Monday 13 August 2012

KISC – 25 years


This weekend KISC has celebrated 25 years. 25 years of God’s faithfulness and goodness. 25 years of educating the children of mission workers and supporting much great work that is taking place across Nepal.

Alan and Margaret McIlhenny unveil a painting of KISC's History
The weekend kicked off with a community praise and worship evening, the highlight of which was stories from Alan McIlhenny, the founder of KISC. He shared one story about the starting of KISC, where a few months before the planned start they had just 3 students, a building, but no money and another story about being arrested just 2 weeks after KISC started. Two police officers laden with guns came to KISC to arrest him, but as they didn't have a vehicle Alan drove them both, to 3 different police stations, picking up a couple  more police men at each station before they got to the head police station in Kathmandu. Upon arrival Alan was interviewed by the Chief of Police who asked him many questions about KISC and it's values (bear in mind at the time it was illegal for Nepalis to be Christians). The Chief of Police concluded the questioning by asking if his son could be enrolled.

Year 7 Students performing a dance
Friday started with a whole school assembly in the morning, a key part of which was every class putting an item in a time capsule which will be opened in 25 years at the 50th Anniversary. Items included photos of the classes, profiles on the "Students of 2012", USB stick with photos of the school and current music, a coke bottle and a test tube filled with a strand of each students hair from one class. Each class also brought forward a tree, which we are plan to plant in the future on a permanent site. For now they will remain potted. The significance of the tree is that in the last year KISC has been discussing what we want our students to be like after KISC and the key element we decided was “Oaks of Righteousness” from Isaiah 61. 

This was followed by a Formal programme where guests included a government minister and a couple of government secretaries, the head of the British Council and the British School, the heads of UMN, INF(the Christian NGO’s that helped set up KISC),  ECEC (a key partner in teacher training) and HDCS (KISC’s owners). Histories where told and future visions shared and it was announced that a new agreement has been signed with the Nepali government for KISC to continue to function in Nepal for the next five years. A great answer to prayer after a lot of work with the government from our board.

Fun and Games on Saturday
Friday evening was a talent show, as many students some parents and a few staff got up and performed a variety of acts, ranging from piano solos to a rock band to traditional Nepali dances and a couple of skits. The evening was a lot of fun, and showed off a lot of talent from amongst our students in particular.

Birthday cake!
Then onto Saturday, and the culmination of festivities. Over 200 staff, parents, students and other connected people headed up to a hotel in the hills on the edge of the valley for a fun day that included swimming, games, a birthday cake, anniversary dinner and a final praise and worship service. This being monsoon the rain also played a part and ensured that many of the games where played in downpour, and Sam and his friends had lots of fun splashing in the puddles. However, the rain didn't put a dampener on a fun day.

So 25 years of God’s faithfulness was remembered with a successful 3 days of celebrations. Here's to the next 25 years!

Thursday 9 August 2012

KISC Celebrations


Just a quick post today to remind you that KISC starts its  25th Anniversary Celebrations today.

The schedule for events is as follows:

Thursday 6-8pm: Evening worship service and weekend kick-off
Friday 8.20-9.20am: Special joint assembly
           10am-12.30 Formal anniversary programme
           6-8pm: Talent show
Saturday 2-8pm: Family fun Day
               4pm Celebration Cake and refreshments
               5.30: Dinner
               6.30-8pm: Worship and Prayers for the future

The picture and quote from Dan is part of a series of 25 that have been appearing on the KISC website over the last 25 weeks in the build up to the event. To see more (although not all 25!) go to www.kisc.edu.np

You can watch some of the events from where you are by the live stream links below:

Anniversary Worship Celebration - www.ustream.tv/channel/kisc25 goes live on Thursday, August 9 at 6:00 PM local Nepali time.

Friday Formal programme, which will be attended by Government ministers and other local dignitaries - www.ustream.tv/channel/kisc25day2/ goes live at AM local Nepali time (although programme won't probably start till nearer 11am). 

Talent Show - www.ustream.tv/channel/kisc-talent-show goes live on Friday, August 10 at 6:00 PM local Nepali time.

We will update again next week to let you all know how it went. But for those that pray then join us as we give thanks to God for his provision for the past 25 years and as we pray and look to the future.

Wednesday 1 August 2012

Summer Holidays

I was just looking at the statistics for our blog and the number of viewings have shot up in the past few months. Not sure why! But Welcome to our blog if you are a new reader. And thank you for sticking with us and showing an interest in our work and lives if you've been around for a while!

We feel like the pressure is on now to write more often! Do feel free to engage on here with us - responses to our blog posts or if there are things you want to know more about then let us know. With the comments section on our blog we get quite a few spam messages so we have set it to approve all comments you write. So don't worry if it doesn't appear straight away. We will get an email telling us that you have commented and then we have to go and approve it - then it will appear.

So we are nearly coming to the end of our summer holidays. We have our holidays in July and start back in August just as everyone in England is settling into the middle of your long summer! (Or not very summery as it seems this year!)

As we’ve already written about we have had a whole lot of new staff arrive this summer. So it’s been a busy few months. Before they arrived we were involved in flat hunting, trying to find suitable places for them to live and then lots of emails about what they need and don't need to bring.

Then finally they arrived. So the past month has been a lot of shopping trips, showing people where to buy their groceries, where to buy household things and also some more fun trips such as where are nice places to take your kids - swimming, the zoo, cafes with gardens and playrooms. There is one family who have just been here a week now that have got a "new" house that hasn't been rented before so they have to buy everything! (The other families have moved into flats which were previously rented by expats so have inherited a lot of things). So imagine what you would need to buy moving into a house for the first time when you have virtually nothing. It's like starting at university again - except now you are a family of 4! Pots and Pans, plates, cutlery, hoover, fridge, fans, cot, mop and bucket, iron, etc etc etc... and all in a new country where you don't know how anything works.

 We have also had Dan's parents out for 2 weeks during the holidays. It is their second trip since we have been here, and the first since we have had the kids. They enjoyed taking Sam and Mim to some of their favourite places in Kathmandu and seeing how we spend our days. We were also able to squeeze in some site-seeing and a trip down to Pokhara. As I've said before the kind of relationship Sam and Mim have with their grandparents is very different as they don't see them as often. However, through skype and photos around the house they know who they are and it always surprises me how quickly they are playing and interacting with them, as if they see them all the time. So it has been really great to have 2 weeks when they could spend time together, having fun and sharing in our lives here. So it’s been a busy but enjoyable summer.

KISC starts back tomorrow for the staff and then the students are back (or starting for the first time) on Tuesday next week. KISC celebrates its 25th Anniversary next weekend. So we have three days of activities going on which include a talent show, a family fun day and services of thanksgiving and prayer for the future. A busy but pretty great start to the year! If you’re interested in seeing what is going on then you can “like” KISC on facebook, https://www.facebook.com/KISC1987 or go to their website: http://www.kisc.edu.np/