Blog
Here you’ll find our blog posts, listed by main category. To receive posts by email as they appear, sign up for updates on the homepage!
Animal Experience International in Nepal with Nora Livingstone
Hey, animal lovers, we are back with our friend Nora Livingstone of Animal Experience International! Nora wrote for us a while back. Check that post out here. This time, we asked her to talk about her last trip to Nepal. Find our earlier post on Sneha’s Care here.
Nora has been a great friend of Musa Masala and we are so happy she has shared with us again. We love the dogs, and all animals, of Nepal so this is a meaningful one for us, with a special person who has created an amazing organization, Animal Experience International. Please check out their website. You may very well find that a life changing trip awaits you. Jam Jam!!
Announcing: Our New Store!
Jam Jam, Musas!! We have so much going on with our projects with nursing scholarships, our climbing competition, the official opening of the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital, and our upcoming dental camp and live Facebook/YouTube show, but we want to take a second and introduce you to our brand new Musa Masala online store!!
We are very grateful to Shannon Edwards who put the store together.
Musa Masala: Who We Are, What We Do
We thought for this post we would put the brakes on, pull over and have a little chat: What is Musa Masala all about and what do we do?
So here you go. Always remember you can contact us here if you have any questions. We hope you get some good answers and that you will help support our projects.
Musa friend Mike Demas on the Border in Poland with Americares
We have had a couple posts from our good friend Mike Demas. Mike just came back from a deployment with Americares. This is a email he sent to us with links to some of the great work he has been a part of. He just returned from the Polish border with Ukraine where he documented medical supplies being brought into the country. Here's the video he worked on, Angels Never Sleep - Volunteers Deliver Aid and Hope in Ukraine.
Musa Stokes New Hampshire
Have you ever been to New Hampshire? What a beautiful state. The White Mountain Range is absolutely amazing—rugged, colorful and so easy to get to! But best of all, New Hampshire has Thom Pollard.
After our first two shows on our Facebook/YouTube, we decided we need to sit down with Thom to start planning our next round of shows. His proximity to Mt. Washington sealed it and we headed north for some some hiking and serious planning sessions.
From the start, Thom and Kristen, Thom's girlfriend and a super athlete, were simply amazing.
Let's Clean Up Nepal
Raj Shrestha is a man on a passionate mission to clean up Nepal. In a short time, he has begun to transform the trekking routes in the Himalaya and the famous places in Kathmandu. He does it on his own power and enlists like minded activists and experts to help. Amazingly, that is not his only project! We asked him to tell us about his remarkable accomplishments that started in 2017. We are so impressed and want to share his plan with everyone.
Musa Comedy Jam Jam Returns!
We did it again, another comedy show! We were so lucky that the Voodoo Comedy Showcase in downtown Denver let us move in for a couple of hours to laugh and raise some money. Here is a little overview of last month’s show in Denver and last year’s in Utah! Keep your eyes open for more Musa comedy near you!
We dedicated this show to our inspiration and friend Dr. Jen. We miss her terribly, and we know she would have loved to have been there. Her infectious laughter and spirit will always be with us.
Namaste Ramila: A Tsering's Fund Update
This is a very special post for us at Musa Masala. We started our website in June of 2016 with one of our purposes being to highlight some of the great work being done in Nepal in the non-profit area. We searched for small organizations that worked on goals that would change individual lives through dedication and a desire to help in a focused, well-managed fashion. We interviewed Peter Schmieding of Tsering’s Fund in September of 2016. (Check out that post here. Three years later, both Musa Masala and Tsering’s Fund have come a long way!)
Equal Playing Field: The World's Highest Soccer Game, for Women's Equality and Empowerment
Here is one for you sports fans. Thirty-four women soccer players from twenty-four countries climb the highest mountain in Africa and play a soccer game. Then, as if that’s not enough, they travel to the lowest point on the planet along the Dead Sea in Jordan and do it again. Equal Playing Field, a new film premiering on May 18th in Los Angeles did just that to empower women and highlight the inequality in women’s sport. And to round it out, they set a couple of Guinness World records in the process.
Nepal: Inspiration for a New Beginning
Well, we are back from an amazing and incredibly productive visit to Nepal. Our preview of Musa Masala: Mountain Girl of the Himalaya, was absolutely incredible and the progress at the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital is inspiring. We want to step away from that for a moment to share an awesome post by our new friend, Nora Livingstone. Nora heard about Musa through our Kickstarter campaign and she is truly imbued with the Musa spirit! Please read on and enjoy this remarkable story about Nora’s time in Nepal and the founding of her Animal Experience International. Thanks Nora!
Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital Update
Let’s take a look at the progress on the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital! We will do a bigger update when we return from Nepal at the end of November.
We have some great photos to share that show the progress on the construction of the Wongcchu Sherpa Memorial Hospital! Lakpa Sherpa, Director of the Himalayan Yokpu Foundation, the non-profit organization coordinating the project, recently returned from the site and sent us this update.
An Artist and Physician's Volunteer Work in Nepal
After Musa Sarah Frances McClure put word out about our fundraiser art show for the Wongchu Sherpa Memorial Hospital, we were fortunate to get a response from Sapana Adhikari, offering to donate a piece. Her painting of a Nepali woman was so moving, it sold immediately. We've since gotten to know Sapana a bit more and wanted to share her story with all of you. She's doing amazing work in Nepal, in addition to her work as an emergency room doctor.
Musa in Ireland
In September I had the privilege of speaking about Musa Masala, the Wongchu Sherpa Memorial Hospital and the Suri Primary School Project at the Nepal Conference Ireland. I was delighted to tell the Ambassador and other esteemed guests about the projects I am involved in. A massive thank you to Shakya Deepesh and everyone on the Nepal Ireland committee for giving me this platform to speak at and attend some fantastic events this year.
Benefits of Volunteering in Nepal: A Personal Experience — Part 2
We are so happy to welcome Mike Demas back to Musa Masala with part two of his amazing adventure with All Hands Volunteers. Mike's story of building the new school by hand alongside fellow volunteers and the village craftsmen is so inspiring. He shows just what you can accomplish when you step outside of your comfort zone and walk into a new world.
We are firm believers in the power of small, significant projects that a local community wants and will benefit from. Sometimes a little help can help help a community for generations.
Rebuilding Suri Primary School after Nepal's 2015 Earthquake
Binod Shakya shares his experience in working on reconstruction of Suri Primary School. Binod is a freelance tour guide who became a translator and volunteer in different parts of rural Nepal after the devastating earthquake hit the country in the spring of 2015.
The Help Nepal Appeal: An Interview with Jody Dontje
On April 25th 2015 Nepal was hit by a catastrophic earthquake from which it is still recovering. We at Musa Masala want to take a moment to think of everyone effected by the earthquake and its aftermath. The work continues and we send our admiration to the strong and beautiful people of Nepal. Your courage is an inspiration to all of us.Speaking of inspiration, The Help Nepal Appeal creator, Jody Dontje, is a true inspiration and a role model for people young and old. She started her project after the quake and has been a energy source, lighting others up everywhere she goes since. She stepped up when she saw a need that she could fulfill.
Nepal's 2015 Earthquake and Goli Village
An earthquake seemed overdue in the Kathmandu region. That’s what my friend and colleague Dawa Chhiri Sherpa and I were discussing the morning of April 25th, 2015. We were planning out our week in Kathmandu before we were due to fly back to Lukla for the Everest base camp trek. I had just returned from Island Peak at 20,305ft and felt ready for a break before heading back into the mountains.
The Wongchu Sherpa Trust Girls Hostel Project #BOAW2017
In Nepal, girls are in the back of the line when it comes to education. Often because girls are sent off in arranged marriages at a young age parents do not consider it financially sensible to send their daughters to school when they will leave the home during their teenage years. So they work at home until marriage. This creates a society of women who are unable to move forward and who do not see the opportunities education can give them.
Second Chances for Nepali Street Dogs: Sneha's Care Foundation
No one wants to spend their whole life on the streets without love, care, food or clothing. Not only do all people deserve a better life than this, but animals do, too. The stray dogs of Katmandu cannot help themselves, so we must give them love, care and affection.