October 11 - A Day of Many Celebrations

Celebrating Oct 11^th – 2^nd Anniversary and Stand up for Girls

On October 11, 2013 on the occasion of 2^nd anniversary of Rukmini Foundation and the International Day of the girl, a program was organized in Shikharapur Community School – Pharping, Nepal. The event was attended by many in the community including the guardians of the Rukmini Foundation’s Scholars, members of the 3 LitClubs in Nepal (Niharika, Setidevi and Shikharapur) as well as volunteers, staff, and Rukmini Foundation leadership.

The program started around 12 in the afternoon and the best part was that the entire program was hosted by two Rukmini Foundation scholars, Junu and Sandhaya.

These scholars wanted an opportunity to host the event and they did a great job. Thank you Sandhya and Junu.

The first part of the program consisted of speeches from well-wishers who have received support or have benefited from Rukmini Foundation’s program. One of the scholars, Sarathi recited an emotional poem explaining how the foundation has been able to make a big difference in her life. Her words brought tears to many people in the program. We also observed a great speech from Sushmita, who talked about the opportunities she has been given and how she will use them in the best way she can. We were proud and happy to see the personality development of our little sisters. These girls who could not utter even a single word in front of people are today so good at reciting poems in public, hosting an event, giving speeches, and even making incredible videos. This is was not only happy but an inspirational moment for everyone at Rukmini Foundations to want to do even more.

Sarathi brought tears to people’s eyes with her poem

Also, many short videos were shown about the works done by the foundation in the past 2 years. These videos were combined into one video that was sent to the US. The video can be seen here: Rukmini Foundation in Action in Nepal

https://youtube.com/watch?v=GlwUSgRPGxo

Rukmini Foundation in Action in Nepal 2013 (https://youtube.com/watch?v=GlwUSgRPGxo)

It felt so joyful to see how a small initiative has brought such radical changes in the lives of so many girl children in Pharping community. After the first part of the event, we had a short tea break as we always do in Nepal. It was then that we took time to congratulate each other for the achievements in the past year by offering sweets. Everybody was in a very cheerful mood, especially as the biggest festival in Nepal, Dashain was also coming soon. As we did last year, this year also we celebrated International Day of Girl Child by taking part in a campaign called StandUp4Girls. The second part of the event consisted of two types of activities – Balloon Flying and Story Telling. First, we gathered all of the girls of LitClub Setidevi and LitClub Shikharapur as well as the Rukmini scholars in a big circle. Then we explained to the girls what standing up for oneself means with the help of various stories. Most of the stories that the girls shared were related to their mothers’ and teachers being courageous and encouraging them to study and be self-reliant. We then distributed one balloon to everyone and asked them to write the name of a woman whom they want to stand up for. Then we gave them some cards to write and share the stories behind their inspirations. The girls were very enthusiastic and shared amazing stories from their lives. We ended the program by releasing the balloons into the air. The entire day was very inspirational and us Didis were very proud of our scholars and what they have been able to achieve. Thank you to all of our supporters in the US who made this possible. Surabhi, Prakriti, and Prabriti Rukmini Foundation Didis