The children and staff at the Contact Center paid tribute to the late Mrs. Bhuvaneshwori Satyal who founded the Contact Center almost 20 years ago. Having grown up and educated in Gandhian values and educational system in India, she devoted her entire life working selflessly for and helping underprivileged children and women in Nepal.

It's the sixth year since her passing. The staff and children remembered her this past week talking about the values that shaped her life and work.

This week, our Nepali partner BSF distributed a set of fleece blanket, bed sheet and pillow cover to each of our students at the Contact Center amidst the clouds that were forming in the Kathmandu sky because of a tropical cyclone Phethai that had originated over the Bay of Bengal which quickly rendered Kathmandu and many eastern parts of Nepal frigid. For our Contact Center children and their families who mostly live in small rented tin shacks or single room apartments, which are ill-equipped to keep themselves warm, winters are always a harsh and biting reality.

For 16 years we have made a difference in the lives of poor children in Nepal by providing education, healthcare, housing and support services. Your contributions through the years has made this possible.

This September, the Social Welfare Council (SWC) in Nepal, in their annual organizational audit, required an immediate increase in classroom space for our Contact Center or a reduction in the number of children we serve. We are not in a financial position to relocate the Center immediately or in 2019. As a temporary solution, we were approved to add two classrooms in a nearby neighborhood building, requiring additional staff members and funds to set it up properly. Thanks to a few Mitrata friends, we raised the funds necessary to setup these temporary classrooms. In 2019, we plan to look for a larger permanent space to move the entire program to meet the SWC’s requirements in 2020. We will begin planning this critical need early next year and estimate an overall budget shortfall of $32,000.

I never imagined that it would turn out this way. My friend Christine founded the Mitrata-Nepal Foundation for Children six years after I took my first trip to Nepal. Having been profoundly moved by the people of Nepal, I wanted to do something to give back. When presented with the opportunity to sponsor a little girl, I jumped in. Mamta was six years old when the sponsorship began. Ironically, she was born the year I first traveled to Nepal. I received photos of her a few times a year and we wrote very simple letters to one another. She drew cute pictures of houses and mountains, all of which I still have. We had a shared dream of meeting each other, which we finally did when I travelled back to Nepal for a sponsor trip in 2009. After seven years of letter writing, Mamta and I were thrilled to meet! We were both a bit shy with each other at first, but that shyness dissipated after we got the opportunity to dance and shop together. A lifelong bond was formed.

Please join us for our Annual Holiday Bazaar on Sunday, December 2, 2018, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Masonic Lodge in Webster Groves.

Shop for the holidays and listen to great music to support our underprivileged children in Kathmandu, Nepal. All textiles, jewelry, and handicrafts were personally selected from fair trade artisans by Stephanie, Mamta, Alexis, Christine and our Traveling 20 while in Kathmandu visiting our children.