The Asha Foundation, formerly known as Dharmik Australia, was co-Founded by Mark McIntyre and Mary-Louise Parkinson who both lived in Nepal for four months in 2007 with their two children Sarah and Harry. While there they could not ignore the plight of 15 children living nearby in what we now call the SAI home. The children and 3 adults were living in conditions which were appalling by any standards. As fate would have it, their recently arrived neighbour, Narayan Shrestha, also went to this same house at the same time and saw the inhumane conditions in which these children and their carers were living. There and then, Narayan and Mark made a pact to improve the living conditions of these people.
Over the next few weeks the home was transformed, and a new Nepal / Australia partnership was formed based on the McIntyre / Shrestha connection. Tremendous support was received by friends of Mark and Mary-Louise back in Australia, and such was the success, that they decided to come back and set up Dharmik Australia as a base to harness the good will and helping spirit of the Australian community as a whole.
Now The Asha Foundation has grown and so have our responsibilities in Nepal. We are engaged in many projects and we are always working to improve the capacity of our local partners so that our efforts are sustainable. We were originally registered in NSW as Dharmik Australia Inc., but in October 2010 it was decided that a name change was in order as there was confusion between Dharmik Australia the registered charity and Dharmik Trading Pty Ltd a retail company set up by Mary- Louise. All the necessary paperwork associated with a name change was completed and on 2nd November 2010 we were officially granted the name change by Fair Trading NSW.
The Asha Foundation is a voluntary, not-for-profit, non religious and non-government organisation. When our members travel to Nepal we do so at our own expense - airfares, accommodation, meals etc. Our administrative overheads are minimal, something that the larger Aid Organisations have trouble controlling. Our Incorporation number is INC9888264.
In 2010, Dharmik Australia became a signatory to the Australian Council for International Development - ACFID, something that we are extremely proud of and take very seriously.
We are working in Partnership with Rotary Australia & The Body Shop Foundation and hope in the future to broaden our partnership base.
The word ASHA roughly means HOPE in Nepali. Not only do we provide hope, we help change lives.
Claude M Bristol
