Kids helping Kids, A ReaL ExperiencE’ (A program designed for schools)
“Kids helping Kids, A ReaL ExperiencE’”
A program designed for schools.
This is a program designed by an amazingly talented 16 year old girl called Hannah Alberts. She is a student at Miami High in Queensland, Australia who, under the guidance of her Dad Steve Alberts and The Big Umbrella team working together to bridge the gaps.
Step 1
It starts with the showing of a film called ‘Living in Darkness’ to the student body at their school assembly.
The film shows the story of child trafficking in Nepal and of the street kids of Kathmandu. It also shows the work that The Big Umbrella is doing to give the kids a voice along with the programs and care they are given to get them off the streets and have an opportunity to live a full life.
Step 2
Schools are invited to come up with their own ideas on how to raise funds and work towards their end goal of an agreed amount each year. The final monies will then go toward a particular house or orphanage centre.
For example:
If they are working toward a goal of $17,500, this will take 20 children off the streets and put them into a TBU house.
That money will feed, clothe, educate and house those 20 children for a whole year!
Each house will have medical and counseling support to help the children make the transition from the streets into their new world, which is filled with love and support a whole lot easier.
Step 3.
Although we encourage the students to come up with their own fund raising ideas, we have offered some examples to them:
- Free dress days with a donation of whatever people can afford
- ‘A ReaL MeaL’ Sausage sizzles
- School dance parties
- A fun run
- ‘Nepal Day’ : Dal Baht is one of the most common meals in Nepal. It is the staple daily diet eaten by the majority of the population and it can be made by students and served through the school canteen or made in home economics classes. Students could also have Dal Baht days at their homes where they invite people over to have Dal Baht and watch TBU films for a donation. It is a similar concept to the tea parties that some other charities use.
- ‘India day’: The same concept as Nepal Day but with Indian food.
- ‘At the end of the day’: Named for the simple reason that at the end of the students school day, they have the opportunity to donate to school volunteers anything they may have left in their pockets. Of course they can donate as much or as little as they want but the students are asked to think of what they are going home to… a warm bed, a roof over their head, a good meal and most of all a family that loves them very much. It will be up to the school and the student body to decide how often this happens and who will be involved.
Step 4.
At the end of each school year Two students will be selected to go to Nepal with their teachers and present the monies that their school has raised on behalf of the school to The Big Umbrella.
Each house that is opened from the monies raised will be named after that particular school. For example “The Big Umbrella Miami High house”.
Whilst in Nepal, the students will work and live in the house with the kids and get to see first hand how much their hard work and generosity has helped the kids of Nepal. They will also get to see some of the amazing tourist locations in the region over a 10 day period.
All expenses for the trip will come from our Corporate Sponsors, so that all money the school has raised will go directly to the kids of Nepal.
We will be embarking on a national tour of High Schools later in the year and try to get as many of them to participate in the program.
If there are schools that wish to work with others in their region rather than on their own they can work towards a Regional TBU house and representatives from each school can go over to Nepal and have the opportunity to work and live with the kids.
Step 5.
Payback. We want to teach the children that when you give to others you always get something back in life.
Once a school reaches their goal fundraising amount, we would like to provide the same amount back to that school but in the form of a creative learning space. These learning spaces will be similar to that of a Google office with products such as computers, cameras, photo printers, and other fun things.
The Big Umbrella creative learning room would be a free creative space for students to Skype the kids in the houses that they have helped open or other schools around the world. They could create videos of their homes or make news reports of what’s happening at their own school and will be able to send these to the adopted home or school.
They will be able to make fundraising projects come alive by creating websites, designing flyers or hand outs. This creative space would only be limited by their imagination.
Having the school students connect with each other will bridge the gaps and break down any rascal walls, providing a strong relationship between Australian schools and other parts of the world and also opening up doors for exchange programs with families giving to the children of the world.
‘A ReaL ExperiencE’.
We currently have 2 homes, 8 orphanages, 3 schools, and one drop in centre ready for sponsorship.
1. The Big Umbrella House -A home for street children in kathmandu. up to 20 children can live in the home and receive much needed love and support during the delicate transition from street back in the world again.
2. Koplia Ghar- A drop in centre for the street children on Kathmandu
Koplia Ghar, named from the children that visit for a place to rest from the streets, it means flower that has not opened yet.
The children at high risk would have an access to nourishment, education and basic health care.
Support the children through schooling and prevention programme and give them psychological support.
High risk children will regularly be referred in a residential center and reintegrated to their families.
3. The Umbrella Foundation Nepal
Our sister NGO and our well respected and trusted friends have 8 orphanages homes that house 340 children.
The umbrella foundation Nepal has worked with the child welfare board over the last 5 years in Nepal, together closing down 15 corrupt and badly run orphanages, many run by child traffickers looking to make money from westerners as donations and child sponsorship etc.
they now, school, feed, and clothier over 340 children
We are now working together to easy the burden of this manoth task.
A totally of 8 homes are ready for school sponsorship now.
http://thebigumbrella.org/who-we-support/the-umbrella-foundation-nepal/
Network of love
After spending many months travelling and filming the projects this amazing organisation, we are very proud to assist in any way we can to the building and re building of the 3 schools they are forming.
4. Uttarkashi, India
The SVF School being built Ganeshpur, Uttarkashi is a holistic kindergarten and primary school for grades 1–5 standard (in English and Hindi), with the potential to expand to a secondary school (grades 6–12) in the future.
The school had a very humble beginning in 1998. It was envisaged as a holistic school catering not only to the scholastic development, but also moral and spiritual development of the students. It started in a single room, with one teacher and a few students. The Himgiri Guha, as the ashram is known, was a very simple structure. Slowly the infrastructure — a small school building with eight classrooms — was built upon, as the number of students increased. As of now, the school has 185 students — one of the highest for a primary school in the state of Uttaranchal. We acknowledge that a lot more still needs to be done, but it has been a slow and steady progress towards the manifestation of our vision. We leave no stone unturned to develop and nurture confident, secure and discerning young students, who can not only find a place for themselves, but also contribute positively towards a better nation and a better world.
5. Champawat, India
Children’s Academy of Joy (Ananda Bala Vidya Mandir), Champawat district
This is a kindergarten and primary school for grades 1–5 standard (in English and Hindi), with the potential to expand to a secondary school (grades 6–12) in the future.
Vocational Centers for Poor Girls and Widows (Hariharananda Nari Kalyana Kendras)
Vocational and spiritual development centers specially designed for the most neglected among the poor in India.
Coaching Centers for Poor Children (Hariharananda Bala Vikas Kendras)
In each adopted village, our specially trained teachers provide two hours daily of moral, intellectual and spiritual education to the village children.