The Core Team
The Happy Kids Center team is full of vibrant young women from all over the world. Get to know our core team members, our support staff, and our board!
Chadani Dyola
Center Coordinator
Chadani is the heart and soul of day to day life at Happy Kids Center. Chadani was born and raised in Bhaktapur, just beside where Happy Kids Center now stands. Chadani first became involved with Happy Kids Center while acting as a translator for the founders when HKC was first being built. She was then hired as the first HKC employee! You will find Chadani at HKC 6 days out of the week, organizing daily activities and spending time with the Happy Kids. When she is not at Happy Kids Center, Chadani is a teacher at The Dyola School.
Shalu Dyola
Assistant Center Coordinator
Shalu grew up in Kathmandu, but now resides in Bhaktapur, in the community HKC serves. Her compassionate and playful energy makes her a great role model and perfect fit at HKC! Shalu is responsible for assisting with the meal days and daily activities at HKC. Shalou is also helping to develop our nutrition program, which is currently in its trial phase.
Mihaki Thapa
Child Marriage Prevention Coordinator
Mihaki, or as the girls know her, Miha grew up in Kathmandu. As a teenager, Miha was a Unicef Youth Advocate for the End of Child Marriage. Miha began her work with Happy Kids Center in September 2018 as our child marriage prevention program coordinator. Miha has a close relationship with our young girls, and they meet every Friday and Saturday to make jewelry and discuss important women’s issues. Despite the seriousness of the subject, its rare to see Miha without a smile on her face!
Joyce Rafii
Core Team Member
Joyce grew up in the city of Lausanne, in the French region of Switzerland. Joyce’s area of expertise is healthcare, which has been her area of study and profession since 2014. For the last three years, Joyce has lived in Singapore and Malaysia when she is not at Nepal with Happy Kids Center. Joyce arrived at HKC in early 2016 while volunteering with a center for muscular dystrophy in Bhaktapur. She quickly became an integral core team member.
Ellen Carney
Managing Director
Ellen was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but has been working in Asia since graduating from Temple University in 2015. Ellen first moved to Thailand to teach high school English but found her true passion at Happy Kids Center. Ellen has been instrumental in the design, development and implementation of our sponsorship program, EducateHKC and our child-marriage prevention program, Kanya: String of Hope as well as our Nutrition Program, Health Program and Water Sanitation and Hygiene Program. Ellen has remained on the ground running Happy Kids Center from 2016 to 2019.
Nicole Heker
Director of Development
Nicole is an American who has lived in Asia for the past three years. She became involved with the Happy Kids Center in January 2015 when she met one of the original HKC founders in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Since then she has been working toward building a stable and sustainable future for the Happy Kids Center. Nicole studied Communications Arts and Sciences at Penn State University with a focus in intercultural communications. At the time of this most recent update, Nicole has been riding her bicycle on a journey from Thailand to Spain for the last 15 months in honor of Happy Kids Center. Nicole is on a mission to raise $15,000 for HKC by the end of her journey.
The Didis
Every week, in their small kitchen, our lovely Didis prepare our Meal Day feast which can serve 80 people! The word Didi means “big sister” in Nepali, which makes sense because at HKC our team a big family.
That’s why the daal baht is so delicious because it is cooked with love!
Board Members
The Happy Kids Center exists because the support of community members who have stepped up and chosen to be a part of our family. Shekar, Charan, Deepesh, SatyaRam, Srijan, Suman and Chadani are our confidants, our advisors, our friends and family here. We would not be the Happy Kids Center without them.
Charan Dyola
President of the Board
Charan Dyola has lived his entire life in the community that Happy Kids Center aims to serve. Charan built The Dyola School, the school who provided land for Happy Kids Center to build and operate when he felt that the children in his community were not receiving the education they deserved. Charan is a leader in his community and has always been by our side, helping Happy Kids Center to grow in any way he can!