Blog 3 2010 - We won a Mayor's Award last night!

Hi guys! Our programme with the Jes students in Galway won them the Young Volunteer of the Year at the Mayor's Awards in Galway last night! We are all in total shock, as these awards are focused on community groups, so we thought that, as we work in Nepal, we would be most unlikely to win. There are 13 students in the group, and Amanda, baby Donagh and myself were all in the Black Box last night for the ceremony, which was broadcast live on Galway Bay FM. The award goes to the group of transition year students who we have been working with this year at Colaiste Iognaid ('The Jes'). They ran an art competition in the school for us in November, and the winning entry was used for our Christmas cards, and the students sold almost 2,000 cards, and got them shelf space in 10 retailers in Galway! They used their own initiave entirely in achieving this, with very little help from us. They also have helped us out with bag packing, our flag day, and various other initiatives. Our flag day in Galway in particular was fantastic - despite the most dreadful weather, they endured hours of lashing rain and bitterly cold winds to shake buckets for the day on Shop St. They have been fantastic young people to work with, full of energy and enthusiasm. It really shows that if you can engage with young people and get them involved and motivated, they can bring so much to the table! A huge thanks to Amanda here at Foundation Nepal, who has been running this programme on our side, for providing that motivation and for all her hard work with the students. We hope to run a Nepali cultural evening soon with them, with Nepali food, music, dance and art, so looking forward to a big celebration! Well done again guys, and thanks so much for all your support and hard work! It is well deserved. Hope everyone who reads this is having a nice week! Lots of love, Nicky