Adara Development (Nepal) - Humla

Dr Kelsang joined Adara in October 2006 to provide medical support to the people of the remote and hard-to-reach areas of Humla. Dr Kelsang has six years of training in Tibetan herbal medicine. Now, he spends nine months a year walking from village to village treating people through Tibetan medicine. Dr Kelsang says: "I am inspired by Buddhist philosophy to serve others on humanitarian grounds. So I decided to devote my time to support people who need my professional service. As Adara is supporting the communities with free health check-ups and medicines, it is an opportunity for me to realise my own dream too." Dr Kelsang says every moment he has had in Humla has been memorable.

Adara Development (Nepal) Humla

Angjuk Lama joins Adara as Programme Manager for Humla. Angjuk is from a village called Kermi, one of Adara Project villages in Humla. He started his school education at the Yalbang School and then moved to Kathmandu for his high school education. He completed B.A. in Humanities & Social Sciences from Campion College, Kathmandu and also completed BA in Sociology from Nazareth College of Rochester, New York. Angjuk speaks Tibetan, Nepali, English and Hindi. Angjuk has been working with Adara since the early days, assisting Adara's Research, Monitoring and Evaluation Director, Dr Kimber Haddix McKay in her research in Humla and working closely with our Nepal team to help rescue the 136 Humli trafficked children in Kathmandu. Angjuk was in USA for last 8 years and returned to Nepal in May 2013.

Adara Development (Australia)

Anj supports the development and business projects at Adara Group. She is a financial services lawyer with experience in corporate (as in-house counsel) and not-for-profit (as a solicitor at a community legal centre) sectors. She has a passion for social justice and is very interested in the role the business world can play in improving the lives of people in poverty. In her spare time, Anj provides English tutoring for recent immigrants from Sudan as a volunteer and enjoys hiking and yoga.

Adara Development (Nepal) Kathmandu

Bimala has been our dedicated cook in Kathmandu since 2007. She cooks delicious meals for all the staff, helps keep the office clean and shops for office supplies. She enjoys spending time with the Adara staff and really likes her work. Bimala has a young daughter who keeps her busy when not at work.

Adara Development (USA)

Coming from the prairies in Saskatchewan, Canada, Brandie earned her BSN at the University of Saskatchewan where she did a multi-month nursing practicum in Niger, Africa. This is where she discovered her passion for global health. After 11 years at Seattle Children’s Hospital as a paediatric float nurse (working on several floors including the medical unit, emergency department and oncology unit), she switched gears and started at Adara. What began with volunteering in the office and at the annual Packathons seven years ago eventually led to her employment as a Clinical Programmes Assistant. She has been part of developing clinical training programmes with the Guidelines of Care and Newborn Care manuals as well Helping Babies Breath training for the NICU in Kiwoko. She has found it to be such satisfying work, especially during her in-country visits to Kiwoko Hospital. Brandie is a full time soccer mom and enjoys spending time with her two sons and husband skiing in the wintertime and spending time on the water in the summer. But she admits one of her favorite things is the sights and sounds of traveling and visiting new countries.

Adara Development (USA)

Brooke comes to Adara with over fifteen years of experience in the health and international sectors. She has worked for non-profit, corporate, and public organizations with a background in project management, grant submissions, and strategic planning. She has led teams across the U.S. and loves bringing people together to move toward a shared vision. She volunteered for many years with a small non-profit based in Ethiopia and has lived in Spain and Italy. Brooke received a BA in communication from the University of Puget Sound and an MA in policy studies from the University of Washington. In her spare time she chases her two young children, spends time with her husband and close friends, and tap dances.

Adara Development (Uganda)

Christine is the Global Health Manager at Adara’s Uganda Office. Christine worked at Kiwoko Hospital for 28 years. For 9 of these years she worked as ward manager in the Kiwoko Hospital maternity ward and for 18 years she worked as a ward manager of the Adara-Kiwoko Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. In 2010, Christine was honoured with the International Neonatal Award for Excellence in recognition of her incredible work at Kiwoko Hospital. Christine started working as Global Health Manager (Uganda) in July 2017 and is currently involved in Adara’s work at Nakaseke Hospital, the ABAaNa Study and Bubble CPAP project.

Adara Development (Uganda)

Adara Development (Australia)

David joins Adara with over 18 years of experience across all facets of Information Technology including operations, support, architecture, project management, application development and IT management. Born in Canada, David completed his studies in the US before moving to Toronto and joining the Prudential Group. Following Prudential, David remained in the financial services sector working for Mercantile & General, Life Re, Swiss Re America and Vietnam Re on short / long term secondments and international assignments in Asia, USA, UK, and Canada before finally settling in Australia with Swiss Re Australia New Zealand. David is married with 2 children (a Canadian and an Aussie) and when not spending time with the family or travelling you can find him racing yachts on Sydney Harbour.

Adara Development (Nepal) Humla

Dhana joined the Adara team in 2012. In his role, he makes recommendations to Adara on the technical needs of people in Humla and investigates the pros and cons of various options. He also provides advice to Adara on how to assist the Humli community to meet their needs. He also works with Adara’s Nepali partner organisations to review the technical elements of their work, and assists our research team with monitoring and evaluation.

Prior to working with Adara, Dhana worked for RIDS Nepal on infrastructure related projects such as greenhouses, drinking water systems, solar power, and pit latrines.

When he is not at work Dhana likes to spend time with his family, and to help his family members on house hold works. He also loves carpentry and making furniture.

Adara Development (USA)

Emiko joined the Adara team in 2014 as the US Office Manager in Seattle, WA. She maintains all office and administrative functions for the US. Emiko adds twenty years office, administrative, IT and project experience to the team, most recently working as an IT Project Lead at Verizon Wireless headquarters in Southern California. She enjoys spending her free time camping and ATV riding, crafting, and playing cribbage with her family.

Adara Developmen (Nepal) Humla

Gagan has worked with Adara since 2011 as our Agriculture Coordinator. In his role, he organises and conducts capacity building training on seasonal and off-season agricultural production and marketing skills. He also implements Adara’s agriculture related activities. Gagan loves being part of the solution to Humla’s food shortage problems, and is proud of the way that innovative technology like greenhouses can play to improve the lives of Humli people.

Before Adara, Gagan worked for RIDS Nepal as an Agriculture Assistant.

Gagan has a certificate in Agriculture from KTS, Humla.

When he is not at work, Gagan enjoys playing and watching football, spending time with his family, and helping his family members on household works.

Adara Development (Nepal) Kathmandu

Hem Lata has a Master's degree in sociology and has been working with Adara in the Kathmandu office since 2010. She works with partner organisations and other support staff and manages reports. She describes Adara as a big, diverse, loving, caring, helping and welcoming family, and says her job has brought out a stronger, more confident and professional side of her. She joined Adara because she always wanted to be part of something that would help change somebody's life or society in a positive way.

Adara Development (Nepal) Humla

Kanjok started working for Adara in June 2011, supporting the education activities of the Adara Humla Plan. He works with eight communities to help improve school and education programmes, in both the formal and informal education sectors. Kanjok has a Bachelor's degree in education and before Adara Kanjok worked as an education supervisor and office assistant for the Himalayan Conservation Development Association. He also worked on research projects for two years, focussing on health and education. When not at work, Kanjok likes to write articles about culture, development challenges and current issues relevant to the upper Humla region.

Adara Development (Australia)

Adara Development (Australia)

Krithika joined the Adara family as a volunteer back in Nov 2015 and took on the role of IT support Officer in Jan 2016. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Electronics and communication. Outside work, Krithika enjoys travelling and listening to music.

Adara Development (Nepal) Kathmandu

Kumari has been a dedicated Adara cook since 2006. She cooks for the staff, cleans the office and shops for food and office supplies. She says her favourite part about her job is interacting with the Adara children. Kumari's favourite inspirational quote is "Live the day to the fullest".

Adara Development (Nepal) Humla

Kyamma is an Assistant Nursing Midwife (ANM) and has years of experience in health. She joined Adara in 2011 where she works to reduce infant mortality rates, protect children from malnutrition and improve children's health status in upper Humla. She also supports maternal activities in upper Humla. Previously, Kyamma was a health promoter for two years with a local NGO in Humla. She is passionate about providing women with delivery support and appreciates the open systems and teamwork that Adara offers.

Adara Development (Australia)

Madalyn joined the Adara family as an intern early 2017, and went on to join the communications team in June 2017. Madalyn has a Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communications) from the University of Sydney.

Adara Development (Australia)

Melissa is a seasoned executive assistant and in her career has also worked in communications, event management and client service. In her previous role Mel was the EA to the Chief Risk Officer and Chief General Counsel. Before joining Adara, Mel took a career break and travelled to Nepal, India and Sri Lanka. Her interests are many and varied and include anything to do with nature, trekking and mountain bike riding.

Adara Development (Nepal) Kathmandu

Menuka joined Adara as Health Coordinator in 2008. She is responsible for planning, implementing and coordinating clinical and community health programmes. She is dedicated to children's collective and individual health, as well as nutrition standards and health and hygiene profiles and awareness, which often includes clinical practice. Menuka is a nurse by profession and has received an intermediate-level nursing qualification.

Adara Development (Australia)

Mohan Paudel, MPH (health system), PhD (public health): With a total of 7 years of experience in public health and community development, Mohan brings expertise in planning, monitoring, research and evaluations of public health/community development programmes. Currently as a Monitoring and Evaluation Manager at Adara, he is responsible for providing technical inputs and managing M&E activities of Adara projects in Nepal and Uganda. Formerly as a programme consultant in UNICEF, Mohan was responsible for planning, implementing and monitoring of maternal and child health, HIV/AIDs/PMTCT programmes, and capacity building of district health systems and local NGOs. With HealthRight International, Mohan led M&E activities of the partnership for maternal and newborn health and integrated family planning projects, and coordinated implementation research activities in Nepal. With local Nepali NGOs, Mohan has worked in Karnali, providing training to health workers, community leaders and health volunteers, and in managing surveys. With his recent PhD, Mohan adds expertise on qualitative research and policy analysis. Mohan has published papers on perinatal survival and social determinants, postnatal service utilization, newborn care, infectious disease, and non-communicable disease risk factors and pregnancy.

Adara Development (Nepal) Humla

Mun Thapa was trained as a Junior Technical Assistant. He now works as the Office Dai for Adara Humla staff. Mun is in charge of maintaining organisation and cleanliness in the Simikot office. He provides daily support to the Adara staff and is also in charge of keeping inventory and records in the office. Mun's most memorable moment at Adara is when all the staff supporting the mobile medical camp reached Challa, one of the most remote areas in Humla, and provided health services to people in the area, most of whom had never been seen by a doctor before. It was a proud moment for all of Adara. When not trekking and working for Adara, Mun takes computer lessons to improve his computer literacy.

Adara Development (Australia)

Netra joined the Adara family in January 2019 as the Deloitte Finance Ambassador for 12 months. She and her family moved to Australia 6 years ago from Johannesburg, South Africa, spent 3.5 years living in the nation’s capital, Canberra before moving to Sydney in 2016. Netra has a Bachelor of Commerce degree specialising in Economics and Management Accounting and has worked in the corporate as well as the not-for-profit sectors throughout her career. She is passionate about the performing arts, is an Indian Classical dance teacher, singer and also loves exploring vegetarian cooking, reading and spending time with her family being active and on the beach. Netra had been looking for opportunities within Deloitte to do more social impact work using her skill set, so being seconded to Adara for the year is the perfect opportunity that came just at the right time in her career to fulfil this calling. She lives in Gladesville with her husband, Sid, two children, Sanam (13) and Shyam (12) and a cheeky but gorgeous Labrador Retriever, Ellie.

Adara Development (Nepal) Humla

Nutup Lama is always on the move as Adara Humla messenger. He helps coordinate and move information, field-related data and information collection for the office. Nutup also helps guests on arrival in Humla and travelling through the remote mountains areas. Before working for Adara, Nutup was employed by one of Adara NGO partners, The Himalayan Innovative Society. When at home, Nutup grows vegetables in his garden and helps his wife and children with the daily housework.

Adara Development (Bermuda)

Pamela has spent more than 25 years working in the financial services and non-profit sectors in Bermuda, Chicago, New York and Boston. She brings with her a deep knowledge of the Bermuda community, many skills honed in the non-profit, public and private sectors, and a fierce determination to help women and children improve their lives.

Adara Development (Nepal) Kathmandu

Pasang has a Bachelor's degree in business studies. He started working with Adara as a tutor for one of the Adara Kids homes where we first cared for trafficked children. He was appointed as a home parent soon after, and was directly responsible for the children's care. In his current role as Manager of the Youth Development Programme, Pasang coordinates with staff to maintain the safety and security of the children and helps other staff with various projects. When not at work, Pasang likes to play games and travel. He says his passion for helping people makes him happy.

Adara Development (Nepal) Humla

Pema joined the Adara team in 2014 as a case worker in Humla to help manage the Adara Kids who have transitioned back to live with their families in Humla.

Before joining Adara, Pema worked in a cafeteria in Kathmandu, but she had a strong desire to work in Humla where she was born and raised. She really wanted to work in Humla to bring about change.

Pema holds Bachelor’s degree in Social Science and is currently pursuing Masters in Rural Development Studies.

When she is not at work, Pema likes to watch TV and spend time with family and friends.

Adara Development (Nepal) Kathmandu

Purna Bahadur is a trained gardener and has a passion for it. He is thrilled that his job with Adara utilised that passion. He is responsible for growing flowers, cutting hedges and grass, and watering the plants and flowers around the Adara Kids homes and the Adara office. Purna Bahadur has worked for Adara since 2007. He enjoys his work, and also the team activities organised for Adara staff in Nepal. Besides gardening, Purna likes listening to music and meeting his family in the village.

Adara Development (Nepal) Humla

Pushpa is responsible for managing the financial activities of the Adara Devleopment in Humla, including the books, ledgers, journals, bank accounts, balance sheets and income-and-expenditure accounts. Along with her financial duties, Pushpa is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the Humla office. Before joining Adara in June 2011, Pushpa worked for the Forum for Awareness and Youth Activity, Nepal, as Administrative and Finance Officer. Pushpa also has a Bachelor's degree in business studies. Pushpa has a strong passion for her job and is inspired by the Adara Development philosophy quote: "Always, always do what's best for the kids".

Adara Development (Uganda)

Racheal has worked at Kiwoko Hospital for many years and started working at Adara in 2010. She takes great care of all the Adara visitors who come to Kiwoko Hospital and stay at the Adara House, located on the hospital grounds. She prepares meals, bakes and cleans for the guests. Racheal enjoys cooking and loves to try new recipes. When there are no visitors in the Adara house, Racheal assists with administrative work and helps care for the Ebenezer Boys. When not working in the Adara house, Racheal spends quality time with her niece and enjoys working in her garden.

Adara Development (Australia)

Rajat joins Adara as an Accountant. Rajat has a Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Accounting. He brings with him a wealth of experience in accounting, compliance and process improvement. He has recently married in Canada and when not at work enjoys going to the gym, meditating or catching up with friends.

Adara Development (Nepal) Humla

Ramesh comes to Adara with almost five years' experience of building and working on infrastructure projects, specifically for drinking water and sanitation in Humla. Ramesh now supports Adara Humla Plan by implementing infrastructure projects, providing job training to fix infrastructure, following up on implemented projects, and helping with disaster preparedness. The infrastructure projects focus on drinking water supply, latrine and hygiene awareness, smokeless stoves, micro-hydro power, grist mills, solar driers and greenhouses.

Adara Development (Australia)

Rebekah comes from a background in the Performing Arts and Production Management. She joined Adara Development after completing a Master of Philosophy at The University of Sydney. Her thesis focused on culture and local participation in the development sector and involved anthropological work in Vanuatu. She lived in Papua New Guinea as a young child and volunteered as a teenager with a medical NGO in Fiji for six months. Rebekah supports our global team through operations and HR. She is currently studying Human Resource Management.

Adara Development (Nepal) Nepalgunj

Resham has a Bachelor's degree in business studies. With his job at Adara, he is accountable for a wide array of duties as social worker and logistics coordinator. He meets and monitors the progress of the Adara Kids who have been reintegrated in and around Nepalgunj. He also manages procurement activities in Nepalgunj, coordinates the shipment of goods to Humla by plane, and keeps records of financial transactions. Resham likes the variety his job offers, with some focus on marketing, logistics, case work and home visits. One of Resham’s most memorable moments at Adara was when took part in in social-work training in Kathmandu, organised by Adara. He said it provided him with the skills and knowledge to improve on his role at Adara.

Adara Development (Australia)

Rosie comes to Adara with many years of experience in relationship management in the non-profit sector. As a Youth Relationships Representative at World Vision Australia, Rosie sought to empower young Australian school students to realise their potential to tackle global issues, and raise funds in Australia’s biggest youth campaign, the 40 Hour Famine. Recently at Agency Strategic Creative, Rosie managed a broad spectrum of creative projects and national campaigns alongside some of Australia’s leading charities. Rosie has a BA in Development Studies and Culture Change from Macquarie. In her spare time, Rosie loves going on picnics on sunny Autumn days and a well-made cup of tea.

Adara Development (Australia)

Sarah first joined the Sydney finance team in 2008 and left us at the end of 2012 to venture with her family to Hong Kong. She is now back in Sydney and we are thrilled to have her back at Adara. Sarah comes to us with many years of experience in the insurance and investment banking sector. Her knowledge and experience are a fantastic asset to the team.

Adara Development (Nepal) Kathmandu

Shankhar Shrestha has many years of experience as a driver. Before Adara he worked as an ambulance driver for Reukai Nepal. Shankhar has been working for Adara since May 2009. He is responsible for driving staff, caring for the Adara vehicle and for pick-ups and deliveries. His favourite times at Adara are when Adara international staff come to visit Kathmandu. On weekends, Shankhar likes to go to his village to visit his family.

Adara Development (Nepal) Kathmandu

Sonam has a Bachelor's degree in business studies and before Adara she worked as an Accountant for Snowland School. She joined Adara in 2005 and served as Accounts Officer for the Adara Development (Nepal) for more than six years. She has now taken on the role of Finance Officer for Adara Development in Nepal – developing, maintaining and monitoring all its financial systems. Adara means family for Sonam. She loves the environment and feels privileged to be a part of this wonderful team.

Adara Development (Nepal) Kathmandu

Sunita has a Bachelor's degree in business studies. She began work at Adara in 2009 in the finance team. She is responsible for the day-to-day financial activities of Adara in Nepal. Sunita says working for Adara has developed her sense of responsibility, focus and value.

Adara Development (Nepal) Kathmandu

Surya has been our office messenger in Nepal since the end of 2009. He looks after the office and completes essential tasks for the office. Surya loves reading the newspaper to keep up to date on current affairs. He also likes to go to his village on weekends to meet his family.

Adara Development (Australia)

Susi is Partnerships Manager (Australia) for the Adara Group. She has a strong interest in international development, having worked in East Timor and studied anthropology.

Before joining Adara, Susi worked for the Marrickville Legal Centre in fundraising and communication. Her career started in journalism, initially in Sydney radio, but she has also worked internationally for organisations including the BBC and Reuters.

Outside her career, she volunteers on the Board of a not-for-profit social enterprise that sells textiles made by refugee artisans from Burma.

Susi has a Master of Applied Anthropology and a Bachelor of Arts (Communication).

Adara Development (Nepal) Humla

Tsering joined the Adara team in June 2011 when Adara began implementing the Humla Plan. Tsering comes to Adara with 20 years of hotel and restaurant experience in Humla. She is now responsible for cooking for the Adara staff and making sure that the office space and kitchen are kept clean and organised. Tsering most enjoys being involved with Adara green house project, as the technology can produce healthy vegetables with rich vitamins to ensure good nutrition.