Give Hope and an Education to 7 Kids in Nepal

The transition from growing up in a group home, surrounded by 50-something brothers and sisters, to living on your own in a new city or university, is very, very difficult. Our seven older kids are learning this in a big way - but all the lessons in self-sufficiency they learned at Ama Ghar are helping them out tremendously.

For example - Laxmi, who is in her first year at Pokhara University studying Public Health, came home for a visit during school break. She really enjoyed the reunion with her brothers and sisters, and shared her experiences of managing on her own. One of her dilemmas was that she needed a dress for an upcoming honors event at Pokhara University. Of course, the Ama Ghar kids have never gone shopping for clothes - all of the clothes our children wear have been donated by our wonderful friends around the world, so she wasn't sure what to do.

Laxmi knew exactly what she wanted from looking at a photograph in a magazine, so she designed and sewed the dress herself while she was home during her break. We are so proud of her - this is the kind of resourcefulness that will help her to become a successful adult and a productive Nepali citizen. Thank you for helping her with her tuition through your donations to Global Giving!

Kalpana is a beautiful girl who has always dreamed of flying... and luckily, she is very adept at learning languages as well. Now, thanks to friends like you, she may be able to realize that dream!

Kalpana came to Ama Ghar at the age of 8, as her family was unable to buy enough food to support their children. She was a timid child when she came to us, who was afraid to even go outside the gates of our Ama Ghar home. But she was always a wonderful dancer, and her shyness fell away when she had the opportunity to perform traditional Nepali dances at our holiday celebrations and festivals.

In 2009, Kalpana had an amazing surprise when she received a call from her younger sister, whom she hadn't seen since they were very small. Kalpana's sister had been adopted by a Spanish family, but she still missed Kalpana so much that her adoptive family helped her to trace Kalpana to Ama Ghar. The two girls had a very funny telephone conversation, as Kalpana spoke no Spanish and her sister didn't really remember how to speak Nepali!

Ama Foundation's Country Director in Nepal helped Kalpana to get a passport and accompanied her to Spain, where she was reunited with her sister for the first time since they were small. Kalpana stayed with her sister during her summer school holiday, and she not only learned to speak Spanish but she also was a bit shocked by European culture - she ate sausage and seafood for the first time, and wore a swimsuit, which was difficult for this still-shy young lady. Most importantly, she was able to experience airplane travel for the first time... it was a dream come true.

Kalpana returned from that trip with a dream of becoming an airline hostess. She realized that with her facility for languages - she now speaks, Nepali, English and Spanish - she might be a good candidate for an international airline that operates out of Nepal. She studied business in school and worked very hard to improve her grades; she became even more proficient in English and Spanish - now she is undergoing air hostess training.

If she does well, she will soon be flying through the clouds, with dreams of seeing her sister more than just once a year. Thank you to all our Global Giving donors for helping her to complete the education required to gain her wings. Our goal at Ama Ghar is for our children to become self-supporting and good international citizens - we couldn't do it without help from friends like you!