News and Special Events
Our teachers at the Chelsea Center continue to experiment with online classes with the local women they teach. This time it was Sushma's turn. She reports, "I am very glad that I got the opportunity to learn something by leading online classes. It is not only benefiting me, but also my students. They were enjoying taking online classes. I start my class from 11am and end at 2pm. I have three classes and for each the class time is for forty minutes and sometimes due to the network problems I have to take one one hour for each."
I started an online class today with a group of aunties. It was nice having contact with them. Although not all the aunties were able to join the class, I think it will be effective for those who do join. They will also learn how to use Facebook. I had nice time with them. I think that slowly they will be use to the device which will be helpful for them. All the aunties were very thankful that we were in touch with them.
Just a little late in wishing our Chelsea Center teachers a very happy Teachers Day! We appreciate the time, patience, and knowledge they provide for their students--both for Papa's House children AND the women from the local community who come for classes. Yes, the male teachers are missing from this photo, but we appreciate them too!! With the Chelsea Center currently closed due to COVID-19, the teachers are missing their students and have even begun to schedule online classes, especially with the local women.
Exam schedules have been moved up in Nepal so that the school year will end early. The aunties are busy with last minute preparations for their practical exams. And yes, prevention is better than a cure — protective masks are on.
Today is Chelsea's birthday and Anu shared parts of the book Chelsea’s Story with our aunties. “Today is a cloudy day. Chelsea used to like days when it’s cloudy and it’s lightning as well,” said Anu after reading. She also shared how happy she was that today is just a day like that.
The celebration of International Women's Day included powerful performances by the local women who attend free literacy and math classes at our Chelsea Education and Community Center. The audience was enthusiastic, appreciative, and inspired.
As the participants left the room, you could tell by listening to their chit-chat, how meaningful the session was for them. This long-awaited workshop was led by Sagar Satyal, co-founder of My Emotions Matter, a values-based education company. We believe this experience has better equipped our students to generate possible responses to their physical and social environment and be inspired to make a choice about which one to use.
Treasurer of NOH’s Board of Directors Raj Trivedi conducted an accounting workshop with ten of the young adults currently taking an accounting course. When asked which topic they needed help with, all of them voiced their confusion with understanding Company/Corporate Accounts, a topic that most students struggle with.
Raj began by explaining the accounting concept of the topic using examples. Next the students were asked to answer questions individually on paper with one student recording an answer on the board. Another student would then review the answer on the board. Correct answers got a cheer from the class, while incorrect answers were explained. Second chances were given, with the objective of spending more time on the wrong answers to promote learning by trial and error and getting cheered at the end.
Raj believes in creating a personal rapport with students, making his classes interactive and engaging by using interesting examples and creating a positive and fun atmosphere thereby earning the trust of the students. By the end of the workshop, all of the students were successful in any question about the basic concept of Company Accounts.
The students and the teachers were sad to say “Farewell” to Ankit on the 18th of February. Ankit has joined the British Gurkha training camp and will engage in rigorous training for the next six months before the selection process begins. In his final words with the group of students and teachers, Ankit shared how important and meaningful his time teaching at the Chelsea Center had been, adding that the Chelsea Center has been a platform for sharing ideas and an opportunity for so many to learn.
Debate on the topic “The Pen Is Mightier than the Sword” was organized by Kamal sir among his students. On this day all the class students in the whole building were invited to be an audience to see what a debate would be like. The students had prepared very well on their own on what they wanted to say.
“Saraswati Puja”, one of the main religious festivals of the Hindu community was celebrated in the Chelsea Center. In this small celebration many students came and worshipped Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge.
“Picnic,” one of the most awaited days of the year, was organized for the adult students at the Chelsea Center. This year our destination was Nagarkot, an attractive place from where we could see peaceful snowy mountains. Without waiting for any particular occasion, we honored our students who have been reading here for more than three years with mugs and bags featuring the CECC logo. They enjoyed the moment dancing with their friends, filled with joy and good humor.
The founder of the Foundation for Sustainable Technology(FoST) led an awareness session on 'Waste Management -- Reuse and Recycle' for our women on December 5th(see photo on the left). So many of the women were interested in learning even more, we arranged a field trip to FoST's campus on January 20th so that they could participate in hands-on activities, including learning about solar cookers(photo on the right).