Education+care+mentorship for 100 Nepali children

As of the end of February 2019, there are 88 students in HCC’s Rural Education Scholarship Program (previously known as the Earthquake Orphan Scholarship Program), including 8 students at local boarding schools, and 10 students in college and university.

This Winter, HCC visited to Dhading district, meeting with 49 students and their families, mostly in the Northern, more remote areas. The team distributed:

• warm winter jackets (double sided fleece)
• school supplies (notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners)
• storybooks (Nepali language comic book on menstrual health and hygiene)
• personal hygiene materials (lotion, nail cutters, toothbrush and toothpaste, chapstick, hair oil, soap)

The team also:

• paid school and hostel fees
• played theater games
• spent quality time with the children and their families
• took in-depth interviews in order to better understand individual circumstances and needs.

This HCC project is managed by graduated and senior students of HCC, who as former beneficiaries help set policies and provide social services including advocacy and emotional support to the supported children.

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“I am thankful for this support and if I had not got this support my dream to study would stop and I will be working in field in the village. This support has changed my life because it has made it easier for my younger sister and I to pay our fees and has supplied us with stationary needs in this time when we are living alone have no other family support. Thank you for supporting me.” - Asmi*

Asmi is 16 years old and studies in grade 11. She and her younger sister, also supported through this program, have been living alone by themselves in their village since the earthquake and their mother's demise. Their father remarried and left, leaving his teenage daughters behind. The sisters farm vegetables, fetch firewood and water, look after their goats and cow, and complete all of the household chores and cooking. Life has been difficult for the two sisters, especially since the earthquake, yet they are determined to continue school and make something of their lives.

Thank you for helping to make a difference!

*Name changed to protect privacy

Links:

• https://www.hccnepal.org/programs/#rural