free cultural activities from 11am to 1pm

If you don’t wish to join in the walk you can still enjoy

• meeting Brisbane’s Nepali community,
• scrumptious Nepali food,
• Nepali handicraft stalls,
• Nepali dance and cooking lessons,
• massages, games for the children and plenty of prizes.

Getting there: vehicle parking at Simpson Falls picnic ground

Link to more information, registration and sponsorship forms

Tuesday 20th December 2011

Join us for our annual Xmas dinner

 at

The Tibetan Kitchen, Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane (upstairs room)

  Cost $25 for a banquet meal

  Booking essential, please contact Betty  betty.harris@parmalat.com.au

before 17th December 2011

This report was submitted at the AGM held  on on 5 April 2011

The Big Picture

Cultural day and fundraising walk

Receive a welcoming tika

Sunday 11 September 2011

Fundraising Walk starts at 9am  – Adults $10, Child $5, Family $20

Learn Nepali dancing

Update:  Thanks to everyone who supported this challenge in June 2011

we raised $3500

THE CHALLENGE

For the month of June 2011

and change the lives of young people in Nepal!

Want to feel really great? Last year we raised enough money to offer a nursing scholarship for a dedicated Nepali student. We want to do it again!

HOW?

Starting 1 June 2011 for just one month do something different to improve your overall health. Then, to make you feel even better, make a donation to NAFA to provide a scholarship to a second talented but disadvantaged student in Nepal.

Consider increasing your exercise – a daily walk or walk an extra few blocks a day, find some new cycling paths, get a friend or family member to join you! Or give up little luxuries such as your morning coffee, alcohol, sweets, chocolates, takeaways or dining out; restrict your TV viewing, or free up some ‘me time’ some other way to meditate or just ‘be’. Consider your financial health – restrict non-essential spending such as on clothes, lottery tickets, or even using your credit card for x days!

Our aim is to raise $4,000 every cent you  donate will help us meet this target, and it’s tax-deductible!

HOW DO I PARTICIPATE?

Download a participation form here. Register your name and challenge with Helen Zada on helenzed@internode.on.net or 07 3882 0028

Dear Supporters,

We are back from our trek to Solu Khumbu/Okhaldunga region and spent two days at Kophu village on the 9th and 10th February. Kophu is a beautiful little village on the side of a hill overlooking the Solu River.

We had views of the school as we walked down to the village.  The new classrooms are to the right of the school yard.  There are about 300 children attending the school and students walk to Kophu school from all of the surrounding villages.  We arrived on the afternoon on the 9th in the rain but we went down to the school for a tour.  There were men working on the new classrooms and a female porter carrying the rocks a short distance.   It was very exciting to see the actual building of the classrooms and the builders are nearly ready to start on the roof.  They have said the classrooms will be finished by mid April for when I take my mum back to the village for a visit. Read the rest of this entry »

Once again, a full house for our 2010 Nepalese New Year Celebration.

It’s on again – our 2011 Nepalese New Year Celebration.

Last year we raised $13,000 with over 400 people attending the event.

Join us again in 2011, Saturday 7 May for a night of singing and dancing put on by members of the Nepalese Community.

As usual, the  Nepalese food from Punam at the Tibetan Kitchen will be delicious.

The Annual dinner allows NAFA to showcase their aid projects and report to their supporters what has been achieved and what is planed for the future.

For tickets email or call Jim on 07 3850 7600.

Download our poster here to help us promote this exciting event.

This report was submitted by the President, Mr Rod Setterlund at the AGM on Tuesday 03 April 2009

2008 was another very big year for NAFA.

NAFA’s projects in Nepal

Over $107,000 was allocated to projects in Nepal. Over $44,000 was allocated to two significant infrastructure projects, a new children’s home for the older boys who are cared for by Prisoners Assistance (PA) Nepal on their land at Sankhu, and construction of a multipurpose room (library, science lab and eventual computer lab) for the school in the remote village of Tawal.

NAFA’s portfolio of ongoing projects continues to focus on health and education, with women and children being the priority target groups.

The child sponsorship programs for PA Nepal and Vinayak Shiksha Niketan (VSN) School in Thimi continued to grow in 2008 of children sponsored by the end of year totalling just over one hundred (100) children. The year was a particularly rewarding year for VSN School. One of its students, Silvia Bajracharya, attained the highest School Leaving Certificate (SLC) percentage (93.3%) in all of Nepal, which is a great honour for her and the school. The Principal, Mr Surendra Prajapati subsequently received a national education award in recognition of his vision, dedication and hard work since he established the school nearly twenty years ago. One of NAFA’s sponsored students attained the fourth highest percentage (over 88%), which is again a remarkable achievement for a child whose parents work and live in the nearby carpet factory. Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted at the AGM held on the 4th May 2010 by NAFA president Rod Setterlund

2009 was another very big year for NAFA, celebrating 20 years of development aid achievements since being established in 1989. It was big both in terms of the total amount of funds allocated to projects in Nepal and in terms of the breadth of NAFA’s project portfolio.

NAFA’s projects in Nepal

Nearly $100,000 was allocated to projects in Nepal. However, unlike the previous year, when over $44,000 was allocated to two significant infrastructure projects, the breadth of the projects to which funds were allocated was a significant feature of NAFA’s support this past year.  A total of 27 projects are listed in the 2009 audited financial statements as being supported through the generosity of NAFA supporters.

NAFA’s portfolio of ongoing projects continues to focus on health, education and rural development, with women, children and remote communities being the priority target groups. All NAFA projects are locally managed and undertaken. NAFA also expects that the localcommunity makes a contribution towards the project, for example, volunteer labour to bring materials to the site. NAFA executive officers also try and visit all projects to assess the need and also revisit the project to confirm completion of the project.

Health

As has been the case since NAFA’s inception, NAFA sponsored a remote eye screening and cataract surgery clinic run by Read the rest of this entry »

 

Namaste

“What a great day” was the comment from a family of four about the Nepal in the Park 2010 festival.  “There were plenty of children’s activities, delicious Nepalese food and lots of entertainment”.

Delicious food

Children playing pinata

The President’s thank you

Carrom board players

NAFA executive members, Ross and Brenda Hazelwood, Deborah and Rod Setterlund, and member Kylie Gilbert are in Nepal continuing to monitor and support NAFA projects. Recent highlights include:

• Two new classrooms at Kophu were inaugurated by Kylie Gilbert during a large and colourful ceremony organised by the village and school. The classrooms are near completion and will be finished in time for Kylie and her mother’s return visit in April.
• Meetings with Kophu school and community representatives were conducted and additional assistance was requested for the school with the funds to come from Kylie’s climb funds. Kophu also completed an application for books from Room to Read and these will be delivered by Kylie and her Mother in April.

The Mulkarka residents gave us a warm welcome and Lohsar party to thank NAFA for our assistance with their water infrastructure implementation and repairs.

• In 2009 Patale village received funds from NAFA for solar lights and water pipes for houses, and new roofing for the school Read the rest of this entry »

NAFA executive members, Ross and Brenda Hazelwood, Deborah and Rod Setterlund, and members Lew and Sue Tuck and Kylie Gilbert are in Nepal, monitoring and progressing  NAFA projects. Highlights to date include:

• Teacher training program.  Completion of a very successful program for 10 teachers from remote villages and 10 teachers from VSN Thimi. At VSN all sponsored children’s profiles and thank you letters completed. Read the rest of this entry »