This past weekend, children from our new Haamro Chautari program were invited to our office. The theme of the day was “Naam ke ho?” (“What’s the Name”) and we enjoyed several activities to help us all get to know eachother through fun and games. We also discussed the meaning of the word chautari, which is a Nepali concept. It is a place consisting of a raised bed and trees where people can rest as they journey from one place to another. It is also a place to meet with others to share joys and sorrows. Children then named their own houses: Jiwanko Shanti (Life’s Peace) Chautari, Ramailo (Fun) Chautari, and Sital (Cool and Pleasant) Chautari. All in all it was a fun day!

Starting February 15, 2012, Kopila Nepal will be running its first ever 6 month intensive Psychosocial Counselor Training in Pokhara. Topics will include Introduction to Psychosocial Well-being and Human Rights, including sub-models on persons with mental illness, children, women, and other issues, Case Management, Counseling Skills and Process, and Capacity Building, including supervision, research, and professional development.  Trainers will include:

- Claire Willey Sthapit, who received her masters in Social Work and Certification in Marriage and Family Therapy from the Univerisyt of Louisville in the US.

- Nandaraj Acharya, who has over 12 years experience working with marginalized persons in remote areas of Nepal, training and significant experience in psychosocial counseling, as well as a training of trainers certification from TITI and TPO Nepal

-Bina Silwal, who has over 20 years of experience working in remote areas and Cognitive Therapy Certification from Northern Ireland Center for Trauma and Transformation

-Prakash Wagle, who has a Masters of Science in International Disability Studies from University College London, and over 15 years of work in the field of disability, including national and international trainings in disability and Community-Based Rehabilitation

-Visiting speakers from Western Regional Hospital’s Mental Health Department and others.

Candidates for this training must have basic ability to speak and read English and Nepali, and have received an intermediate level degree or have significant experience in the social field. Interested persons should submit a letter of interest and CV to Kopila Nepal on or before January 23. Qualified applicants will be accepted on a first come first serve basis.

Kopila Nepal is opening its doors to offer counseling services in the wider Pokhara community. Fees are on a sliding scale basis and go towards the continuation of the counseling center and the work of Kopila Nepal. For more details on the center and our counselors, please go to http://www.kopilanepal.org.np/kopila-counseling-and-training-center/.

Last week, Kopila Nepal conducted its five day Training of Trainers in Theatre for Development, involving representatives from child clubs in Kaski District.  In the course of the training, the children developed their own play to address social issues including gender and caste discrimination, drugs and alcohol abuse, and harrassment of girls. Now they will teach other children how to develop such a play and which will be performed in the village level.

Kopila Nepal staff are in the midst of running gender sensitization trainings to representatives of 16 VDCs in our working areas. Participants include representatives from our Self-Help groups (mostly single and otherwise marginalized women), local political leaders, and youth and include about 352 in total.

Kopila Nepal is happy to announce the successful completion of our 11th General Assembly on October 1st.

In this meeting we selected our new Executive Board, which is as follows:

      Chairperson: Mukti Ram Sharma

      Vice Chairperson: Surya Kuwar

      Secretary General: Bina Silwal

      Secretary: Punya Bhandari

      Treasurer: Kesh Gurung

      Executive Member: Ramesh Poudel

      Executive Member: Hari Saran Pandit

      Executive Member: Shoba Poudel

      Executive Member: Parmila Tajya

We would like to express our warmest thanks to all of Kopila Nepal’s General Members, staff, and other participants.

This past week we selected 7 accompaniers (for Kaski, Tanahu, and Lamjung) and 1 psychosocial counselor for our Hateymalo Program with the International Committee of the Red Cross. They will officially begin on November 1st. Congratulations!

We at Kopila Nepal are happy to announce that we have selected two promising young candidates for the Student Exchange Program with AFS Japan. They will have the opportunity to study in Japan for 1 year beginning in March 2012. Congratulations to Sumina Subba (Dharang) and Angat Prashad Devkota (Jumla)!

There is still time to sign up for the Trek Nepal 2011, which will include a tour of our project areas in beautiful Kaski district. See http://inspiredbypeople.org/travel-events for more details. It’s in November so reserve your spot today!!

Here is a picture from our trek last year.

Kopila Nepal is happy to announce that we will soon begin work on a project with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to support the families of missing persons (FOM: especially wives and mothers) in Lamjung, Tanahun, and Kaski districts. 

Activities of this project will include supportive listening, providing information to families about efforts/services specific to FOM, linking FOM to other available services, supporting group discussions, raising public awareness about the needs of FOM, mediation in family disputes, linking wives of the missing to income generation opportunities, and commemoration for the missing persons.