This Christmas, Brittany Brothers (STF Videographer extraordinaire) and I (your trusty Penpal Coordinator) are spending the holidays in Surkhet, Nepal, with our fantastic partner school Kopila Valley.
Brittany and Brianne with Hima in front of the Kopila Valley School
Best Christmas Ever? That would be a bit of an understatement.
The kids at Kopila Valley celebrate and learn about holidays from all cultures and religions, but Christmas is clearly a school-wide favorite. And not only is December 25th a day for Christmas trees and carols about Santa Claus (they know all of them!), but it also marks the anniversary of the school’s founding and the much-anticipated Kopila Valley Annual Day Celebration!
A crowd gathers for the Annual Day celebration!
The Kopila Kids pulled out all the stops for their school’s third birthday, putting on a four-hour performance full of songs, dancing, drama – even a flashmob-style Black Eyed Peas number! These kids are crazy talented, and man, do they know how to put on a show. Check out the photos below for some stellar appearances by the girls we sponsor – we were blown away!
And then, for the most incredible Christmas surprise yet, the Kopila Kids found out they are getting their very own school bus!
*Note: This is not the actual bus.
After Annual Day, we headed back to the house for a Momo dinner party (a Nepali dumpling, and the kids’ all-time favorite food), and then gathered around the Christmas tree for what has to be the most wonderful and hilarious gift-opening sequence we have ever experienced. The kids each picked a name for their Secret Santa earlier in the week, and had a blast watching each other open the gifts they had gotten. Britt and I even got our very first Mango juice boxes!
Christmas in Nepal!
Talk about an incredible welcome to Nepal! Now we’re ready for a week of filming, teaching, and hanging out with the girls we sponsor. Stay tuned; there’s more to come!
(Photos courtesy of Brittany Brothers and Kopila Valley Fellow Benjamin Heiber)
