Party on, Nepal

Viva Christmas Parties are gearing up around the world. Actually, quite a few have already happened! If you’re getting involved in ‘Your Party, Their Christmas’ or ‘Your Gift, Their Christmas’ you already know that Viva Christmas Parties are not only a blast for kids, but they link vulnerable children up with projects that can provide them with help and support for the rest of their lives. What a reason to celebrate!

In Nepal, though, Viva Christmas Parties haven’t just helped get children connected with projects – they’ve helped make it possible for projects to connect with one another. As in many other places around the world, Nepalese organisations that help children at risk have traditionally tended to keep to themselves. Opening up your management, fundraising and resources to other projects can be a terrifying task. Our partner network CarNet Nepal discovered that Viva Christmas Parties are a great way to develop the trust and rapport between projects that are necessary to form a network.

Big Heart for Cochabambinas

I’ve been in Peru and Bolivia for almost 3 weeks now, and I’ve eaten llama and guinea pig, been horseback riding in the Andean mountains, stayed in 9 different hostels and spent a total of 43 hours on long-distance buses! And today didn’t fail to bring yet another new experience…

This afternoon I stood in front of a lovely red brick house, built at the bottom of a deep green valley surrounded by awesome mountains and framed against a clear blue sky. The handwritten sign above the door of the house read ‘Corazon Grande’ (big heart) and it was one of the most tranquil and beautiful places I’ve seen on this trip. Yet the stories of the girls who currently live in the house are almost the complete opposite.