A landmark year for Umbrella, as 5 of the children achieved Distinction marks in their School Leaving Certificate and 2 students were given a special award for their outstanding results.
Chhirring (left) and Dhurba (right) with their very proud school principal who also came along to show his support!
Chhirring and Dhurba were invited to be honoured at a ceremony at the Social Welfare Council on Children’s Day this year. Altogether only 8 children from childcare homes who studied at government schools received the award. Dhurba was also interviewed by a local TV station about his background, what the award meant to him and what this future plans are – he was a natural! Needless to say, we were all scouring the TV stations that night to see if he made it into the news segment!
Dhurba quite confidently giving a TV interview!
As a surprise, we went along to show support to the pair with a group of 40 children from our homes. It was a proud moment for the Chhirring and Dhurba but also for the all the cheering children and the whole Umbrella team who work to support them!
Dhurba and Chhirring got the loudest cheer of all when they walked on stage as many of the children from the homes came to show their support!
After receiving their excellent School Leaving Certificate results in June, the youths spent time moving out into their own rooms with family/relatives/friends and getting enrolled in colleges and vocational training centres. To aid their induction into the NSYEP, the Youth Team organised and conducted a youth orientation for all the new youth joining the Next Steps Youth and Education Program (NSYEP) in September. The Youth Team did a great job of organising the day where policies were explained and discussed, guest speakers informed the youths about opportunities and older youth gave advice.
Sujata Ma’am talking the youth through their options and the policies of the program.
Paying keen attention to learn about their ‘next steps’!
After all the orientation was over, all the youths were invited to come on an overnight trip to Nagarkot to celebrate their excellent SLC results and induction to the NSYEP. Plenty of posing went on as the views were stunning….
Raj Kumar Sir, our Child Protection and Development Officer, and Rajendra Sir, our previous Program Director, blending in with the ladies!
It was a relaxing trip that gave the youths an opportunity to catch up with one another, especially as many youth who had been reintegrated with their families over the past number of years were able to attend the trip as they too joined the NSYEP.
Old friends catching up!
Of course there was an obligatory campfire and sing-song to cap off the day!
The next day we hiked up to the viewing tower and caught glimpses of the distant Himalayas before being besieged by clouds. Afterwards, we played some team-building games together.
Beauty-Tiger-Hunter: the equivalent of Rock-Paper-Scissors!
It was a fantastic couple of days of learning, sharing, relaxing, catching up and selfies! We’re looking forward to seeing how this year’s group fare, already having shown so much promise early on.
A quick group shot before heading on the bus back to Kathmandu.
