New-Found Faith How long have you known about the Good News of Jesus? Are your parents Catholic? What about your grandparents?

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1 HCA Mission News Focus: Nepal Advent Mission Snapshot Learn to Speak Sherpa! Did You Know? Polly Parrot Reports Nepal from On High Mountain Metrics Test Your Reading Skills! More Fun With Metrics! Missionary Spotlight At A Glance Christmas Artwork Contest The Legend of the Yeti Advent Mission Prayer New-Found Faith How long have you known about the Good News of Jesus? Are your parents Catholic? What about your grandparents? Christians in Nepal have had freedom to so much that Sunday Mass has become practice their faith only since 1991, when standing room only. a new constitution established religious When we started this church we had 50 freedom. Before that, conversion from one worshippers, said the parish priest. Now religion to another was illegal. we have 300 and some have to stand. Missionaries working in Nepal since With your help through HCA, hundreds this time have invited people to hear more young people will learn about the about Jesus and His Good News. They Catholic faith every year and experience the also serve the poor and suffering by loving, hope-filled witness of missionaries. providing them with medical care, education and job training. In Godavari, the number of Catholics attending a small local church has grown < Young people who live at a center for children with special needs in Kathmandu learn traditional dances. They also receive physical therapy and learn basic skills, including cooking and sewing. < Bishop Anthony Sharma, S.J., of Nepal blesses a young student who lives at the center. This center is run by local missionary Sisters.

2 These children are among the thousands of Bhutanese people who live in refugee camps in Nepal. There, priests, Sisters and lay missionaries offer the people help and the hope of Jesus. Learn to Speak Sherpa! Father: awa (ah-wah) Mother: ama (ah-mah) Thanks: thuche (too-chay) Fun: gha (gah) Mountain: ka (ka) Snow: khâ (kah) Path: lam (lam) Living in mountain villages as high as 14,000 feet (4,267 meters), with no roads or cars, the Sherpas of Nepal hike everywhere and lug everything on their backs even televisions and refrigerators! Some children even climb 1,500-foot (457-meter) slopes to get to school. That s equal to 150 stories! Adapted from National Geographic Kids online 2

3 Polly Parrot Reports Have you ever stood inside a tall building and looked out a window? Have you climbed a tree? Maybe you ve even flown in an airplane and looked down at the ground. Can you remember the feeling of being in a high place? (I get that feeling all the time!) Now, imagine standing at the top of the highest part on earth. That place would be Mount Everest in Nepal. Nepal is a country in Asia. It is bordered by India to the south and China to the north. The capital city is Kathmandu. The Himalaya mountain range runs through Nepal. The tallest mountain in this range is Mount Everest. Mount Everest rises more than 29,000 feet above sea level! One of the first people to climb Mount Everest was a man from Nepal named Tenzig Norgay. He helped a beekeeper from New Zealand named Edmund Hillary to reach the top. They did this on May 29, While they weren t the first to try, they were the first to succeed. Imagine you were going to spend weeks climbing up to the top of Mount Everest. What do you think you would need to take with you? One thing is for certain, you would have to travel with warm clothing and blankets. The temperature near the top of Mount Everest can measure 100 degrees Fahrenheit below zero! Everest isn t the only tall mountain in the Himalayas. The Himalayas are home to the second- and third-tallest mountains, too. A mountain called K2 is about 28,000 feet tall. Mount Kanchenjunga is 22,000 feet tall. And if you can believe it, the Himalayas are still growing! How is that possible? Mountains are formed when giant plates of rock deep underground press together. The edges of the plates break and move upward. The Himalayas are between two plates that are still moving. Scientists say that the mountains are rising at about four inches every year. But as wind and rain wear rocks down, these mountains actually grow only about two inches every 100 years. Copyright 2009 edhelper 3

4 Mountain Metrics Convert these lengths featured in Polly s report on Nepal to their metric equivalent. Check your answers with your teacher. 29,000 feet = meters 28, 000 feet = meters 2 inches = centimeters See if you can unscramble these ten words to make the correct metric system units of measurement. 1. magr 2. sleiucs 3. ermte 4. teril Test Your Reading Skills! 1. What is the mountain range in northern Nepal named? a Andean b Appalachian c Ural d Himalayas 2. What is Nepal s capital city? a Kathmandu b Delhi c Kabul d Karachi 2. Nepal is bordered by: a India and Pakistan b Pakistan and Afghanistan c Pakistan and China d China and India 5. olmagrki 6. olterilki 7. icermteed 8. nitermtece 9. olermteki 10. lilterilim According to the U.S. Metric Association, only two other countries beside the United States have not officially adopted the metric system. They are: Liberia, in West Africa, and Myanmar (Burma), in Southeast Asia. 4

5 At A Glance Issues facing children in Nepal More than 50,000 children die in Nepal each year, with malnutrition as the underlying cause for more than 60 percent of these deaths. Half of the children in Nepal are underweight. Fifteen percent of Nepal s wells are contaminated by arsenic. This happens when ground water is drained from the earth causing the chemical to leak into the soil. Despite Nepal s high overall availability of drinking water, access to improved water for deprived, disadvantaged communities, as well as conflict- areas, remains low. Two-thirds of Nepalese people are still without access to toilets. Father Joseph Thaler is a Maryknoll priest who has lived and worked among the people of Nepal for more than 30 years. In that time, Father Thaler says he has experienced their graciousness and willingness to put others first. Armed conflict has had a significant impact on education. Forced closures of schools due to warfare have cut the school year in half in some areas. Teachers have been threatened, assaulted and even killed. Source: The United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF)) Here, one of Father Thaler s Hindu neighbors marks him with the tika, signifying respect for him as a brother. 5

6 The Legend of the Yeti Have you ever heard of the Abominable Snowman? Some people believe that the Abominable Snowman or Yeti lives in the Himalaya Mountains. The word Yeti comes from a Tibetan word, yeh-the which means little man-like creature. There have been many expeditions to search for the Yeti since 1832, when a British citizen living in Nepal, B.H. Hodson, reported seeing the creature. So far there is no firm evidence to support the existence of the Yeti. However, if it does indeed live in the barren, frozen, upper reaches of the Himalayas where only few people dare to tread it may remain hidden for a long time to come! Announcing the Holy Childhood Association (HCA) Christmas Artwork Contest! You could see your artwork appear as Christmas e-greetings on HCA s website for kids and displayed at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. during Advent and Christmas Twentythree drawings will be chosen as winners and their artwork will be reproduced as 2010 HCA Christmas e-greetings. One grand-prize winner will be selected and his / her artwork featured on the official Christmas card of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States. All winners receive a commemorative plaque. Contest winners will be notified in spring 2010 and announced to Catholic media in fall To enter, please complete the official entry form (available at attach it to your artwork, and mail to: HCA Christmas Artwork Contest, 70 West 36th Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY Advent Mission Prayer Dear God, We know that we all have Your light within us. By sharing our faith with children in the Missions, we spread the warmth of that light throughout the world. And, each time someone joins our family in faith, that light is reflected back to us. As we celebrate Advent, help us to continue working together to spread the Good News of Jesus so that the whole world is filled with the light of His love. Amen. 6 HCA Holy Childhood Association A Pontifical Mission Society