Friends of Umbrella, The Lincoln School here in Kathmandu, welcomed Umbrella in January with a series of sports days especially organised to teach children about the importance of teamwork and sportsmanship. All the children involved were really receptive to the activities and came away with a great awareness of team work and sportsmanship. A huge thank you to all at LincolnSchool for such a fantastic time!
At the end of March, after the exams, school holidays started in all Nepal, for approximately 3 to 4 weeks, depending on the schools and grades. In Gurje was school holiday too, so a “Gurje holiday camp” was organized for Umbrella children to go breathe some fresh air.
During the first two weeks of April, 4 groups went in succession. A total of almost 50 children came for two or three days to enjoy the countryside, coming from Sagarmatha, Sugarloaf and Annapurna houses, and all ages were involved, from 6 to 18 years old.
The way to go there is a bit long, but the place is really worth it! A first bus took us from Swayambhu to Samakusi, located on the ring-road north of Kathmandu, where a second bus took us to a village called Jhor. From there, a 1.5 hour walk up and then down the hill brought us to Gurje. Fortunately, some little rivers and springs made the walk easier and really enjoyable (Happy holi!).
5 people welcomed us in Gurje as they are working for SolHimal-Umbrella there: three didis working for the “Food for Education” program, Parvati, Rosina and Sharmila), as well as Jyoti who works in the Agricultural area and Milan, helping for SolHimal Sponsorship program.
Depending on the group, the children took part to different activities, like going “kaphal-hunting” (*) in the jungle, picking-up aceilu (**) around the house and farther, visiting a fish factory, playing in rivers, swimming and even diving, going Laliguras-hunting (***), playing karom board, making a fire camp, playing guitar, cooking Tibetan bread and visiting the “Umbrella Future” construction site.
Everybody enjoyed the place very very much and a lot of children would have loved to stay longer, or even settle there for some. Hopefully, the next holiday will be a new opportunity to
In a bid to show all at Umbrella the culture and roots of its founders Dave and Viva, the volunteers decided that this year they would put on a St. Patrick’s Day programme for the kids. Instead of the kids entertaining us as they always do, we decided to put on a show for the kids. This consisted of a short play of the ancient Irish myth ‘Tir NaOg’ and face painting for the younger children with plenty of shamrocks thrown in as well. The volunteers (and the lovely and helpful Durbah) played the cast of the play, all making their own costumes and props. I think it can be said that the children enjoyed it a lot (although we are still unsure if all the laughing was at us or with us!).
On April 24 a music and dance performance took place in the Amadablam courtyard at 14:30, Nepali time. This was the result of six months of The Umbrella Magic Unplugged Sound System II (TUMUSS II) (see Fred brother’s news article) and one month of dance preparation. Fred asked me to be the coordinator/super-visor for the guys and girls who wanted to dance during the performance. Not having taken more than one year of dance lessons as a seven year old, my part was to provide sound equipment, DVD players, amateur advice, and enthusiasm. Since sound equipment and CD players are in short supply at Umbrella, we made use of DVD players, defunct computers, and volunteers’ mini speakers. Amateur advice and enthusiasm abounded, much to the chagrin of the dancers.
Five groups performed during the concert. The largest group with eight dancers was comprised of girls from Sagarmatha and Solhimal Girls houses. Their performance was a traditional Nepali and hip-hop hybrid danced Shakira-style to music of the same sort of mixture. Second largest was a group of guys from Annapurna who wowed the crowd with acrobatic stunts, hip-hop moves, and gold face paint. Two of the Annapurna dancers also performed as a duo, showing off even more awesome rhythm and gravity-defying moves. Machhapuchre house was represented by five dancers whose choreography to the hip-hop music seemed almost professional. There was a young trio from Amadablam who showed everyone what talent was coming up in Umbrella.
As a conclusion of the drama workshops that had started at the end of January, the drama group of Umbrella was on stage for four evenings from May 16th to 21st. The show took place in four of the eight Umbrella houses (the ones where the drama players originated), inviting at each of them another house that would not have the luck to receive it inside their own walls.
The performance, involving 17 children ranging from 13 to 17 years old, lasted approximately one and a half hours, and was constituted of three plays created by the children themselves and covering the following topics: teenagers and drugs, skin color discrimination, and belief in gods.
After organizing the groups and distributing the roles according to preferences, the children then started to do some improvisations to see where this could/would lead us. Slowly slowly a few weeks later, each participant had found a way to be his/her character, the stage occupation was defined and only some last details about costumes, make-up, props, etc. had to be finalized.
Once the calendar of performances was established, the house parents were informed that some of their children would be kept away from the homework routine for a few evenings, and the four targeted houses scanned to find the best spot for playing drama, it was soon time to go on stage.
Thanks to awesome rechargeable lights (electricity is an issue in Nepal: never, ever rely on the official load schedule. Such is the rule.) coupled with very good quality laptops and mini speaker batteries, the show was performed successfully in a variety of venues: in the elegant dark of two roof terraces (Sagarmatha and Machhapuchhre), the slightly brighter – and much warmer – atmosphere of one dining room (Gaurishankar – on that evening, the weather just did not want to help), and the interesting hip-hop atmosphere of a colorful basketball playground at night (Annapurna).
The show, different every performance (but also longer evening after evening: 1h20 the first time, 1h45 the last time! Such is the magic when improvisation is a main ingredient of the recipe), was a big success each time. The audience (mostly children, but also the Nepali staff) enjoyed it very much and just loved it, and the actors had lots of fun too. Some “I also drama, Sister!” were heard here and there, indicating that some children may have discovered for themselves a new center of interest for the future.
Also, some foreigner volunteers were seen coming back several times, thus giving a clear rating of the quality of the performance: so good that it captivated their attention although the language barrier kept them from understanding the content in detail!
Could this nice ending give birth to a longer term and more established Umbrella drama team…? Considering how successful the project was and how talented the children are, this would be great!
Carrom Board Competition
by Naomi Bray
On April 8th and 12th, 2010, Umbrella hosted an inter-house Carrom Board team competition for all classes. Carrom is a popular, skilled game similar to pool (if you played pool with your fingers and the balls were flat disks) played by mostly Nepali men. It is comprised of a large square playing board, nine white and nine black jogi disks, a queen, and a striker. For the competition, a modified version of “Game” was played. The object of Game is to hit all the disks of one color and the queen into the four corner holes before your opponent. The teams were split into four groups according to classes and the style of the NBA Playoffs style was adapted to suit the Carrom Game. At least that was the plan. The four competitions turned into considerably chaotic, lively, but fun times.
The winners in the Montessori group were a pair of girls from SolHimal Girls (one of which had a broken arm), the class 2, 3, 4 group was won by a pair of Amadablam guys, in the 5, 6, 7 division the victors were a guy from Machhapuchhere and a girl from Gauri-Shankar (!!!Score one for gender mixing in Nepal!), and the 8, 9, 10 group had only two participants from Annapurna, they came away with first and second places. The winners received boasting rights as prizes.
Also involved in the competition were older Umbrella kids who stepped up and acted as referees, argument breaker-uppers, and organizers. They were from Annapurna, Machhapuchhere, Sagarmatha, and Sugarloaf houses. The competition was less hectic thanks to these awesome guys and girls.
Highlights for me were: 16 teams participating from the Montessori group (this was the craziest group with 32 kids aged 6-10 running around like chickens after bugs), that so many girls participated in the competition and won, that some of the teams were guy/girl combos, and the kids had a great time amid the chaos.
A water-awareness run/walk was recently organized in Kathmandu, Nepal. Over three hundred Nepalis took part in the walk, over 60 of which were Umbrella guys and girls from class 6 and above. We all met in Amadablam courtyard at 6:30 A.M. and walked 3.5 kilometers to the National Stadium where the event began and ended. After arriving and receiving the awesome, complimentary T-Shirts, we began walking. We walked 6 km through the center of smoggy Kathmandu (rated most polluted city with over one million inhabitants), the long line of white T-shirted walkers stretching over a half kilometer at some points. Along the way we were provided with water in plastic cups (an awareness walk for pollution should be taking place soon!), stares by the storekeepers, and exercise, afterward we were all given juice and bananas.
On April 5th, a group of class 10 students were given the opportunity to have a well deserved holiday for 2 days in Nagarkot, a mountainous village about 2 hours from Kathmandu. These students had just completed their School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exams and were itching for a break away and jumped at the opportunity to go, making it more special is that most had never been to this area before.
So, early that Monday morning 25 people packed into a microbus and away we went on the rocky road to Nagarkot. This lively bunch consisted of Harry Coogan (Head of Umbrella Ireland), Doc (our lovely Irish-Nepali past volunteer and tour-guide of Nagarkot), one volunteer, two house tutors and the SLC students.
Upon reaching Nagarkot, some boys quickly dispersed to explore the area, climbing up and down hills, picking the (really tasty) wild berries from the trees and visiting the local bizarre whilst others remained in the area of our guest house taking in the spectacular views, catching up on some shut eye or relaxing on the roof playing some carrom board. After a delicious Dhal Bat, a variety of activities took place once again. As it was a holiday everyone was free to spend it how they wished, so while some walked to discover the temple among the trees, others went for some Momo’s in the local tea shop!
In the evening, a fire was made and energetic singing and dancing and guitar playing followed and carried on into the night.
The following day we rose early to watch the famous Nagarkot sunrise (although it wasn’t clear enough to see the Himalayas it was still a beautiful sight). Many went to the view tower which is about a one hour walk away where the amazing landscape can be better appreciated. That evening the girls decided to treat the group by cooking us all a fantastic curry!!
The next day it was another early start as unfortunately our time in Nagarkot had come to an end. An amazing time was had amongst amazing people in the most beautiful of places. It was truly a great way to unwind after the stresses of exams and the Kathmandu hustle and bustle. A huge thanks must go to Harry and Doc as well as Durbah and the rest of the guys in Nagarkot for making us all feel so welcome, happy and well fed! An experience which I think will not be forgotten for a long time!
