| featured story Steve Groh and Ross Green’s Service to the Children of Nepal Watch the Music Videos > The South Asia Children’s Fund believes that some of the most important learning takes place outside of the classroom. Toward this end, since its inception the South Asia Children’s Fund has worked closely with two accomplished leaders in the field of experiential education, Steve Groh from the United States and Ross Green from Canada. Together Steve and Ross have provided extraordinary opportunities for many hundreds of Nepali children living on the margins of society, including girls and boys of Bhutanese origin confined to refugee camps in eastern Nepal. Steve Groh’s chosen métier is circus arts, in which he has received extensive professional training. Over the past 15 years Steve, a native of Ohio, has worked with children and youth organizations in China, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Nepal. In addition Steve has performed in many action films as a stuntman. His advanced technical skills in circus and stunt work are complemented by a natural affinity for children, a big heart, and boundless energy. Steve ensures that all the children in his programs participate in the public performances that round off each of his workshops, including those with physical or mental limitations. Steve leaves a lasting impression on the girls and boys who participate in his workshops, who inevitably ask him to promise that he will “come back soon!” In Steve’s own words the workshops are “an out-of-the-ordinary activity that encourages the participants to identify with the magical world of circus and its underlying values, providing an opportunity to affirm their identity in a personal and collective way. Our public performances are a means of beginning a dialog between the community and their own children and youth, many of whom have coped with discrimination and exclusion.” Ross Green is a professional musician and social entrepreneur, and a graduate of the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary, Alberta. On completion of his studies Ross received the Regional Director’s Award at the CBC Broadcast Festival for his work in music composition and video production. Ross has been working in music, television and video production for 25 years. He loves children, and they respond with great enthusiasm to this immensely talented professional artist and youth leader. Ross is the founder of Music Seeds International, a program he designed “to share the gift of creating music with children and young teens. The students get to be part of a song writing team, performing their finished work in a recording studio as well as on camera, creating their own music video. Each group starts with a subject, something they want to sing about, usually something relating to positive social change.” Steve and Ross have led circus and music workshops for the South Asia Children’s Fund in four very different settings. Between 2006 and 2009 Steve and Ross worked with the children of Shree Mangal Dvip School in Kathmandu, all of whom come from remote villages along Nepal’s common border with Tibet. Under Ross’ inspired leadership the SMD students composed and recorded two songs, including the hit Bring Back Peace which has been aired in Europe and North America. Steve is by far the most popular guest instructor at Shree Mangal Dvip School, and his legacy includes dozens of young people with new confidence in themselves. As stated by 14 year-old Dorje Lama, “Steve is an amazing person who makes all of us work so hard, and have fun at the same time. He’s my favourite teacher ever.” The historic and picturesque town of Bandipur has been the site of circus and music workshops conducted by Steve and Ross in 2007 and 2008. Employing the town square and public park as their classrooms, and with the Himalayas as their backdrop, Steve and Ross earned the designation of ‘honorary citizens of Bandipur’ on account of their considerable achievements. Steve wrote the following in his report on the November 2008 workshop in Bandipur: “The workshop ended with a final show in the town square with a huge audience attending. The children were a bit nervous before the show but once they heard the show music they performed with intensity. Their hard work and enthusiasm in learning new skills was rewarded by the audience giving them a standing ovation. I was deeply touched by the commitment and energy of the town’s children.” Ross’s accomplishments in the town include a song the children composed and recorded under his tutelage, Let’s Make Nepal Bandipure. Steve and Ross both ensured the participation in their workshops of girls and boys in equal number from the so-called ‘untouchable’ community. Their biggest fan in town is 12 year-old Krishna Gurung, whose endearing smile and engaging personality makes him a favourite of all visitors. According to Krishna “Steve and Ross should are even better than the Bollywood star Amitab Bachan. And we get to be their friends.” In 2008 Steve and Ross took up a new challenge at the request of the South Asia Children’s Fund: to work in the Mid-Western district of Dang, home of the indigenous Tharu people. Just reaching their worksite involved a bone-jarring 15-hour bus ride from Kathmandu, with all their equipment strapped to the top of the vehicle. Political problems forced the bus to come to a halt at three towns along the route. The workshops in the town of Gorahi were extremely popular with the children and youth, who had never before participated in such an activity. In his report from his Dang workshop in Dang Steve wrote: “The first day I visited 12 classrooms at the school explaining to the children who I was and what my program was about. I selected two students from each classroom to participate in the circus workshop. The children arrived at the specified time not exactly sure what they had gotten themselves into. I did a demonstration of all the equipment we would be using during the workshop. The children watched me with wonder in their eyes. One of the girls said to me in her best English, “We can’t do that!” I explained to her (and to all of the other children present) that indeed they could learn the skills I was showing them. And they did!” But by far the most challenging assignment for Steve and Ross was in the Beldangi Two Bhutanese Refugee Camp in Eastern Nepal in 2009. For more than 19 years Nepal has hosted over 110,000 people expelled from Bhutan who are not allowed to return to their homeland. They are confined to camps, living in huts constructed of paper and plastic, with no opportunity to ever win Nepali citizenship. The South Asia Children’s Fund was invited by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to conduct music and circus workshops at Beldangi Two Camp, with the assistance of the Catholic charity Caritas and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Never before had Steve and Ross worked with such large groups of participants in one setting. At each workshop and performance Steve and Ross were met by hundreds of children and youth, eager for new activities, all of whom wanted to participate. The circus and music workshops were centered at Greenvale Extension School, as well as the Youth Friendly Centers and Disability Centers in the camp. We want to thank the IOM for the hospitality they extended Ross and Steve during their time in Jhapa. According to Ross “I have never before worked under such pressure, and by people who were so appreciative of my efforts. I was both humbled and inspired by the Bhutanese adults and children whom I came to know in the camp, children and adults alike. I can only hope that my music workshops allowed the children a glimpse of a happier world.” Ross considers Hami Sabai Maya (We All Love), the song that the Bhutanese refugee children composed and recorded under his leadership in Beldangi Two Camp, as one of his greatest personal and professional achievements. We at the South Asia Children’s fund salute Steve Groh and Ross Green for their extraordinary service to some of Nepal’s poorest children. Watch the Music Videos > |
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