Dear friends and lovers of Nepal,
As Brenda is in Nepal until end of February 2016, we have decided to postpone the next Sano Katha Nepal until sometime in March.
We have a few people already interested in presenting their experiences and photos at the next Sano Katha but we still need more presenters for 2016. If you would like to share your "little story" of Nepal to a captive audience, please contact us on sanokathanepal@hotmail.com
The first Sano Katha Nepal was a huge success and it would not have been possible without our four wonderful presenters (scroll down for more), our amazing audience, the perfect space at the Back Track Adventures office and the raffle prize donated by The Paddington Curry House.
While Brenda is in Nepal she will be looking for a small grass roots project to fund with the $470 made on the night and we will give you all news of this at a later date.
If you have friends who would like to go on our mailing list please let us know their contact details (via the email above) and we can add them.
We are really looking forward to the next Sano Katha and we hope you can join us again then.
Regards,
Brenda & Kylie
Tuesday, 13 October 2015
Wednesday, 5 August 2015
Inaugural event : 5th August 2015
The audience at the first Sano Katha event gave the evening the thumbs up. Ray, Jiwan, Sarah and Peter received enthusiastic applause after each of their interesting presentations and there were many questions from the audience about their experiences.
After the formal part of the evening people were able to mingle and share their own experiences and catch up with friends.
The raffle was a great success, and overall $470 was raised. This money will go towards a small project in Nepal which Kylie and Brenda will identify early 2016.
The trek took them high above a remote Valley passing through remote villages and over suspension bridges, following glaciers and crossing high snow laden passes to get to Dhaulagiri Base Camp at 4740m. After Base Camp they traversed over the high pass of French Col at 5360m and then dropped into Hidden Valley camping at about 5000 metres. The views of the Dhaulagiri range (7th highest in the world) and over Jomsom and Thorong La were stunning! At the end of the trek, there was one last big down to an altitude of 850m.
Jiwan Kharel
Nepal has many diverse
cultures and people, and weddings are a classic example of this diversity. Jiwan explained the rituals of a Brahmin
wedding, from the ceremony and worshipping which he participated in as a groom
at his home and the customs the bride and her family follow in their home.
Sarah Macaione
Sarah Macaione shared her experience as a volunteer in the village
of Jwanater in the Kavre District, a 3 hour drive from Kathmandu. She joined
with six other young Australians through the World Youth International
Organisation and helped build from scratch to completion a community building
for this village.
Peter Sneddon
In November 2014, Peter Sneddon
joined Back Track Adventures’ Kathmandu Photography Workshop and spent a week
capturing on camera the cultural and religious aspects of the Kathmandu Valley.
To see more of Peter's photography click on one of the photos.
Many thanks to
Back Track Adventures for making their office space available for these events
The Paddington Curry House, 3/147 Latrobe Terrace, Paddington 4064 http://thepaddingtoncurryhouse.com.au/ for providing the dinner gift voucher for the raffle
After the formal part of the evening people were able to mingle and share their own experiences and catch up with friends.
The raffle was a great success, and overall $470 was raised. This money will go towards a small project in Nepal which Kylie and Brenda will identify early 2016.
Ray Baker
 |
| Dhaulagiri Himal |
Ray Baker, co-owner of Back Track Adventures, has been trekking in
Nepal for over 30 years. He shared his photos of one of the hardest treks he
has ever done – Around Dhaulagiri. He participated in this remote and
challenging 20 day trek with four other people in October 2003. They wanted to
do this trek with minimal impact and so carried all of their own personal gear
with a crew of porters who carried the food, fuel and tents.
 |
| Muri village |
The trek took them high above a remote Valley passing through remote villages and over suspension bridges, following glaciers and crossing high snow laden passes to get to Dhaulagiri Base Camp at 4740m. After Base Camp they traversed over the high pass of French Col at 5360m and then dropped into Hidden Valley camping at about 5000 metres. The views of the Dhaulagiri range (7th highest in the world) and over Jomsom and Thorong La were stunning! At the end of the trek, there was one last big down to an altitude of 850m.
Seeing Ray’s photos of this beautiful region that not many
lovers of Nepal trekking would get to do, was exhilarating; it sure made many of us want to sign up ASAP!
 |
| French Col 5360m |
Jiwan Kharel
Nepal has many diverse
cultures and people, and weddings are a classic example of this diversity. Jiwan explained the rituals of a Brahmin
wedding, from the ceremony and worshipping which he participated in as a groom
at his home and the customs the bride and her family follow in their home. 
The
couple are then joined for a third formal ceremony where both families come
together and celebrate. Jiwan also
explained some of the unusual customs and practices followed by Tharu and
Newari cultures.
Sarah Macaione
Sarah Macaione shared her experience as a volunteer in the village
of Jwanater in the Kavre District, a 3 hour drive from Kathmandu. She joined
with six other young Australians through the World Youth International
Organisation and helped build from scratch to completion a community building
for this village.
Before leaving for Nepal Sarah raised $6,000 which paid for
all the building materials for this project. Sarah worked & lived alongside
the village people for 5 weeks during April/May 2013 and she told us that it
was one of the most rewarding things she has done.
This was evident from the unique memories she shared - sleeping amongst bags of rice and stepping on mice in the middle of the night on the way to the toilet, having limited electricity, bathing in the local river as there was no shower and nearly getting washed away in the current, living with a Nepali Mother and Father who spoke no English, lugging water as there was only one small tap for the whole village, mixing concrete by hand and hanging out with the local kids at the end of her work day.
Seeing this experience through the eyes of a young woman was a real treat for the audience.
This was evident from the unique memories she shared - sleeping amongst bags of rice and stepping on mice in the middle of the night on the way to the toilet, having limited electricity, bathing in the local river as there was no shower and nearly getting washed away in the current, living with a Nepali Mother and Father who spoke no English, lugging water as there was only one small tap for the whole village, mixing concrete by hand and hanging out with the local kids at the end of her work day.
Seeing this experience through the eyes of a young woman was a real treat for the audience.
Peter Sneddon
 |
| Early morning in Bhaktapur |
He visited the main tourist areas like Swayambhunath, Boudhanath, Bhaktapur, Thimi and Pashupathinath, as well as the non-tourist areas of Kathmandu, capturing scenes of the local Nepali people going about their daily business, religious ceremonies and rural life but also some fantastic shots of the people up close. As he showed his photos to the audience he relived his time in Kathmandu and the memories that each photo conjured up for him. He said the days photographing started early and were very busy but very rewarding and that it was hard to take a bad photo!
He visited the main tourist areas like Swayambhunath, Boudhanath, Bhaktapur, Thimi and Pashupathinath, as well as the non-tourist areas of Kathmandu, capturing scenes of the local Nepali people going about their daily business, religious ceremonies and rural life but also some fantastic shots of the people up close. As he showed his photos to the audience he relived his time in Kathmandu and the memories that each photo conjured up for him. He said the days photographing started early and were very busy but very rewarding and that it was hard to take a bad photo!
 |
| Makeupless Hindu Holy Man |
Everywhere he looked was a photo opportunity and
quoting his tour leader who said “you could even take a great photo falling
over”. Kathmandu is a beautiful vibrant City and Peter definitely captured this
in his diverse collection of photos. Peter said he took about 3,000 photos in
the week he was in Kathmandu so we are hoping he may return again to Sano Katha
to share more amazing photos of the City we all love so much.
 |
| Kathmandu Rooftops |
To see more of Peter's photography click on one of the photos.
Many thanks to
Back Track Adventures for making their office space available for these events
The Paddington Curry House, 3/147 Latrobe Terrace, Paddington 4064 http://thepaddingtoncurryhouse.com.au/ for providing the dinner gift voucher for the raffle
Saturday, 11 July 2015
What is Sano Katha Nepal about?
 |
| Langtang |
Sano Katha
are informal and fun evenings for
people who have a connection with Nepal and enjoy talking about their
experiences. This informal gathering
gives the audience an opportunity to listen and see slides on a variety of
subjects and experiences in Nepal. It brings like-minded people together and
gives them an opportunity to meet and mingle.
It is also a novel way of introducing our friends to the interesting and
fascinating side of Nepal which we enjoy.
The theme is
broad – ‘Nepal’, so the talks could be my favourite trek, best photographic
slides, any volunteer work, social issues etc.
These talks are aimed at inexperienced speakers who may or may not use
notes when speaking. We encourage
potential speakers to come and see the format to be reassured they will get
support and encouragement from the audience.
Speakers either nominate or are invited to speak and the talks will be
selected on the diversity of the subjects for that meeting.
Sano Katha format is based on the PechaKucha 20x20 concept, http://www.pechakucha.org/faq . Our format will be a presentation of either 20 slides by 20 seconds each or 25 slides, each for 15 seconds. The Powerpoint slides advance automatically and you talk along with the images, the total time is about 6½ minutes. Presenters will need to plan their speech to ensure it does not go over the 6½ minutes available.
The
meetings commence with 5 speakers, with a 5 minute gap between each speaker
where one or two questions can be answered and then the next speaker
commences. The rest of the questions can
be directed to the speakers at the end of the presentations.
A
PowerPoint template will be provided for the presenters so that all presentations are uniform. The
presenters forward their PowerPoint presentation to Brenda or Kylie who will
format them on to one PowerPoint file and insert the automatic timings. The speeches will be arranged in order
depending on the subjects. It is preferable
that there is a variety of subjects on the evening.
 |
| Tarkegaun |
The first
meeting will be held at
Back Track
Adventures,
222A
Barry Parade, Fortitude Valley
Time:
doors open 6.15pm
Presentations
commence 7.00pm Open Discussion 8pm – 9pm
Tea and
coffee will be provided, the seating will be limited to 40 people and there
will be an entry donation fee of $5. This
money will go towards a small project Brenda and Kylie will identify when they
are next in Nepal.
Seating is
limited, an extra seat will be set aside for each speaker so they can bring a
friend and one or two seats will also be reserved for each of the following
meeting’s presenters so that they can attend and observe the procedure. All
other seats will be offered on a ‘first in’ basis after the event is
advertised.
More
information:
Sano Katha Nepal would like to
recognise Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham,
and their office Klein Dytham architecture as the
originators of PechaKucha
We would like to thank BackTrack Adventures
for making their
office space available for these meetings
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