Newsletter
January-March 2009
Dear Friends of FFN
Let me begin by thanking you all for your continued support of FFN and the Nepalese cause, and wishing you all a Happy Nepalese New Year!
The last 3 months have seen the completion of our child trafficking awareness campaigns with Maiti Nepal. These campaigns targeted local schools on the Darjeeling- Nepal border in an attempt to raise children’s awareness on child trafficking; to encourage these students to spread their knowledge into the wider public domain; to develop a strong network of students to work against the problem; and to form pressure groups to tackle the problem. These campaigns used a variety of tools from brochure distribution and posters to talks on street trafficking by lawyers and police, as well as talks by rescued victims of trafficking. I am happy to announce that these campaigns were a huge success.
Our grass-root projects within the Kathmandu valley are now also completed (see http://www.futurefornepal.com/current-projects.php for details), and we are currently in the process of taking proposals for next year’s projects. Also, our drop-in-centre and half way home for Thamel street kids is progressing well.
Life in Nepal is currently as challenging as ever, with 16hr day power cuts. However, I am happy to announce that the generator which FFN purchased for Alphas is being put to good use, minimizing any disruption to the FFN children’s education. The FFN sponsored children have now finished for the academic year, and are on a well-deserved three week holiday.
In March, I also had the pleasure of meeting this year’s Durham University Himalaya Expedition, while they were charity street collecting at the London stations. They seem a fantastic group of young adults who will be make a huge contribution to Nepal during their summer placements.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Tom Chitty to Nepal. He will be arriving in a few days time to volunteer at Alphas and at the drop in centre for the next six weeks. I wish him good luck and I am sure that he will have a fantastic time.
As ever, should any of you have any queries about FFN or our activities, please feel free to contact me anytime. However, please be aware that my exams are unfortunately coming up soon, so I may be slower to respond.
Thank you all for your generosity
Take care,
Tom Wells
