Was this your first trip to Nepal?

It is the third time I visit Nepal. The first two were trekking to the EBC [Everest Base Camp] and the Island Peak.

What inspired you to make your trek a fundraiser?

I was actually inspired by a Japanese mountaineer when I trekked to the Everest Base Camp. I saw a poster in a small shop on my way to the base camp (somewhere between Phakding and Namche). He raised a fund to support the sherpa’s family.

How did you find HCC?

I was searching on internet if there is any NGO who is support the young kids in Nepal. Then I found HCC.

What do you find most rewarding about sponsoring students through HCC?

I was impressed by the innocent smiles of the children in the mountain. To me, they seem to be very poor and have nothing but actually they have a lot more than I have (coming from a modern business city). I do hope they have good health, good education and one day they will be able to contribute back to their community, their country.

Do you have any advice for people trying to find a way to give back?

If anyone wants to give back to the society, I would suggest for them to focus on our next generation including food, clean water, health, education and environmental protection. Children are our future. The future is theirs.

We hope next time you come to Nepal you can meet the students at Khushi Ghar!

I would be delighted to meet the students. I think it would be great if it can be arranged when I go to Nepal next time (maybe next year).

The post Supporter Highlight: TK Yim appeared first on HCC Nepal.

As a social worker, the desire to help others is in Erika Mateus’ blood. She believes in helping and caring for children and teaching them to think critically, value life and the planet. In addition to traditional education, she believes in teaching each child that the world can be a different and better place. Growing up in Colombia she saw, as, in many developing countries, education was a privilege of the wealthy. At a young age she made a promise to herself that when she had the money and the opportunity, she would give back.

She began her journey of volunteerism and philanthropy in India after receiving her degree in Social Work from the University of Southern California. She traveled around India, helping teach children critical thinking and to learn another language. Though she primarily works with adults now, through Tossy she continues to strive for the betterment of children.

Erika started Tossy two years ago, out of a desire to control her own thick, unruly hair. She and her mother chose the fabric and created a headband that was original and had a unique design, a wire that kept the shape without squeezing or pinching. One homemade headband and many, many compliments later, Tossy was born. She knew she wanted her business to also be a vehicle for social change, as such she donates one dollar from every headband sold to charities providing education around the world. For the last two years, she and her mother have made all the headbands themselves at home. As the business grows she plans to eventually hire women from domestic abuse shelters, who are restarting their lives and having difficulty finding work. Thus connecting two vulnerable segments of the population with the hopes of uplifting and inspiring others to give back. Breaking the cycle of poverty and abuse at the ground level while simultaneously planting the seeds of philanthropy.

To Erika, giving back means leaving a legacy, “pulling other people with you,” because “it’s not just about you.” Giving back, even if it’s only five or ten dollars “little by little you can make a difference.” While it wasn’t easy in the beginning, because she was doing good for people, she knew she had to keep pushing forward, “when you are giving back it’s the best feeling in the world.”

Erika has also donated to charities in India and Africa and chose HCC after traveling to the Himalayas and feeling a strong connection with Nepal.

Visit her website https://tossybyem.com for all her great designs.

The post A Conversation on Philanthropy with Erika Mateus appeared first on HCC Nepal.

Sherry and Jeff Jones

Often when we think of an activist or a philanthropist, we think of the most famous names in the world, from Bill Gates to Malala Yousafzai. However, most activists and philanthropists are not household names; most activists are your neighbors, friends, and you, working quietly behind the scenes, ensuring charitable causes stay afloat by donating time, capital, and public support. HCC is blessed to have sponsors who go above and beyond with their consistent, generous support that provides the very backbone to the HCC organization. Our students rely on the support of sponsors, developing relationships with sponsors over years, and in many ways, becoming family, separated by thousands of miles, but family all the same.

From Left: Sherry, Kabita and Jeff

For a decade, Sherry Jones and her husband Jeff have been active supporters of HCC, sponsoring Kabita, now 15, for much of her childhood. After meeting HCC Co-Founders Bruce and Susan Keenan through a mutual friend, Sherry knew that sponsoring a child would be the right fit. “We had wanted to adopt,” Sherry said, “and we knew that sponsoring would be different, of course, but we wanted to [sponsor a child].” Throughout Kabita’s childhood, communication has been primarily through letters from Kabita and updates from HCC staff. Now that Kabita has entered into her teens, Sherry has had the opportunity to communicate via Skype and has even visited her in Nepal in March 2016. When meeting in person for the first time, Sherry said of Kabita, “she’s so beautiful…sweet and quiet,” but later on “she really opened up!” Jeff, Sherry, and Kabita even traveled together on a trek to Annapurna in Nepal, having the opportunity to bond while taking in the beauty of Nepal as a family.

Formally working in real estate, Sherry is currently using her MBA to start her new business Gypsy Secrets, a sustainable, organic skincare line, intended to limit the use of harmful chemicals and promote better health through organic alternatives. As a conscious change-maker for a variety of causes, including environmental causes and animal rights, Sherry has a great passion for making the world a better place. She has been a committed HCC supporter, not only sponsoring a child but actively working to promote HCC’s work by hosting fundraisers in her home and volunteering much time and energy to make HCC’s annual Atlanta fundraiser a smashing success.

Kabita at HCC’s youth home Khushi Ghar

With all of her interests and ventures, why HCC after all these years? For Sherry, drawing from her own experience in her travels around the globe, she knows that “living in poverty in a third world country is drastically different than in the U.S…when you go to Nepal you see it…kids begging in the street,” exacerbated by a lack of in-country sustainable infrastructure. She commented on witnessing a lack of “basic human needs-the little money that we give makes such a huge difference.” By sponsoring Kabita, she said it was “moving to see [her]; this little girl could have had a hugely different life,” citing the dangers of abuse, rape, neglect and worse to which many vulnerable children fall victim.

When asked about how someone could get started in making a difference in the world, Sherry suggested to “donate [your] time. An hour a week, a few hours a month; give ideas, offer connections [organizations] can use.” She notes that not all contributions need to be financial to be valuable, but that people in the U.S. would be surprised at just how little it costs to make a significant difference in the life of a child in Nepal. For the most impoverished and vulnerable in Nepal, “something as little as $50 goes a long way.”

Did you know you can sponsor a child in need for as little as $250 a year? To learn more about the different levels of sponsorship, and how you can change the life of a child today, visit our sponsorship page on our website HERE.

The post Sponsor Corner: Meet Sherry Jones appeared first on HCC Nepal.

Dear HCC Family,

We would like to take a moment to celebrate our accomplishments and the life-changing impact that sponsors and staff have achieved together. HCC has now been changing the lives of children in Nepal for over 17 years.  In just the last year and a half, we’ve watched us accomplish so much, and we’ve witnessed firsthand, over and over again, the life-changing impact of our work.

Since 2015, we’ve tripled the number of orphaned, abandoned, and destitute children that we serve directly through our programs, and have started to provide services to families, schools and communities throughout 8 districts, exponentially increasing the reach and effect of our programs. Such programs now range from educational scholarships and kinship support for single-orphaned children to WIFI connections, libraries, and teacher training in rural schools, to mentorship programs for orphaned and underprivileged children led by our own HCC youth, including in the areas of mentorship and academic counseling, health and hygiene workshops, and child trafficking awareness campaigns.

As we continue to strengthen and build on the successes of our Signature Program in Kathmandu out to rural Nepal, the core HCC values and goals of compassionate leadership and giving back to society are being realized.

Together, with our HCC youth, we are now developing and implementing innovative and integrative new projects that meet some of the most pressing needs of at-risk children in Nepal today. We can all be proud that we are building such a strong foundation for our youth to stand on, and a better world for our children to inherit.

Here are some of our achievement highlights over the last year alone:

– In March 2016, HCC graduated our first group of 10 students from university and HCC programs. 8 students graduated with university degrees, and currently, 5 students are pursuing further education, including in digital animation, psychology, MS in pharmacology, and MS and MA in business administration and finance.

– Over the last year, HCC has employed 3 graduated HCC students to help develop and run our programs. Khil is our Program Operations Officer, Laxmi is our Administrative Coordinator, and Mun Maya is our Program Coordinator.

– HCC youth in Kathmandu are currently in the process of registering an independent non-profit, Himalayan Children’s Charities, Nepal, with a projected registration date of July 20th, and a tentative first general assembly meeting scheduled for September 15th, 2017. The HCC youth are taking on roles of leadership within the organization, including on the executive board, and as general members of the Nepal-registered HCC organization which will be an official partner of HCC, and help to manage and run HCC programs on the ground in Nepal.

– HCC currently supports 8 university students, 9 college students (grades 11 and 12), 2 graduate school students, and 3 students in postgraduate and technical degree courses

– Since the devastating earthquake of April 25th, 2015, HCC has provided life-saving support to over 100 children survivors.  Currently, through our Earthquake Orphan Scholarship Programs, we are supporting 86 children in the Dhading district, 4 children in the Nuwakot/Rasuwa districts, 1 child in Dolokha, and 5 children in Sindhupalchowk (starting from this new school year in April/May 2017). These programs include educational scholarships and family support for those children who are able to stay with surviving parents and/or family members, as well as for boarding school and hostel fees for those children with no family or unsafe living situations.

– As of April 2017, HCC has connected 6 schools and a food kitchen in rural Dhading and Makwanpur districts with Internet connection and has launched a computer literacy training program for these teachers and administrators in order to bridge the enormous achievement gap for students at these rural, public schools.

– HCC is printing 10,000 copies of an educational comic book, which is being distributed to children and schools throughout the vulnerable central hills of Nepal, in order to raise awareness and help curb the alarming rate of child trafficking from the region.

– HCC youth-led initiatives are underway to build two libraries in the Gorkha and Sindhupalchowk districts, with nearly 2000 books collected already, and early childhood literacy programs under development.

– Khushi Ghar, HCC’s youth home in Kathmandu, is thriving as the stable and nurturing home base for HCC students, and functioning as a catalyst for the experience of family and home life, as well for learning of important life skills. At Khushi Ghar, the 50+ students in HCC’s Signature Program are busy with mentorship and leadership courses, participation in community service projects, exposure visits, extracurricular activities (including music lessons, sports, dance, and art), individual academic/career/emotional counseling, and family fun and celebration.

– HCC currently has four grants out for consideration and is looking forward to further broadening of our support base. These pending grants include two with UNESCO Florence, as well as nominations for consideration for the World Of Children Education Award, as well as with the OpenIDEO Peace and Prosperity Challenge. 

–HCC is continuing to explore partnerships and grow relationships with a number of organizations and groups, in order to collaborate in bringing more opportunities and resources to children in Nepal, including with: the US Embassy in Nepal, the Society of Nepalese in Hawaii, CauseVision, Nepal Children’s Organization (Nepal), Creating Possibilities (Nepal), the Foundation for Underprivileged Kids (Nepal), the Umbrella Foundation, the Maya Gold Foundation, iTrek Nepal, and the HCC International Youth Council.

Our programming and community building work here in Nepal is going well, and we are expanding our reach and support base across the US and around the world. This is an exciting time to be a member of the HCC family. We each play an important role in this family, and looking forward, we need each and every person reading this to bring what you can to the dinner table. Have time? Volunteer! Have money? Contribute! Have an audience? Share our stories! Now is the time to make a difference!!!

Together, let’s be the ones to teach children, in each and every corner of the world, that they matter and are deserving and capable of achieving their dreams. With your help, we can leave a legacy of empowered young people who are thriving, living a better life and giving back to their communities.  

Thank you again for helping to make the work of HCC possible, for sharing in our vision to end the global orphan crisis and for your continuing support in making the world a better place.

With Love and Gratitude from Nepal,

Susan and Bruce Keenan

Sadie Green

Hira and Dinesh Sapkota

Mun Maya Rawal

Khil Bahadur Thapa

Laxmi Karki

Rachel Cunningham

The post Biannual Update 2017 from HCC Team appeared first on HCC Nepal.

All levels welcome! Admission is FREE, but space is extremely LIMITED, so RSVP today! CLICK HERE to reserve your spot! We can’t wait to see you there!!

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