update 2013 January

INSTITUTIONAL:In January, KG made a few small achievements towards making sure we are able to continue reaching 1000+ children like Pramila.

1. KG welcomes Swati Upadhyay as the first market-hire.  Swati will focus on the education program.  You may recall that before this, all KG hires would receive 50% of market compensation.
2. Given we are raising only Rs 56,000 out of Rs 1,15,000 necessary to run the organizations, we are also looking for ways to cut cost.  By the end of January, all 5 extra rooms of the KG Building are rented, resulting in cost savings that is equivalent to Swati’s compensation.
3. KG and Kathmandu Model College (KMC) agreed to have 4 KMC students volunteer 10 Hours a week for 6 months as KG.  We invite Rajesh Kunwar, Raman Shrestha, Renuka Bhandari and Nisha Adhikari. 
4. We started placing KG Notebooks at National Book Centre which has become a member of KG Community.  The book store has agreed to take ‘zero margin’ on the KG Notebooks so that all the proceeds may be channeled to social cause.  Please remember them when you need to buy/gift stationery (details in the website) 

 PROGRAM:     
 Due to winter vacation at schools, and a few days of bandhs, we provided only one Sajha Khaja session.       
On 13th Jan, we distributed additional   stationery to Kanya Mandir School and interacted with them as well as their parents.      
KG volunteers participated on the program “Bagmati Safa Aviyan” - a river cleaning camp - organized by Sanjivani. 

Monthly Event:   We are screening a fund raising movie on February 10 (“EK MEY AUR EKK TUM” at Rs 500 /person at QFX (civil mall)).   Please let Rishav@kgnepal.com.np know if you wish to support us by booking your
seats. 

                                                                                                                                         LIFE YOU TOUCHED!

​2012 JANUARY UPDATE
Dear KG Members,
Please take a few second to read about  Pramila Shrestha ,
whose life you touched through KG.
Pramila Shrestha is a brilliant student who dreams of being a teacher. She lives near Bishnumati River with her mother who works as a construction labourer.  Her father has left them. She has two siblings; one elder sister and one younger sister; both of them study in Kanya Mandir School. Her mother’s income is not enough for them to eat after paying rent. So sometime even she works on embroidery in small piece of cloth for three hours at night to earn Rs. 25 per piece. They don’t have enough money to eat every day, so most of the time they have to sleep with an empty stomach. KG has been involved in providing her stationery. 

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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
Do you feel dissatisfied when you learn of such students?  This is
where the quote of the month may be relevant to you ( ‘On being
discontent’ – JK’s Think on These Things)
“So one must have this total discontent - but with joy.  One must be wholly discontented, not complainingly, but with joy, with gaiety,
with love. Most people who are discontented are terrible bores; they
are always complaining that something or other is not right, or
wishing they were a in a better position, or wanting circumstance to
be different, because their discontent is very superficial…Do you know what it means to be discontented? …… When you feel discontented, you turn on the radio, you go to a guru, do puja, join a club, drink, run after women - anything to smother the flame.  But, you see, without this flash, you will never have the initiative which is the beginning of creativeness.  To find out what is true you  must be in revolt against the established order, but the more money you parents have, and the more secure your teachers are in their jobs, the less they want you to revolt.”
​

केही गरौं (KG) - be the change!
Forward this newsletter to your friends and families…and,
​ keep reading on...

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Sharing a day, Tarani School


JANUARY 2013 MONTHLY UPDATE

‎"SO, THE FIRST THING IS TO REALIZE THAT THE WORLD' S PROBLEM
IS THE INDIVIDUAL'S PROBLEM; IT IS YOUR PROBLEM AND MY
PROBLEM, AND THE WORLD'S PROCESS IS NOT
SEPARATE FROM THE INDIVIDUAL PROCESS. "...."IT SEEMS TO
ME VERY IMPORTANT, THEN, TO UNDERSTAND THE
TOTAL PROCESS OF INDIVIDUALITY, BECAUSE IT IS ONLY
WHEN THE INDIVIDUAL CHANGES RADICALLY THAT THERE
CAN BE A FUNDAMENTAL REVOLUTION IN SOCIETY. IT IS
ALWAYS THE INDIVIDUAL, NEVER THE GROUP OR THE
COLLECTIVE, THAT BRINGS ABOUT A RADICAL CHANGE
IN THE WORLD, AND THIS AGAIN IS HISTORICALLY SO.
NOW, CAN THE INDIVIDUAL, THAT IS, YOU AND I,
CHANGE RADICALLY? THIS TRANSFORMATION OF
THE INDIVIDUAL BUT NOT ACCORDING TO A PATTERN -
IS WHAT WE ARE CONCERNED WITH, AND TO ME IT IS
​THE HIGHEST FORM OF EDUCATION." - JK

Dear KG Family,

KG-Gifts reached 45 students in 2012.  Do you know how many benefited from KG Gifts in the month of January? 
18 Gifts!  This means, we will reach 200 students in 2012 at this rate.  What's more?  KG Gifts will become KG's central program, having integrated 'mid-day meals' and 'stationery programs' as 'Gifts Program'. 

KG will continue to empower individuals and hold collaborative events.  ​

CHANGE-MAKER SESSIONS

1. KG Gifts: We initiated a facebook album to track KG gifts, accessible here. 
2. Change Makers Program:  Every friday, KG holds interactions with volunteers. Ullen's school has started sending 4-5 volunteers to KG as part of their IB course work.

​COMMUNITY EVENTS
Clothes Drive: KG started with a clothes fair on the 5th January, as you read in the last update here.   The clothes collection has continued.  We send two sacks of clothes to a school in western Nepal, Bajura. 

LIVES THAT YOU TOUCHED

Puja katawal studies in grade four in Sri Arunodhaya Ni. Ma. Vi. (Dhoka Tol). As per her gift applicant and teacher Ms. Urmila Devi Shrestha, Puja lives with her father and 8 other family members. Her father works as a carpet seller. According to her techers, Puja is a dillegent, hard working and regular student. She comes to school regularly and has a patient nature. Having 9 family members to feed the monthly income of her father is not enough. Due to this, her parents aren't able to even buy her a set of uniform. Her teacher wishes to motivate her by gifting a school uniform. (FB Comments)

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INSTITUTIONAL UPDATE

• We completed audit of the financial statements for the previous fiscal year.  A copy of that statements is here.

• Month's deficit of Rs 75K has been financed by a loan.  To address funding shortage, we developed a proposal.