An amazing group of ‘friends of Didi’ joined us for an adventurous and productive 10 days. We visited Didi HQ and visited Jagriti School while taking in the sites of Kathmandu.

We headed east to our remote school in the high desolate mountain area of Ramechhap where we were greeted by the students with massive garlands of flowers and excited children who were ready to party. The road up the mountain has been mostly tarred which took at least an hour off the trip.

As usual, Sindhuli School just filled everyone’s hearts with happiness as we implemented a sports program and did storytelling and colouring with these highly disadvantaged children. Sadly, in Nepal, if you are born with a disability, your family is said to be cursed and you are worthless. Together, we are making small steps towards breaking down this century-old stigma by incorporating inclusivity into our work at Didi Headquarters with the future vision of supporting the graduating deaf students with career opportunities.

It was a great tour packed to the brim with activities and I think we were all in bed at 8.30pm every night in order to kick start early the next day. Everyone enjoyed the trip to Chitwan National Park where we saw rhino’s, crocodiles, elephants and monkeys in the wild.

A huge shout out to Sue, Bev, Jenny, John, Gail, Rubilyn, Val, Bettina and Jo for making a fabulous team and a big thank you for donating a sewing machine and computer for our Women’s Centre, together with the mountain of resources that you brought with you.

See more photos: 2019 Didi Aid Tour
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Ten adventurous souls set off in jeeps on a mammoth journey to Lower Mustang. They were on a mission to deliver educational aid to a remote school in Kagbeni.

The sometimes nerve-wracking hours in the jeep encountered narrow dusty and rutted dirt roads which occasionally turned to unpredictable mud tracks where the jeep slipped and slidded. But this drama was overshadowed by the intensely beautiful and towering snow-covered Annapurna Mountains and the twisting, turning, everchanging and unpredictable Kaligandaki River that verged into sometimes dry and arid riverbeds, or swollen fast moving and dangerous rapids. We rested in the beautiful and calm town of Marpha, famous for its apples and white painted brick homes and narrow alleyways.

Unpacking the surprises of the medieval town of Kagbeni was like unveiling a jewel. Sitting on the Kaligandaki River and flanked by black onerous mountains of rubble and rugged rock formations which were beautifully juxtaposed against snow-capped mountains. Deep in the bowels of the town was a hidden medieval village that is home to a small thriving community that was living like it did hundreds of years ago.

We were the first ever aid team to visit the Shree Janashanti boarding school for 165 students. It was worth the journey to be at the school where we supplied and implemented sports programs, dental hygiene and a girl’s reproductive health lesson implemented by Molly. A visual flip chart gave the girls an open forum to discuss their menstrual issues. We handed over 65 re-usable sanitary kits that were made at Didi HQ.

Thank you to David, Geoff, Molly, Linda, Chris, Wendy, Val, Anne and Michael for making this a memorable experience.

See more photos: 2019 Didi Aid Lower Mustang Tour
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Organised and managed by our awesome supporter Veronica O’Mara the group hung out with the Didi Nepal team in November, 2018.

Veronica went above and beyond to collect fine motor skill toys for the crèche and collected sets of clothing for all the kids at Sindhuli School. One hundred of them. The team also raised funds to implement a mushroom farm at Sindhuli which they physically dug and constructed the foundations.
The team beamed out with their homestays in Kathmandu and sprinkled stardust on the lives of hundreds of kids in Nepal.

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