May the 2010 be full of happinesses, success and joy in all your endeavors!
- GöNES Family
Posted by Krajend at 09:58 0 comments
All these photos are randomly chosen from my movie camera! These are the photos that I took yesterday during the celebration of Aarju's 2nd Birthday!
Read more...
Posted by Krajend at 11:08 0 comments
She couldnot denied to sing when we requested her to sing again and again. Her melodious voice compelled us to say, "one more" and "one more"
We are very thankful to her!
Posted by Krajend at 10:57 4 comments
Ruby Bist is an amateur singer, trying to sing amid of all nepalese friends in Goettingen, Germany! Eventhough she is an amateur singer, but she has shown tremendous possibilty to be a professional in future. She just need little more practice and encouragement by you all!
Posted by Krajend at 10:55 0 comments
Resham firiri.. Resham firri.. a very popular song in Nepali
Posted by Krajend at 10:52 0 comments
Children are more than happy to participate a happy birthday celebration!
Posted by Krajend at 10:50 0 comments
We celebrated second birthday of our daughter AARJU at Goettingen, Germany amid of small gathering.
Posted by Krajend at 10:48 0 comments
Posted by Krajend at 10:59 2 comments
These are few photos of Aryan Budthapa, born at 21 December 2009 in University Hospital of Georg August university, Goettingen, Germany! Mother Basanti Budthapa and his sisters could be seen on the photos.
Read more...
Posted by Krajend at 17:47 1 comments
Posted by Krajend at 19:35 3 comments
We would like to welcome the newest members of Goettingeli Nepalese Society (GöNeS). Aryan borned in the Budthapa family on 21 December, 2009 at the University Medical of Goettingen. He was born at 9:17 O'Clock at the hospital. At the time of birth, his body weight was 3610 grams and 51 cm tall.
The delivery was quite normal and the health of mother and son was the perfectly sound. With the birth of this wonder boy, all the Budthapa family and the members of GöNeS are very happy and in jubilant moods. Father Bharat and mother Basanti, including two sisters Aashma and Ayushma, all are happy to get the newses member into their family. Her grandparents and all the relatives in Nepal, are also extending their blessing to Aryan.
We wish his perfect health and glowing future. Similarly we congratulate his parents, Basanti and Bharat Budthapa, for the birth of Aryan.
We will request all of you readers to extend your blessings to the new born son through this Website also.
Read more...
Posted by Krajend at 15:24 1 comments
A book by an inspirational woman, who worked hard to rear numbers of wild bear in her house.
I salute her courage, patience and affection to protect wildlife and nature" You are the greatest of the the great mothers!
Posted by Krajend at 06:50 0 comments
Posted by Krajend at 20:52 0 comments
Matter to discuss in our BAHAS on Thursday!
Posted by Krajend at 09:24 0 comments
Posted by Krajend at 18:26 1 comments
Labels: Climate Change, COP15, global change, Nepal, REDD
Souce: CNN.com
At 16, Rhandolf Fajardo reflects on his former life as a gang member.
"My gang mates were the most influential thing in my life," says Fajardo, who joined a gang when he was in sixth grade. "We were pressured to join."
He's not alone. In the Philippines, teenage membership in urban gangs has surged to an estimated 130,000 in the past 10 years, according to the Preda Foundation, a local human rights charity. "I thought I'd get stuck in that situation and that my life would never improve," recalls Fajardo. "I would probably be in jail right now, most likely a drug addict -- if I hadn't met Efren."
Efren Peñaflorida, 28, also was bullied by gangs in high school. Today, he offers Filipino youth an alternative to gang membership through education. "Gang members are groomed in the slums as early as 9 years old," says Peñaflorida. "They are all victims of poverty."
For the past 12 years, Peñaflorida and his team of teen volunteers have taught basic reading and writing to children living on the streets. Their main tool: A pushcart classroom. Stocked with books, pens, tables and chairs, his Dynamic Teen Company recreates a school setting in unconventional locations such as the cemetery and municipal trash dump.
Peñaflorida knows firsthand the adversity faced by these children. Born into a poor family, he lived in a shanty near the city dump site. But he says he refused to allow his circumstances to define his future.
"Instead of being discouraged, I promised myself that I would pursue education," he recalls. "I will strive hard; I will do my best." In high school, Peñaflorida faced a new set of challenges. Gang activity was rampant; they terrorized the student body, vandalized the school and inducted members by forcing them to rape young girls, he says.
"I felt the social discrimination. I was afraid to walk down the street."
Peñaflorida remembers standing up to a gang leader, refusing to join his gang. That confrontation proved fateful. At 16, he and his friends "got the idea to divert teenagers like us to be productive," he says.
He created the Dynamic Teen Company to offer his classmates an outlet to lift up themselves and their community. For Peñaflorida, that meant returning to the slums of his childhood to give kids the education he felt they deserved.
"They need education to be successful in life. It's just giving them what others gave to me," he says. Today, children ranging from ages 2 to 14 flock to the pushcart every Saturday to learn reading, writing, arithmetic and English from Peñaflorida and his trained teen volunteers. "Our volunteers serve as an inspiration to other children," he says.
The group also runs a hygiene clinic, where children can get a bath and learn how to brush their teeth.
Since 1997, an estimated 10,000 members have helped teach more than 1,500 children living in the slums. The organization supports its efforts by making and selling crafts and collecting items to recycle. Through his group, Peñaflorida has successfully mentored former gang members, addicts and dropouts, seeing potential where others see problems. "Before, I really didn't care for my life," says Michael Advincula, who started doing drugs when he was 7. "But then Efren patiently dug me from where I was buried. It was Efren who pushed me to get my life together."Today, Advincula is a senior in high school and one of the group's volunteers.
Peñaflorida hopes to expand the pushcart to other areas, giving more children the chance to learn and stay out of gangs."I always tell my volunteers that you are the change that you dream and I am the change that I dream. And collectively we are the change that this world needs to be."
Posted by Krajend at 10:21 0 comments
Posted by Krajend at 09:34 0 comments
German media widely covered the Cabinet meeting of Nepalese Government at Mount Everest! Please enjoy the movie clip.
Posted by Krajend at 12:49 1 comments
A Mind blowing interview with Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus from Bangladesh Source: Spiegel Online
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Yunus, you provide microcredit to people in developing countries through the Grameen Bank. Is a similar program required in Germany?
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Why? The unemployed get state support.
Yunus: That is the usual system in rich countries, like Germany. But there is no incentive to generate new income on unemployment payments. The next payment is coming next month after all. This robs people of initiative. One could also give the unemployed microcredit, allowing them to start their own businesses. Capable people should not sit in front of the television, like zombies, without having something to do. Their potential and skills go unused, their creativity is wasted.
SPIEGEL ONILNE: Would you grant microcredit to every jobless person?
Yunus: Everyone should have the right to a loan. You could say that you'll give someone €100 or loan them €500. It's a better way to distribute money. If only half of the people pay back the money, then it's already a success. And if the person receiving the loan is successful, that will encourage others. Pride returns.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: There are already a lot of opportunities for jobless people to receive subsidies to start a business from the state. The KfW bank, a federal institute, already gives small loans. Why does Germany nevertheless need microcredit?
Yunus: State programs usually have strict bureaucratic procedures, from which there is no deviation. Some people raise their capital from this system and get around the rules. Not because they need the loans but because they know they can trick the system. Others don't even make the cut because they don't fit a certain profile. Also, the state is not necessarily interested in sustainability when providing credit. Finally, the money is financed by tax payers.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Does that mean microcredit should instead come from private institutions?
Yunus: I don't want to use the word "private." That means that the lender expects to earn money from the loan. I see microcredit as a social business. Social business means that you take on a certain social problem with an enterprise. Profits are then reinvested back into the social business. In addition, costs have to be covered. That is why we demand interest.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: At rather high rates. The Grameen Bank sometimes asks for as much as 20 percent.
Yunus: Of course low interest is good. But when an institution has to support itself, then we can't offer an interest rate that doesn't allow the institution to be run sustainably.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: You've also created programs in developing countries for beggars that don't demand interest payments. Do these loans get paid back?
Yunus: Yes. The rate of repayment is actually very high. We don't take any interest because we don't want to apply pressure. The beggars should feel comfortable taking the money.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Then where does the motivation to pay the money back come from?
Yunus: If the beggar pays back the money, then they get a new loan with the same conditions. In our experience, it works.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Would that work also with homeless people in Germany?
Yunus: It's something we should try. It would be a new situation and, of course, I can't tell you now if it would work. I also wouldn't want to give a loan to every beggar, but would try it out first with one. If that works, then one can extend credit to the next person. When one starts, others follow. It worked in Bangladesh and many other countries.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Which criteria do you set in order to give loans to the poorest of the poor?
Yunus: We first try to understand why someone becomes a beggar. Usually, there was some turning point in their life. It is easy to say that beggars don't want to work but it's possible that this is not at all true. Then we discuss with them what they could do, make a business plan and provide them with funding.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Does every beggar have a business idea?
Yunus: The human spirit is infinitely creative. If you keep thinking about something, eventually you find a solution.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Microcredit seems to works so well because there is moral pressure from the community on the person who takes out the loan. However, German culture is very individualistic and people often live anonymously. Would microcredit still work here?
Yunus: Look at New York. There, residents don't usually know who lives next door. When someone dies, it often goes unnoticed. But microcredit is functioning there. Through the programs, we bring people together and suddenly, they have friends. That's where the community pressure comes from.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Have you been to a country where microcredit didn't work?
Yunus: No. People need money. We live in a world where money is important.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: There are branches of the Grameen Bank, which you founded in 1983, in several countries around the world. When will you open a branch in Germany?
Yunus: I get asked a lot why there still isn't a branch in Germany. But I won't come from Bangladesh and say "I want to introduce microcredit here." Someone has to come to me and say: "Hey, can you help us with this?"
SPIEGEL ONLINE: And no one has asked you yet?
Yunus: A few people once came to me asking for assistance in creating a kind of ecological microcredit bank in Germany. But they lost interest and had other things on their mind.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Many companies are active in social business -- another idea which started with you. BASF is selling mosquito nets that even very poor people can afford, Danone sells cheap vitamin-rich yogurt, while Veolia has created a social business offering affordable drinking water. Which company will you convince next to undertake a social business?
Yunus: I don't convince anybody. I wait for them to come to me. They don't even have to work with me. They can do it on their own initiative. I don't want to expand my bank, but rather spread the idea.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Adidas has recently announced that it will also be getting involved in a social business. Did you go to Adidas or did the company ask you for advice?
Yunus: The people from Adidas came to me. They asked me what they could do and then I told them that they need to have a goal, a mission. That could be: No one in the world has to run around without a pair of shoes. The shoe must, of course, be affordable, and that makes it a social business.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Why are shoes so important?
Yunus: Many people don't know that shoes can protect them from disease. Many parasites get into the body by penetrating the feet. If all children had shoes, we could prevent many illnesses. If Adidas can succeed with this idea, then other businesses will follow. There is a new kind of competition emerging -- the competition to help other people.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Why do social businesses work?
Yunus: There are two sides to every person: selfishness and selflessness. The selfless part is just as strong as the selfish side, we just haven't admitted that yet. Most businesses are based on selfishness but why can't we build a business on selflessness? To help others is a joy. We don't want to abolish capitalism but complete it. Selfishness and selflessness belong equally there.
Interview conducted by Friederike Ott
Read more...Posted by Krajend at 19:34 0 comments
Posted by Krajend at 10:24 3 comments