Author: Cosmic Volunteers

Tamu Lhosar Festival Nepal Children

Tamu Lhosar Festival in Nepal 2015

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For our volunteers in Nepal, being in the country during one of their festivals is a major thrill. Yesterday Nepal celebrated Tamu Lhosar, one of the major cultural festival of the Nepali Gurung community.

Tamu Lhosar Festival Nepal

Gurungs came together to celebrate Tamu Losar (Gurung’s New Year) at a common place and rejoice in various cultural processions, feasting and greetings.

Losar is the time when family members of all generations get together and exchange love and greetings.

Tamu Lhosar Festival in Nepal

In the old days in the villages, they gathered in courtyards to celebrate Losar. In Kathmandu, Losar is celebrated in Tundikhel ground at the city center vibrant with colorful stalls. The festival marks the end of winter and start of spring that also brings warmness and charm to Tamu Losar.

Gurungs all across the world celebrate Tamu Losar by organizing rallies in traditional attires and cultural programs. They also visit Buddhist shrines on that day. Losar is a wonderful opportunity for foreigners to witness the cultural heritage of the Gurung community.

Gurungs (Tamu) are indigenous inhabitants of west-central parts of Nepal and some live east of Kathmandu. There are numerous clans of Gurungs, the members of which are all well known for their bravery and cultural wealth.

Gurungs divide time into cycles of 12 years (lohokor), to each year of which a special name is given, which is known as Barga (lho). Losar also heralds the change in ‘Lho’.

Tamu Lhosar Festival in Nepal

According to the oriental astrological system, there are 12 lhos–garuda, serpent, horse, sheep, monkey, bird, dog, deer, mouse, cow, tiger and cat. Therefore, each year is marked by a particular animal and they are arranged in a single circle (on paper), closely following the Tibetan calendar with its’ 12 animals. In early days, when there was no calendar system in Nepal, the 12 rotation system was used to calculate peoples’ ages.

Patrick Awuah of Ghana

Ex-Microsoft worker who founded Ghana school given “genius grant”

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Ghana has some innovative education initiatives going on. Not the least of which is Ashesi University and its founder Patrick Awuah.

Patrick Awuah, who walked away from a career at Microsoft to start a university in his home country of Ghana, last week was one of the 24 recipients of this year’s “genius grants,” $625,000 awards paid out over five years by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Ashesi University is a private, non-profit liberal arts college located in Ghana, West Africa. The university’s mission is to educate a new generation of ethical and entrepreneurial leaders in Africa; to cultivate within students the critical thinking skills, the concern for others and the courage it will take to transform their continent.

Edi Qbordzi Drummer from Ghana

Ghana Drumming Classes with Edi Gbordzi

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We provide our volunteers in Ghana with an African drumming class. It’s an incredible fun cultural experience.

If you happen to live in Wisconsin, you have the opportunity to take classes with world famous Ghanaian drummer Edi Gbordzi. starting in October 2015. Classes will be held at the Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts.

Edi is a master drummer, dancer, singer, and composer from Ghana. The early years of his life were spent fully immersed in the drumming and singing traditions of the Ewe culture. As a teenager, he founded the youth choir for his church in Madina, Accra.

Edi’s professional career began with Ghana’s National Music and Dance Ensemble (Ghana Dance Ensemble) at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana which brought his talents to a broader audience, both regional and international. With the National Music and Dance Ensemble, he performed across West Africa, Europe and the United States.

He quickly caught the eye of several Universities in the United States and kept a busy travel schedule as visiting faculty for Howard University in Washington D.C., Temple University in Philadelphia, the A & T University Greensboro, NC and others.

He later accepted a permanent adjunct faculty position with the University of Wisconsin – Madison and taught for three years. During this time he continued performing, teaching workshops, leading residencies for K-12 schools, libraries, community centers, festivals, other events and founded Atimevu Drum and Dance Ensemble which recently celebrated it’s 10th anniversary.

His current and most exciting creation is the versatile and multi-talented band, Edi Gbordzi & Timbukale, featuring his original compositions, traditional Ghanaian songs with fresh new arrangements and the traditional drumming and dancing of Ghana.

Over the course of time, Edi has never strayed far from his roots. The powerful rhythmic language he acquired as a young child is still the driving force behind all of his creative projects.

Thursdays from October 1 – November 5
45-minute classes. Two Sessions

4 – 7 years old students at 5 pm
8 – 13 year old students at 6 pm
Fee is $60 ($48 for Friends of THELMA)

Indian E-TOURIST “Visa On Arrival” for Mexican Citizens

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For Mexicans volunteering in India with us:

The Embassy of India has announced the new E-TOURIST VISA Scheme (eTV) for Mexican Nationals (Earlier called Tourist Visa on Arrival-Electronic Travel Authorisation (TVOA-ETA) Scheme).

Why is this a big deal? It means that:

Mexican citizens can now obtain their visa for India electronically — and within days of departure for India.

Previously, travelers had to send their actual passport and other visa materials through the mail to the Indian Embassy in Mexico City. This old process was not only time consuming but risked the chance of a passport getting lost in the mail.

More details from the Indian Embassy in Mexico City:

The step is aimed at facilitating travel of foreign nationals to India for tourism, casual business and other similar purposes and avoid problems in obtaining visas for travel to India at short notice. In particular, Mexican citizens residing outside Mexico City will not have to travel to or send their passports and visa applications to the Embassy of India in Mexico City.

Under the Scheme, the applicants have to apply online and make payment for the visa fees (USD 60/- only) electronically through credit/debit card at least four working days before the date of arrival in India. The applicants will then receive an ‘Electronic Travel Authorization’ or electronic visa (e-visa) within 72 hours at their registered email account, which along with a return ticket or onward journey ticket will enable them to travel to India.

The eTV will allow entry into India within 30 days from the date of approval of ETA and this will be valid for 30 days stay in India from the date of arrival in India. The facility will be limited to two occasions in one calendar year. The tourists will have to enter India from one of the following nine (9) international airports – Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram. However, they can leave India from any authorized Immigration Check Post in India.

Next Generation Nepal Rescues 14 Children

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The latest newsletter from the non-profit Next Generation Nepal (NGN) reminds us of why we no longer send volunteers to orphanages in Nepal.

NGN reconnects trafficked children in Nepal with their families. Founded in 2006 by Conor Grennan, NGN has linked nearly 500 trafficked children in its care to their home communities in Nepal through a careful process of reconnection and reunification.

As NGN’s website explains, there are over 16,000 children in orphanages in Nepal. Of those children, two out of three are not orphans.

Conor wrote a best-selling book Little Princes that describes his work with NGN.

NGN’s most recent success involved an emergency rescue of 14 children from an abusive orphanage in Kathmandu. The children were released at approximately 6:10 p.m. on March 17, 2015.

Here is the Conor’s description of the rescue:

When the Child Welfare Board (CCWB) called last week to ask if NGN could rescue children who were suffering neglect and abuse, there was no hesitation.

Within a few hours, NGN staff had carried out the urgent rescue of 14 children from a house near a dilapidated bus station on the outskirts of Kathmandu.

The children, girls and boys between the ages of 7 and 13, had been living on their own in filthy and unsafe conditions without the barest of essentials.

Surrounded on all sides by prostitution, abuse and drunkenness, the children were in imminent danger of falling victim to unspeakable crimes.

As NGN’s rescue team drove the children back to our transit home, they literally sang with joy and relief. Our house-mother had prepared them Dal Bhat (rice and lentils) and welcomed them with the ceremonial “Tika”. Safe, warm, and fed, the healing process has already begun.

Our house doctor has examined all the children and they are being treated for malnourishment, intestinal parasites, scabies and lice.

Many of the children are sick and one-third are showing symptoms of tuberculosis. With proper medication and a safe, sanitary environment these kids are sure to recover from their physical illnesses soon.

It’s the emotional trauma of being separated from their families, exploited and neglected by the people who they had been forced to rely upon, that will take the longest to heal.

The process for finding their mothers and fathers begins with building trust which will take time, but we are patient. The children, understandably, have a very real fear of strangers. Once they are able to confide in us and share their stories, the reunification process will finally begin.

When we take in 14 children overnight, we do it with the faith that we will find the resources to provide for them and to find their mothers and fathers.

We count on our supporters to be there in this time of need which is NOW.

Please help us to help these kids!

Delhi Stay Celebrates Holi with Volunteers in India

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In the video below, you can see our partner organization “Delhi Stay” recently celebrating the festival of Holi with volunteers in India.

Holi celebrates the beginning of Spring. Holi festivities mark the beginning of new year to many Hindus. It also has a religious purpose, symbolically signified by the legend of Holika.

The night before Holi, bonfires are lit, in a ceremony known as Holika Dahan. People gather near fires, sing and dance.

The next day, Holi, also known as Dhuli in Sanskrit, is celebrated. Children and youth spray colored powder solutions (Gulal) at each other, laugh and celebrate, while elders tend to smear dry coloured powder (Abir) on each other’s face.

Visitors to homes are served with Holi delicacies, desserts and drinks. After playing with colors, and cleaning up, people bathe, put on clean clothes, visit friends and family.

Holi is primarily observed in India, Nepal, and other regions of the world with significant populations of Hindus or people of Indian origin. The festival has, in recent times, spread to parts of Europe and North America as a spring celebration of love, frolic, and colors.

The Living Goddess: A Journey into the Heart of Kathmandu

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Have you heard of the Kumari in Nepal?

She is the living goddess of Nepal — the centerpiece of one of the most arcane, and fascinating, traditions to be found anywhere in the world.

Author Isabella Tree has written a book on the Kumari. It’s called The Living Goddess: A Journey into the Heart of Kathmandu and will be published on June 1, 2015.

Tree is a writer and journalist based in the UK. She is the author of three other non-fiction books and writes for publications such as Granta, National Geographic Magazine, the Sunday Times and the Observer. She has been travelling regularly to Nepal since the 1980s.

So what is the Kumari exactly?

Journalist Mick Brown explains in his article and interview with Tree:

At the age of three or four, a female child is chosen to be worshiped as the embodiment of the goddess Devi (or Durga; or Kali; or, as she is known in Nepal, Taleju – in the taxonomy of Hindu deities, the goddess takes many forms and is known by many names). She is taken from her family and installed in her own residence, where she is tended to by specially selected caretakers.

The Kumari, as she is known (the word means ‘virgin’ or ‘unmarried girl’), is dressed in the finery of the goddess. She may leave her residence – the Kumari Chen – only to attend festivals, a dozen times a year, when her feet must not touch the ground; she is carried by attendants and transported in a palanquin.

When she shows signs of reaching puberty, and before she begins menstruation, her role as the goddess is deemed complete. She is returned to her family and another child is chosen to take her place.

So what to make of the Kumari? To foreigners it is one of those cultural things that takes some getting used to. The idea of taking a four-year-old child away from their families for 10 years is appalling to the western world of course. But Nepalis, and even the former Kumaris themselves, swear by the tradition and continue to revel in it.

On my second trip to Nepal, in 2001, I happened to see the Kumari’s chariot as it processed through the streets of Kathmandu for the Indra Jatra Festival. Memories tend to get faulty after so many years, but I recall catching a glimpse of the Kumari’s face as she raced by.

Teach in China in 2015

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We now have the dates for our Teaching Volunteer Program in Yantai, China for 2015.

Dates for 2015:

Spring Semester: March 2 – June 30
Summer Session: July 13 – 26
Fall Semester: September 1 – December 20

Teaching in China

Yantai is a coastal town in China, about a one-hour flight from Beijing. Yantai is a relatively small Chinese city with an urban population of a little over two million people.

The teaching placements are at boarding schools in the heart of Yantai. The age groups of the students are: 6-12 years old for the primary kids, 13-15 years old for the middle school, and 16-18 years old for the high school students.

The schedule is Monday to Friday with approximately two hours of classroom time daily. The most important role you will have is to practice conversational English with the students. They do not often get to hear a native accent, especially in person.

Teaching in China

So how do you qualify? You must be a native speaker of English, and you must be at least eighteen years of age on the program start date.

Your accommodations will be on the school campus. You will have your own private apartment, with WIFI, TV and your own bathroom.

Meals are included and take place in the dining room with the students and colleagues. There is a wide range of food, including vegetables, beans, rice, fish, chicken, beef, fruit, and and eggs. You can also walk to grocery stores in your school’s neighborhood to buy things like snacks, instant coffee, and soft drinks.

Click for some videos from the teaching program in China to get a better idea what the classroom experience is like.

On the weekends, there are some wonderful activities and towns in and around Yantai. One of our favorites is the coastal city of Qingdao. Once a colony of Germany and Japan, Qingdao has a great deal of European architecture. The red roofs, green trees, blue sea, and azure sky form a bright and colorful picture here. The city is sometimes known as the Switzerland of the Orient.