Annapurna Self-Sustaining Children Home

Written by Kira Kay on 16 May 2012.

Hello dear friends & sponsors,

I have spent some lovely time with Sarada, the children and mothers (Hari, Bishnu & Krishna),including during the time of the Teehar festival, which is in my view, one of the most beautiful festivals, celebrating the connection between brothers and sisters & And I have LOTS of good news to report!

We have now some land of our own, all registered and finalized! It is the first step for us to really become long-term self-sustaining. We have already identified some more land adjoining this for out next step. We hope every 6-12 months to add a bit more until we have enough for the agriculture, and in the future also to build out own buildings. If you are interested in finding out more about this I will be writing up a dedicated _land & agriculture report_ and sending soon.
The children all had excellent half-year reports from the school _ the headmaster continues to be really impressed with their study habits and progress. Even the children who previously were not so well in the studies have really improved _ so we are really happy about this!
During the school holidays we took a trip to a famous temple in Nepal, called Manakamana. Many Nepali people aspire to visit Manakaman at least once in their life, it is especially a famous temple for making a prayer asking for help to manifest your dream in life & it is also a really fun adventure as to get up to the temple there is a cable car, the only on in all of Nepal, 3km in length and taking you up from the river (approx. 600m high) to the mountain top, about 1800m. The children were so excited to have this adventure, the headmaster from the school donated the school bus for the day, we only had to the pay the petrol, Sarada made a huge picnic for all, and off we adventured!
The gardens and agriculture have continued to grow and expand, with Sarada experimenting with new options. For example she is currently trying out selling _seedlings_ of vegetables to the local community, which so far seems to be going well. We now have two cows and two buffalos, so our milk production is consistent, plus the _shit_ makes very good compost which we use for our own land, plus trade some for other items we need in the home. Plans are underway to build a new chicken coop and goat farm on the new land. And, if you ask Sarada about her long-term plans, make sure you are sitting down- she has such a wonderful and detailed long-term vision.

Below are some pictures of my time here, I hope you enjoy...