Angel's Heavenly Choir - Video - Part 2

The following is the second part — in the night — of the Angel's Heavenly Choir performance at Kathmandu Durbar Square. 10 minutes at YouTube.

People who made all this possible:

Orphanage staff and volunteers

Orphanage parents: Amrit Bikram Shahi (St. Angel) and his wife Aishvarya, who bear the loving responsibility for the children since 1999.

Administrator and Coordinator: Kim Morton, United Kingdom, living at the orphanage as a resident volunteer.

Website, artwork and marketing: Ananda Loponen, Finland, working with the Universal Peace Foundation.
Website, painting, help with children: Manue, France, also with the UPF.

Filming, art with children: Claire and Tom, Australia.
Filming and editing: Raina, Austria, working on a wonderful DVD of the event and the orphanage.

Artwork and promotion: Bashkor and Shani, Bangladesh, sketched together excellent illustrations.
Resident volunteer: Emily, France, helped with the children.
English teacher: Jimpa, Tibet, is teaching the children.
Financial support: Craig and John, South Africa, donated the event banner and food for the children.
Organizing the children: Shiva and Prakash, Nepal.

Performers

Fire dance and music: Masa and Rio.
Juggling and entertainment: Alex and friends, France.
Didgeridoo and djembe: Bikash and Binod, Nepal.
Singing and drums: Bashu and friends, Nepal.

A big thank you to everyone involved! Thanks to your untiring efforts, the orphanage has now been put on the map of Kathmandu!

Angel's Heavenly Choir - Video - Part 1

The following is the first part — in the daylight — of the Angel's Heavenly Choir performance at Kathmandu Durbar Square. 10 minutes at YouTube.



And here's a link to the YouTube page, too.

Angel Apple

Yesterday's event with St. Angel's Heavenly Choir was a grand success! Featuring a program with the children and their songs, followed by fire-dancers, jugglers and musicians, the total flow of people attending the event was close to a thousand.

A blazing success with a mere four days of active work and two days of advertising, the event with good media presence was a wonderful pilot for raising awareness on the orphanage. Detailed news with photos and videos will be made available momentarily.

A huge thank you to everyone participating in spirit and on the spot — it was wonderful! We love you, folks!

Charity concert - Press release

St. Angel’s Heavenly Choir

A charity concert in the heart of Kathmandu

• Saturday, July 26th •
6.00 - 8.00 pm

at Kathmandu Durbar Square

Angel’s Heaven Orphanage
Angel’s Heaven is a child care home formed in 1999, working towards giving homeless and orphan children an opportunity for a safe life and a good future. The organization is committed to helping children who are socially neglected and rejected in the society.

The organization, registered in 1999 by Mr. Amrit Bikram Shahi and his wife with a board of seven members, is a non-profit, non-political, independent organization with a vision to serve disadvantaged children by providing basic necessities and globally recognized education.

Currently caring for 27 children, year 2008 has been a transition towards a bright future for the orphanage. With increasing volunteer activity and international support, plans are in progress to relocate the orphanage to the scenic mountain valleys of Dhading, to land owned by Mr. Shahi.


A Charity Concert
Music is an integral part of the lives of the children at the Angel’s Heaven orphanage. With an aim for creating awareness of the orphanage and the overall humanitarian needs of Nepal, the children of the orphanage will be performing traditional Nepali songs along with other classic songs in a free charity concert at Kathmandu Durbar Square on Saturday, the 26th July, from 6.00 to 8.00 pm.

Aside the children’s performance, the event will feature a session with Japanese fire dancers, a blend of tribal sounds and mountain magic by a Nepalese didgeridoo master, and additional short numbers by other partners and of the Angel’s Heaven orphanage.


Contact Information
For further information, please contact Mr. Amrit Bikram Shahi, the director of the orphanage. A press kit with logos, photos and background information is available on the website.

Mr. Amrit Bikram Shahi
Child at Risk Rescue & Care Foundation (CRRCF)
P.O. Box: 8975 EPC-1104, Kathmandu, Nepal

Mobile: 98510-26344
E-Mail: st_angels@hotmail.com
Website: www.stangelsheaven.com

St. Angel's Heavenly Choir

Here's a cordial invitation to all friends and fellow travelers in or around Kathmandu on Saturday, July 26th!

Angel's Children

A common view from the rooftop room at Amrit's orphanage... The children running criss-cross his room, playing and singing songs, rejoicing life in the company of a loving father they were once deprived of.

Dhading Valley - Photos

After a week at Dhading, living in a mountain-locked beautiful, pristine valley at 2000 meters of altitude, I'm back to KTM for two days. This is where Amrit has his land, where he wants to establish the orphanage once the required funds (min. 10.000 euro) have been raised. More to follow in a bit, here's a link to a set of photos from the place.

Much more online at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/universalshanti/sets/72157606200328247/

More food!

A surprise discovery of some money I had completely forgotten about got the children 30 kilos of rice, 5 kilos of dal and 5 kilos of potatoes this afternoon.

"Thank you, uncle!"
"Thank you, uncle!"
"Thank you!"

Thank you, children!

In other news, a bit of kung fu yesterday helped me get 20K Indian from funds long pending. A quarter will go to the children, and the remainder should be enough for most of the rest of the year (sans ticket back to Europe) here and in India.

Angel's Heaven - Mission Statement

This is a copy of a recent proposal my friend Amrit, the director of the Angel's Heaven orphanage, handed over to me. Attached to it was a sheet with a breakdown of the annual expenses, which I'll be posting later.

Contributors can send donations by 1. Credit card, 2. PayPal, 3. Bank transfer (Finnish and Indian accounts), or 4. Western Union. Contact me for details. Otherwise, visitors can give cash on visiting or contact Amrit for further details.

---

Angel’s Heaven Nepal
Child at Risk Rescue and Care Foundation — Since 1999

Govt. Regd.: CR No. 5, CDO No. 1598, SWC No. 22728
Mailing address: Post Box No. 8975 EPC-1104
Tel: 470-0718
Mobile: 985-102-6344
E-mail: st_angels@hotmail.com

---

Mission Statement

Angel’s Heaven - Children at Risk, Rescue and Care Foundation

Nepal is an underdeveloped country with a total population of 25 million per capita income per year of USD 240. The total literacy rate is 28%.

Since 1996 Nepal is suffering from civil war. Due to this reason, orphans are increasing and a large number of population cannot afford education and health care for their children.

Angel’s Heaven is a child care home formed in 1999, working towards giving homeless and orphans an opportunity for a safe life and a good future. The organization is committed to help children who are socially neglected and rejected in the society. The orphanage is aimed towards providing an atmosphere full of love, respect and kindness towards each other.

Started with one child from eastern Nepal in 1999, by 2002 the organization was looking after 12 children. Currently with 20 children from the age group of 5-15, Angel’s Heaven emphasizes on providing proper education and better future for the children. We believe in raising the children in a manner so they grow up to be independent, great individuals.

Angel’s Heaven is a non-profit, non-political, independent organization with a vision to serve disadvantaged children by providing basic necessities and globally recognized education.

Angel’s Heaven is self-supported organization funded by its 7 members to their best ability in a country where 82 percent of the population is living in villages and mountains. This is a small attempt to obtain financial support to help us improve the current lifestyle and education support for our children. By your small help, we can save their lives.

Our mission is to provide safe, healthy and better life to under-privileged children from various parts of Nepal.

We urge you to support these needed children. Your support can help them become responsible individuals, creating a better tomorrow.

Few of the many ways you can support:

• You can sponsor food, clothing, and medical requirements for an individual child or for all the children.
• You can sponsor education for an individual child or a group
• You can provide charity funding for the orphanage for various activities assisting our children
• You can help by purchasing land or supporting in construction of accommodation/school
• You can volunteer to teach English or music to our children

Long term objectives

• Angel’s Heaven aspires to use land owned by Mr. Amrit Bikram Shahi (St. Angel) to construct a larger, permanent facility where more children can be accommodated.
• The next priority is a school where we can educate all our children and also assist the poor and helpless by providing free education.
• We intend to open a free dispensary / health centre to support the unfortunate people who suffer due to lack of money and education.

Angel's Heaven - Photos of Children (1)

Whatever my trips may have been in the past, under the convenient mask of spirituality, and however much of that may have crumbled down to rubble, some base ideals remain. One needs to do good things in his life. Good things.

There was a time when I thought it was about saving the universe. Several recent vivid experiences of real life have given me a golden understanding of the fact that there is no universe deprived of its integral constituents. And while there's little one can do for subatomic particles, there is a world of good one can do for other sentient beings.

There was a time when welfare meant creating an abstract spiritual impulse in others — a sneaky echo of the holy name, or a tidbit of profound metaphysics — all rooted in my subjective faith. There is, however, a platform for everything — and for example in the case of these children, a sound platform is created by unreservedly extending love and care wherever it is in demand.

Yes! Contributing to the need of the moment without fruitive calculations of future spiritual profundity, another petty feather in the cap. Holy names my ass. Feed those children first.

Here are a couple of recent photos taken at the rooftop of the Angel's Heaven orphanage.

This is Aishwarya, Amrit's wife, with some of the children. Sarina, the kid at the right, is the latest addition to the family — and has sure enough had hard time adjusting to her new life. For some reason, she found a backup daddy in me... There was no going to bed, no end to tears without going to uncle first...

Two girls busy working with colorful papers....

A little toddler busy playing with an extraordinary device...

My friend Santos, president of the Universal Peace Foundation, visiting the orphanage and teaching an origami trick to the kids.

Mami, Santos' Japanese wife, playing with the children. The girl at the front is sitting on Santos' djembe, a popular Japan-made percussion instrument.

57 kilos of food

As of late, I've been spending a good deal of my time working with the Angel's Heaven orphanage in the neighborhood, near the Kathmandu Durbar Square. Run by Amrit and his wife Aishwarya, this orphanage of 20 beautiful children is badly in want of support.

A friend spotted me the other day at a wholesale grocery store near the Universal Peace Foundation office — I spent away the last 2500 NRS I had to get the children food for the upcoming days. 30 kilos of rice, 10 kilos of flat rice, 5 kilos of mung dal, sugar and oil respectively, and a kilo of tea and mixed beans each, and at the crux of time — Amrit has a trekking office, but the season is now at rock bottom, owing both to weather and the current political situation in Nepal.

Some friends, inspired by the example, have chosen to hop onboard and do the same. The children need an average of 12 kilos of rice and 1 kilo of dal per day, in addition with some vegetables. Much is in plans for providing steady future sustenance for this small but beautiful and very meaningful project.

We've been painting at the orphanage also. This old guest house, now rented for the orphanage, is in need of renovation to provide for an inspiring environment for the little angels. Manue and Bikash have been lending their artist's hand to fill the walls with flowers, vines, fruits and other beauties of nature. The top floor roof needs repairs to get past the ongoing monsoon season, and a new 2000 liter water tank also needs to be purchased.

Much is to be done, then! I got a draft of the website today — thanks Manue! — and it should go online momentarily with more specifics on the running expenses and development prospects for the orphanage.

Anyone touched by the prospect is cordially welcome to contribute — in however small and grand way — to the cause. To give an example, 12 kilos of rice costs 850 NRS (8.50e) — here even little goes a long way! I will be posting more details in the days to come. In the meantime, feel free to get in touch with me if the above sparks an interest.

Meditation Curriculum

The following is a proposal for a possible meditation curriculum for a five-day, four-night forest camp in the surrounding woods and hills of Kathmandu some friends at Universal Peace Foundation are organizing.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Proposal for Meditation Curriculum

Possible courses at the Shivapuri retreat

— Ananda / June 25, 2008

The following four courses, covering the core of my meditation studies and experiences, may be given at the Shivapuri forest retreat at any length desired. I would prefer to do the first three on three consecutive days, and a shorter session of the fourth one at the closing of each night’s program.

1. Wisdom Contemplation

Drawing from extensive personal introspection, counseling sessions and the vast, ancient heritage of Buddhist psychology, the wisdom contemplation course leads the participant deep into the uncognized areas of the human mind. The primary objective is to equip the meditator with a wholesome understanding of the workings of the human mind, with wisdom tools for transcending our self-imposed limitations.

2. Breathing Meditation

A very classical form of meditation, watching the perpetual flow of the breath is an excellent means of developing concentration. The participant is led with a guided meditation not only to a deep and liberating focus on the ordinary breath, but also into the subtler areas of pranic breathing and an extensive awareness of the energetic prana-field pervading the body.

3. Basic Vipassana

A deeply psychological form of meditation taught by Buddhist masters, vipassana is an invaluable tool in transcending the conditioned mind. Meditators participating in the course will learn how to explore, confront and deal with the common tricks of the conditioned mind. Breaking through habitual patterns and the deep bondage of reactions, one is no longer subject to the pulls of pleasure and pain, reposing in deep tranquility.

4. Universal Goodwill

Good things are best shared, and so it is with the good energy we accumulate in the course of our daily life and spiritual practices. Meditation on the four brahma-viharas, the immeasurable spiritual assets — compassion, kindness, sympathy and equanimity — allows the meditator to pervade all of existence through an expansion of goodwill, unifying his heart with the hearts of all living beings, sharing in the infinite good energy of the infinite universe.