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Many thanks.

Walesby Sunflower Competition

Well done to everyone who managed to grow their sunflowers, as this year so many were either eaten by slugs or destroyed by wind or rain.

The final results are now in and I am pleased to announce that the winner with a height of 2m is Pat Spolton of Claxby; followed by Selina and Dirk from Brookenby at 1.63m and Sandra Gaytor of Thoresway at 1.45m.

There were several others who came very close such as Keith and Claire from Walesby and Debbie Rudd from Thoresway. Well done to our winners; the trophy was presented at Claxby’s Harvest Festival on October 13th. We will have another go next year and maybe try pumpkins again too.

Thank you to all who entered.

Revd Elaine

Presentation of the Winner's Trophy to Pat Spolton

Lincs2Nepal Update 2024

St Mary's Walesby make an annual donation to Lincs2Nepal.

Nepal is a landlocked country bordered by China and India. Nepal is fiercely independent and does not want to be swallowed up by these two giant nations.

'Namaste' is the cultural greeting and farewell in Nepal. It means "I honour the spirit and light within you." Said so many times on our trips, always returned along with wonderful smiles.

A Brief history of Lincs2Nepal:

Garry Goddard, who lives in Lincoln, fulfils the saying, "One person can make a difference." Garry had been volunteering in Nepal in the early 2000's. He heard of a RC priest, Fr Jomon James, who was struggling to keep his little school open for low-caste children. He was unable to obtain funding from the Nepalese government because these children were low-caste. Garry met with Fr Jomon and, cutting a long story short, in 2009 Lincs2Nepal was born. Garry started fundraising back here in Lincolnshire after meeting with Fr Jomon. Education is the key which changes the lives, especially for the girls, for these low-caste people. Without education they are trapped in poverty and kept powerless.

2024/2081 in the Nepalese calendar, is a huge celebration year for Lincs2Nepal. April marked 15 years since Lincs2Nepal was registered as a charity, 10 years since the opening of Jeevan Jyoti School in Kohalpur and 2 years since rescuing our very special ‘40Friends Childrens Home’ in Kathmandu. Jeevan Jyoti school has grown from a few low-caste children in a couple of classrooms to a huge building, developed over the years, and now with a community of 2,000 students, 500 of whom are scholarship children. Our 10 year celebration sees that this is the first year we have had year 10 students (equivalent of year 11 in the UK). This further cements Jeevan Jyoti position as the top school in Nepal. All the hard work has been worth it. We had 41 children that took their final exam, of which 17 were our scholarship children whose lives have been changed in a way they never could have been imagined. 27 of our children passed with an A and the other 14 passed with A*. To help ensure that our students pass their final exams all of year 10, along with years 8 and 9, lived at the school during the week for the 3 months leading up to the exams because they have nowhere to study at home.

All the children are staying on for our first 6th form where they will be studying, amongst other things, the Cambridge University A level Science course, delivered in the new state of the art laboratories which are now finished. We witnessed this new block being built – and noted how many of the labourers are women. When we arrived at the school, and despite having the experience before, I was still overwhelmed with emotion watching the tiny tots, nursery, class by class guided by their teachers to the school buses waiting to take them home to their villages. We could see from our bedroom window the preparations for the Celebrations the following day. Along with the Bishop, Mayor and other local dignitaries we were honoured guests. We watched amazing dancing, all telling stories, and fantastic gymnastics displays. This is a way of keeping their culture alive with the increasing pressure of Western culture on the Internet. We felt so privileged to witness this event and it was an interesting and joyful blend of Hinduism and Christianity. We were set to work the following day collecting and returning the scholarship children to and from their classrooms. This is for the distribution of sponsor's letters and photographing each child for them to be included in their return letters to their sponsors. It was pretty emotional meeting with my 2 boys, Ganesh and Tekendra again, and Anjula for the first time. I have sponsored the boys since they were 3 years old and now they are 10. However I was unaware that it was my last hug with Ganesh. Sadly, overnight we lost 19 children from the village, Shantiagar, situated on the edge of Kohalpur. The village had been under threat for years from the local government, despite the Tharu tribe inhabiting this land for generations and forever. Of course uneducated, poor, low-caste people didn't have any written proof of settlement or ownership - another example of low-caste people having no human rights. Recently the army moved in and bulldozed the whole village to make way for a cricket ground and a stadium! The villagers, including our 19 families, have been dispersed across Nepal finding refuge hopefully with their extended families. We have no way of tracing them or checking their welfare. I pray for Ganesh, his family and friends. I pray he is safe.

Video presentation of some of Paula's Photographs

(The photos follow the narrative on these panels)


The following day was spent photographing the new intake to appeal for sponsors. Due to the present political climate, it is more difficult to find and retain sponsors.

We returned to Kathmandu and the 40Friends Children Home. These children are both orphaned and abandoned. We were greeted with jubilation, handmade bouquets, green tea and made especially for us, cookies. Later we took them for a restaurant meal, a new experience for them. We had a lovely evening but I'm always touched by their genuine gratitude. Another highlight of our visit with the children was on their day out. They had had a discussion and requested we go to the Bhaleshwar Mahader Temple in the Chandragiri Hills, which happened to be on top of a mountain! It is situated on the South West of Kathmandu Valley, 2551 m above sea-level. This also entailed travelling up in a cable car, which filled me with trepidation. However, it was an amazing experience as we rose up above the forest and actually saw eagles below us. The Temple was impressive, surrounded by many people chanting, praying and even picnicking. I was anointed and blessed by a Holy man and rang the sacred bell. All these experiences are enriching and after an ice cream we headed back down including the cable car to our coach. The children's treat continued after we arrived back in Kathmandu. We went to a cafe for refreshments which happened to have a climbing wall. I was amazed at the courage of all the children, especially the little ones. What a day, all the children slept on our journey home.

We have made huge improvements at the orphanage. The new kitchen has been built with a roof! We were fortunate to see the completion of the building which includes a dining room large enough for everyone. A new water purification system has been fitted, outside lighting and eco- friendly water heating so everyone can have hot showers now. Since our last visit, the children had requested their own little Temple. Whilst the kitchen was being built, their Temple was also built. The new facilities and equipment have changed their lives. Personally I am always so uplifted being with these young people, the joyful energy they share with us. They are so grateful for small things that we in UK take for granted.

Besides the school and the orphanage Lincs2Nepal is always there to help in other ways. Adhyan, a 9 year old scholarship boy, was very ill earlier in the year and subsequently diagnosed with leukaemia. Lincs2Nepal is funding his treatment of £29,000 in Delhi hospital. Monsoon damage at one of our villages was funded. Fr Jomon took school staff, including teachers, to clear the site and within two weeks the school's maintenance staff had rebuilt the homes of our students' families, better and stronger. In Jajarkot, the village destroyed in the earthquake in November last year, over 40 homes and 20 people were lost - Lincs2Nepal has been financing the rebuilding. I'm delighted to say that everyone in the village now has permanent shelter. A young girl was orphaned in the disaster and will be joining the 40Friends family very soon, after all the complicated paperwork is completed.

If you are interested in the work of Lincs2Nepal, further information can be found on their website https://www.lincs2nepal.com or, follow us on FaceBook, or contact me.

Love and light Paula.

Namaste

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