The children of the 'Helping Children Study' Club (HCS), like many other children, love the chance to sing and dance with their friends. When we placed an audience before them, their excitement began to overflow and even the shyest of students were eager to perform in the special Parents Day program which was organized by the children themselves, under the watchful guidance of their dedicated tutors, Hari Prashad Sodari, Rita Dangi and Amrit Bishwakarma.

An extravaganza of dance, poetry, stories and devotional songs was played out much to the delight of the parents who attended the event. The founder of Shanti Sewa Ashram and facilitator of the HCS club, Dr. Chintamani Yogi, presided over the event and blessed it with a heartfelt speech about the need for mutual love and appreciation in family life. We were also privileged to have the company of Dadhi Ram Khanal, headmaster of HVP Thali and Mrs. Sarju Baba Shrestha, who joined in the fun by dancing, singing and chatting to the children.

Several parents also seized the opportunity to speak of the many ways that HCS has helped their children. The overwhelming sentiments from the mothers and fathers who got the chance to talk with the HCS tutors privately, was one of great thanks. As one mother said;

"I can not thank the people of HCS enough. Since my children have been coming here each evening they have improved in their studies and their behavior. Before the HCS started I did not know anything about the Shanti Sewa Ashram or why it was here. I see now that it was a place built truly for the betterment of our community and especially, our children."

Indeed, many of the children who attend HCS come from very harsh backgrounds. Their parents must cope with many arduous tasks such as getting enough clean water into the house, work that demands many hours standing in lines. When simple things such as water become so problematic, the family unit is usually the first to suffer because the house hold becomes focused on survival that many other values have to be forgotten. For such families in this community, HCS is an oasis of calm that allows children to focus entirely on their studies and recognize their own strengths and weaknesses; it provides an environment where a sense of joy can be found in hard work and discipline set against a deeply spiritual background. This is something that many of the parents confessed their children lacked before HCS began.

The parents gathered at the event held in their honour were unanimous in the fact that since their children had started to attend HCS, they had grown in confidence, enjoyed more success at school and mellowed into well behaved sons and daughters at home. Most importantly, they said, the children are beginning to demand time to study!

Above everything, the children of HCS have shown that they now want to share their learning and their talents for singing, dancing and poetry because they have built up a sturdy belief in their own abilities.

For the parents who attended this special evening it was a chance to glimpse the fine adults that their children will one day become. For the children of the HCS it was an opportunity to demonstrate just how much they had grown academically, spiritually and personally. The evening ultimately reinforced the importance of HCS to the local community and, in a clear sing song of children's voices, shouted out that all children, regardless of background, will excel if only we can give them an opportunity to shine.

Parents and children spend the afternoon dancing away

(left) The hard working tutors of the HCS.(middle)Chintamani Yogi with his special guests, Dhadhi Ram Khanal and Sarju Baba Shrestha.(right)The children sang many devotional songs and prayers.

Report By: Erin Jarvis, UK Volunteer. Email: thegoodwylie [at] hotmail [dot] com