Shoppers can get a headstart on buying their Christmas gifts and help out under-privileged children in Nepal and Uganda at a special Christmas market next month.

The Kathmandu Kids Club Christmas Market will take place at Gosling's Wine Cellar on Dundonald Street on December 4 from 5.30-8 p.m.

All proceeds will go directly to projects run by The ISIS Foundation to help children in need in Nepal and Uganda.

The market stalls will feature beautiful handmade jewellery and crafts from Nepal and Uganda, and there will also be a mini auction featuring unique gifts such as hand-painted artwork by Tibetan monks and luxurious 500-knot Kashmir rugs. For a gift that really shows you care, organisers suggest giving an ISIS donation certificate, available from $25 upwards, in the name of a chosen recipient.

"The Christmas Market will be the ideal occasion for people to get into the Christmas spirit," Kathmandu Kids Club events manager Eve Paterson said.

"We will have wonderful gifts on sale and for auction — and what better way to spend your money at Christmas than to know it is all going to help children in need? It will be a truly festive night, with lots of seasonal refreshments, including mulled wine and young musicians from the Bermuda School of Music will be performing Christmas music."

Also on sale will be tickets for the upcoming 'Just For Laughs' international comedy shows at the Fairmont Southampton from January 10-12, 2008.

Part-proceeds from ticket sales will again be donated to the Kathmandu Kids Club. Last year the event raised $12,000 for the Club.

Alonzo Bodden will be hosting the shows once more, and he will be joined on stage by Bermuda's Bruce Barritt, as well as international comedians Wendy Liebman from the USA, Ed Byrne from Ireland, and Greg Morton and Gerry Dee from Canada.

Tickets ($20, including refreshments) can be purchased in advance from the ISIS offices at Crow Lane, East Broadway (232-9001) as well as at the door. Credit cards will be accepted for auction items and membership only. Otherwise it is cash or cheques for all other purchases.

The ISIS Foundation's mission is to make a positive difference to the lives of children in the developing world, primarily through health and educational programmes.

Their Nepalese projects range from running ten children's homes for children who have escaped the war in the mountains and are now living in Kathmandu, to providing solar power and pit latrines for families living in villages 12,000 feet up in the Himalayas.

Proceeds from the auction and sale of Ugandan goods will go toward The ISIS Foundation projects in Uganda that include support for a Neonatal Intensive Care unit at Kiwoko Hospital.

The ISIS Foundation is supported and managed by ISIS Limited, a Bermuda-based corporate finance and consultancy business founded in 1998 by Audette Exel and Sharon Beesley to generate funds for the charity. Since the Foundation was established, ISIS Ltd. has donated more than $1.9 million to the charity.