Because we care about sharing

Sorry it’s been such a long time since the last KapKids post. The Christmas holidays and normal daily activities got in the way.

But that doesn’t mean to say nothing’s been happening. There’s a committee working hard in the children’s interests, and Palmo continues to act as our primary contact with the children, the orphanage and people involved with it, and the word is spreading.

Jon Newton, here, and our daughter, Emma who, at 11, is about the same age as some of the children, is educated at home.

She spends a lot of time on a special site for home schooled kids and recently came across another girl, aged 13 this time, who’s a Nepali orphan adopted by a Canadian family and who also lives in British Columbia.

“Most of us are lucky enough to have a proper meal every night, sleep in our own bed, and have enough money to take care of ourselves. Palmo and others work very hard caring for the children, but it is very hard to care for so many kids.

“It’s true that they are getting help, but help is always needed. A dollar will not make a big difference to you, but it will for the KapKids.”

On the right is Emma’s adaptation of a pic on an earlier post showing Palmo with the orphans.

Getting the message across

Nisha and I plan to try and generate a lot more media attention in 2008.

In 2007 Nisha was a guest on CBC’s The Island (we both live on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada) and among other responses, the interview with Gregor Craigie encouraged three people to contribute $700, of whom decided to use our snail-mail address.

PayPal is good for immediate transactions, but they take slice of the top which obviously becomes more substantial as the amount of a donation increases.

With that in mind, our snail-mail addie is really simple:

Nisha Demers
C/O KapKids.com
Lake Cowichan
British Columbia V0R 2G0, Canada.

And if you decide to go that route, please make your cheque payable to Nisha, who’ll passes it 100% untouched to the Kapan Kids fund in Nepal with nothing, zero, nada, taken off the top for expenses, or anything else.

Christmas Special

Back to the Christmas present, two of the cheques were fifty dollars each. And another was from Linda and her family, here in BC.

She and her husband have a daughter, 28, who in turn has a young son. They’d heard Nisha on the CBC show and just before Christmas, decided instead of buying Christmas gifts for each other, they’d pool the money and give it to the children at the Child Orphanage, as it’s called.

How much?

Five hundred dollars!

That should be what Christmas is all about. It was an amazing gift from Linda and her family.

But donations don’t have to be a lot of money. As Emma says above, “A dollar will not make a big difference to you, but it will for the KapKids.”

Everything helps and to add to the fund, we’ll be staging the auction we mentioned for the first time last year, which means getting items to go with the Cuban cigars already promised by Yuri, KapKids’ Cuban editor.

Going to Nepal

We also heard from someone else who wants to help the kids.

Jesse Taylor who, by sheer coincidence also lives on Vancouver Island, came across the KapKids on p2pnet and emailed me.

He and some of his family are going to Nepal in May on a trekking holiday.

Which is how Nisha herself came across the kids.

She’s a Nepalese orphan adopted by Lorraine Demers in Duncan and she was on a trekking holiday in Nepal. A friend took Nisha t the orphanage, and she decided to give the rest of her holiday money to the children.

KapKids.com has grown from that effort.

Ernesto, who runs TorrentFreak from Holland, organised the domain name and hosting and together with p2pnet, were all trying to show sharing really does mean caring in a way which’ll benefit the Kap Kids./

Jesse will be stopping off in Kathmandu, during his trip and has promised to take gifts to the children and put together a report which we ultimately hope to be able to post on p2pnet, Torretnfreak and YouTube.

Definitely stay tuned.

Nisha, Jon and Ernesto

The KapKids.com project was launched to help a small group of orphans in Kapan, near Kathmandu in Nepal.

‘KapKids.com has so far raised close to $1,200 to date

Nothing is deducted for expenses of any kind. Nothing. Not one cent. So click the pic on the right to maked a donation, remembering all of it goes to the children, as Nisha Demers explained to CBC listeners in British Columbia when she was interviewed by Gregor Craigie for On The Island, last Monday.

It’s hard for people to put their hands in their pockets with so many charities and worthy causes looking for cash.

But this appeal is a little different than most.

It’s as much about trying to find homes for the children as it is about raising money for the orphanage, and to go towards building a permanent sanctuary for them when they leave it.

And with that in mind, we’ve heard from a mother in British Columbia with two daughters of her own who’s seriously interested in adopting one of the children.

She wants to remain anonymous for the time being, but she’s very serious about wanting to give one of the Kapan kids a decent home in Canada.

Nisha’s Song

What’s it like for a child to leave one world for another?

Nisha was only 14-months-old when she was adopted by Lorraine Demers.

Nisha’s Story, a book about her experiences. Including a music CD with a lullaby, it’s available online from the Trafford Publishing web page.

All royalties are going to the Kapan kids.

Thanks to Yuri and Giovanni over in Italy, we also have Spanish and Italian versions AND two separate WordPress blogs in Italian and Spanish.

Any old iron?

I (Jon) am originally from London, England, and years ago, rag’n'bone men, as they were known, would drive around the streets in horse-drawn wagons singing out, singing out, ‘Any old iron?’

People would give them scraps of metal and other things they didn’t want.

So we’re looking for anything YOU don’t want as a means of raising money for the KapKids.

Yuri has already contributed two boxes of rare Cuban cigars and we’re wondering if you have something which may produce a dollar or ten?

If you have, maybe you’d like to post it on eBay and donate the proceeds to the Kapan Kids.

It would raise badly needed $$$ and also introduce the kids to thousands of eBay users.

We’re going to auction Yuri’s cigars through KapKids and he’s promised to pay the shipping costs and if you have some item to contribute via eBay, hopefully, you be willing the same.

And do something else.

Are you someone famous and if you are, would you be willing to contribute something we can auction off here? Or maybe you know a celebrity you can ask for help?

Meanwhile, I’d just like to reiterate KapKids.com hasn’t been hitched to some cynical company with zero interest in helping kids, but with a 100% commitment to getting its name in front of the public, masquerading as a genuinely caring corporate citizen.

It’s a wholly compassionate effort started by Nisha, myself (Jon Newton - p2pnet) and Ernesto (Torrentfreak) who all believe caring means sharing, without reserve or reservation.

If you’d like to help and you don’t like PayPal, here’s a snail-mail address. Please make cheques or Postal Orders payable in Canadian funds to:

Nisha Demers
C/O KapKids.com
Lake Cowichan
British Columbia V0R 2G0, Canada.

Cheers! And thanks. And all the best …

Nisha, Jon and Ernesto

The KapKids.com project is rolling nicely, the latest news being local people are organizing a committee to make sure funds raised through KapKids.com and other projects are distributed where they’re most needed, and when they’re most needed.

We’ve just learned from Palmo that Rajendra and his wife, who’ve been looking after the children 24 hours a day, seven days a week, sleeping where they sleep and eating when they eat, have been doing so without any form of payment whatsoever.

Nothing. Nada.

But now the committee has been formed, Rajendra and Tora are to be paid a salary partially from the kapkids.com donations and partly from other contributions.

We’ve also just learned the villagers themselves provided the land the building is on, which is huge.

In case you’re new to this, the Net is all about caring and sharing, we posted a while back. which is why the three of us from three different countries - Nisha, myself, Jon Newton, born in England but now a Canadian citizen, and Ernesto from Holland - have adopted the Kapan Kids.

The Net makes it possible for the KapKids.com project to be an international effort.

But this isn’t a one-off project. It has three prongs:

• To provide ongoing support of all kinds
• To create a permanent Kapan Resource Centre for the kids, who have to leave the Child Orphanage when they’re 12 and who then either end up on the streets or working
• To help each of these kids to find a caring, sharing home.

$1 isn’t mean much to you. But it’ll mean a heck of a lot to to the KapKids. And of course, any amount, large or small, will be gratefully received.

KapKids Blog

Thanks to Ernesto at Torrentfreak in Holland, Kapan Kids is now blog, meaning you can post comments, make suggestions, and so on.

So bookmark it

KapKids.com also has two new editors - Yuri (right) and Giovanni.

They’re looking after the new Italian (Giovani) and Spanish pages, and if you’d like to help out be making a page in your language, please get in touch.

Yuri and Giovanni are researchers at the the University of Pavia’s supramolecular laboratory in Italy.

Giovanni is from Milan and Yuri is from Havana, Cuba.

Smokin’

And here’s an idea.

Yuri says in Cuba, barter is a favoured form of exchange and when he was last in Havana, he ’sold’ his no-longer-used PC for one box of 25 Cohibas Siglo VI and one of Cohibas Explendidos —- the real deal, and made this year.

Like everyone else in the world, he’s very conscious of the problems associated with smoking anything, even luxury cigars such as these, and he’s been wondering what to do with them.

So he thought he’d donate them to KapKids.com and in case you’re thinking So What? - these are the kind of cigar-lovers pay an arm and a leg for —- if they can even get hold of them.

On the official Online Havana Cigars site, 25 Cohibas Siglo VIs go for $500, and the Cohibas Explendidos are worth $479 for 25.

“The two boxes are in perfect condition, originally sealed, and with all the warranty seals and document that prove they are authentic Cohibas cigars,” says Yuri.

So we’ve decided to use them to start another money-raising project for KapKids.com.

We’re going to auction them off to the highest bidder, the money to be paid by PayPal directly into the KapKids account, or by cheque to the special snail-mail address set up for non-electronic payments.

Either way, the money goes straight into an account here in Canada, accessed solely by Nisha Demers, herself a former Nepali orphan who, in effect, started this whole thing off

With that in mind, maybe you have something at home you’d like to donate? We’re going to open a KapKids.com eBay account and put the items there. Once again, the proceeds will go straight into the KapKids account.

So have a root around and see if there’s anything you no longer want, but which may raise a few bucks.

Yuri says he’s going to pay for any shipping costs for the cigars and maybe you’d be willing to do the same. If that isn’t possible for any reason but you’d still like to contribute, no worries. We’ll work something out

At this point, people around the world have donated $1,151.38 to the KapKids.com.

And all of it, every cent, is going to the kids!

The donations button is immediately below. You know what to do, and if you’d like to help, think about hosting it on your site.

That’s it for now.

Cheers! And thanks. And all the best …

Nisha, Jon & Ernesto

KapKids Project

SOS niños Nepal

“Dear Nisha,” emails Palmo from Kathmandu in Nepal. “Oh!! I’m so happy to know that orphanes are going to get more help !!! I & Jigme went to Orphanage with Lhakpa, Dechen & Dolma. We bought Chicken 5kgs cost Rs 565, Potatoes with Rs 300 & fruit (mangoes) 6kgs cost 40 per kg = Rs 240 and spent total Rs 1105.”

‘Palmo’ is Palmo Tenzing. She’s married to ophthalmic paediatrician Samten Tenzing and the couple, with one young son, Jigme, live and work in Nepal.

She’s also the the Kapan end of the KapKids.com project started a week ago because 29 children live in terrible conditions in a hut with a constantly leaking roof in Kapan, not far from Kathmandu.

If you’d like to add $1 or so to the kitty, or click the KapKids at the bottom of the page. And feel free to host it on your site

Back to the story, ‘Nisha’ is Nisha Demers, a former Nepali orphan who now lives permanently in Canada and who went to Kathmandu in January for a trekking holiday. Instead, she ended up donating her vacation funds to the kids.

The Child Orphanage, as it’s called, is home to 29 children aged four to 12, we posted when KapKids.com was launched.

“They eat, sleep play and do everything else in one tiny room with bamboo walls. The three beds they share also double as benches. The kids in Child Orphanage get a free education in a nearby school, but that’s where it ends.”

The Net is all about caring and sharing which is why the three of us from three different countries - Nisha, myself, Jon Newton, born in England but now a Canadian citizen, and Ernesto from Holland - have adopted the Kapan Kids.

The Net makes it possible for the KapKids.com project to be an international effort and as I (Jon Newton) write this at the end of Week 1 on the morning of October 28, 2007, Cyberspace citizens have contributed $868.25. And when this was posted 1,105 rupees - the cost of the food in the intro - was worth a touch more than $27 Canadian.

But this isn’t a one-off project. It has three prongs:

• To provide ongoing support of all kinds
• To create a permanent Kapan Resource Centre for the kids, who have to leave the Child Orphanage when they’re 12 and who then either end up on the streets or working
• To help each of these kids to find a caring, sharing home.

$1 isn’t mean much to you. But it’ll mean a heck of a lot to to the KapKids. And of course, any amount, large or small, will be gratefully received.

Spanish KaKids.com

And speaking of Europe, “My name is Yuri Diaz,” says Yuri, going on:

“I was born in Cuba, but now I am working in Italy.

“Yesterday I saw the Kapkids project on the Internet and I found your web site.

“I was moved and started thinking what could I do to help.

“Then I translated the content of Kapkid.com to Spanish which is my mother tongue and posted links to your web on my blogs:

http://senderodecompasion.blogspot.com/
http://vozdeurano.blogspot.com/
http://fotos-yudhiistira.blogspot.com/

“I also encouraged my friends to visit Kapkids.com and to host links on their web sites.

“In the attached file you can find the Spanish version of Kapkids.com. Considering that Spanish is one of the most diffused languages over the world, I think that including a Spanish version on your web could open the heart of many sensible people to the Kapkids project.

“I will also work on the Italian version of your web.

“Please keep working! You are doing a great thing!”

Thanks, Yuri Click here to check out Yuri’s Spanish KapKids.com.

Other people in other countries moved by the plight of the Kapan Kids might translate the page into their language.

Because of that really is what it’s all about. Caring and sharing.

You” find a donations button below. You know what to do. Feel free to grab it and host it on your site.

We’ll also be looking for other online ways for people to make a donation. If you have any ideas on that, please let us know. (We are NOT looking for corporate contributions with advertising strings attached.)

But not everyone likes online e-payments which, of course, also skim ‘X’ amounts off the top. So Gale Pepin, who manages the Lake Cowichan village post office, has organised a special KapKids.com snail-mail slot for anyone who wants to contribute, but who doesn’t like the idea of PayPal, etc.

If that’s you, please make cheques or Postal Orders payable in Canadian funds to:

Nisha Demers
C/O KapKids.com
Lake Cowichan
British Columbia V0R 2G0, Canada.

One more thing ..

Putting a roof over the kids’ heads and helping them live like human beings is fine, but more is needed and with that in mind, Nisha and I are hoping to go to Kapan in mid-November (when she has a break from university) so we can do detailed video profiles and text biographies for each kid, as well as a YouTube video on the orphanage and people who keep it going.

We think these will be invaluable as a way to reach people who may want to open their homes to one or more of the children.

They’ll be posted in a gallery on the site and p2pnet will feature each kid throughout the year, updating their histories whenever anything happens —- good or bad.

Neither Nisha nor I have enough money to make the trip and we don’t want to tap into donations for the orphanage. So if you know someone you think may be able to help us with that —- a travel agency or an airline, maybe? —- please ask them to get in touch.

We’re not fussy. We’ll go as freight baggage, if need be

Meanwhile, it’s still early days and although we have a lot of plans, including profiles of each Kapan orphan with stories explaining how they lost their parents, at this point we’re trying principally to get the word out.

If you have any ideas about what we can do to get the word out, and how to do it, we’d love to hear from you.

I’m working on a short video for YouTube and within the next couple of weeks, Nisha and I will hope to get a couple of things happening with the local media.

For now, communications can be difficult with frequent power outages, so we won’t be able to manage minute-by-minute updates. But we’ll tell you as much as we can, as often as we can.

Thanks. And stay tuned.

Nisha, Jon and Ernesto