<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Hello and welcome to my just giving page&hellip;thank you to all those who have contributed so far towards this fantastic cause.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So much going on here its difficult to know where to start..after arriving , the first couple of days were spent getting to know what happens where and who is where and how you get there!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, there is the childrens refuge up in Godawari, which is about a 40 minute drive from the main office where I am staying, along with sometimes 2, sometimes 3 or 4 others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are 92 children in the refuge, all either rescued from trafficers, abandoned by families, or repatriated from being forceably taken to India to work in circus&rsquo; there.. they were all coming back from school when we were there, all wearing their blue uniforms and running in to play..no television though so lots of outside activities!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Near the refuge is the &lsquo;Mosaic Workshop&rsquo; where the older trafficked girls and boys are making amazing mosaic pictures, cutting up coloured tiles to fit the pattern set out for them..its painstaking work and then are incredibly skillfull.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back down in the city, the Patan area of Kathmandu, the jewellery workshop is about a 20 minute walk from the office and being as I&rsquo;m passing at roughly the same time everyday there are beginning to be people I recognise each morning and say &lsquo;Namaste&rsquo; to!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The workshop is part of a larger Arts complex, so when we&rsquo;re working I can hear people practising the piano, drums, guitar and not quite sure what else, watch people arrving for their Power Yoga and a bit more gentle yoga, go to the bookshop and get healed by a great Acupressurist, where I had my first session yesterday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am working with 2 girls, SamJana and Mina and 1 boy Sher, all of whom are deaf and its just amazing how well they seem to understand my &lsquo;free&rsquo; sign language, ( I am slowly learning some of the real ones) and then are able to produce a really well made and well finished piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I&rsquo;m trying to design a whole new range of jewellery for EBT which we hope, once its been seen by interested parties will start to sell well in the UK and elsewhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next door to the workshop is a print making studio, where another volunteer is making some lovely screen printed and lino cut covers, for all different size books, with another 3 people, either deaf or rescued from prison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a place called Bhairahawa, which is in the South of Nepal,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>pretty much at the Indian border, there is another Mosaic workshop, where they are in the process of completeing a 60&rsquo; long wall of mosaic pictures<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>aided by futher volunteers, and another project setting up a permaculture, making living off the land sustainable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In another town, Hetauda,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>south east of Kathmandu, EBT have another childrens refuge as this area apparently is well know for trafficking.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I have time at the weekends to see some of the great sights of Kathamndu and get out of the city into the beautiful hills and mountains which surround it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next adventure will be going away for the weekend to somewhere that, so I&rsquo;m told, has the best views of the Himilayas and of course Everest..though I&rsquo;m not taking my walking boots!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Trust is dependent on their volunteers and donations from people like you and me. Any donation is greatly appreciated and will all go to support this worthwhile cause - these funds can be used to pay modest training allowances to new students, to buy materials and to cover other workshop running costs such as rental and utilities.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving &ndash; they&rsquo;ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they&rsquo;ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Thank you!</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Jinks x</span></span></span></p>