A Case From Nepal   by Ramchandra Paudel

Think of Nepal, what kind of image comes to mind?

All these images are true of Nepal, but (as you say) it is also one of the poorest countries in the world. GNP is less than US$200. Of a total population of 22million, 35.9% are literate( 7.8 million are can not sign their name-UNESCO1998).52% under the age of 18. 79% of boys and only 60% of girls enroll in school and of these, 42% drop out after one year or repeat it. 2.6 million children are engaged in child labor and 63% of children are malnourished. 80% of the population live in rural communities but the urban population is growing, mainly around the capital Kathmandu and large towns such as Pokhara – where CHILDREN-Nepal is based.

CHILDREN-Nepal was established in 1995 by a group of Nepali volunteers working in the fields of education, health and social services who were concerned about the number of children living on the margins of society and not reached by existing social institutions.

CHILDREN-Nepal works towards strengthening the capacities of such children so that they can meet their basic needs, in a way that will be sustainable in the future. We work directly with children and also with their families, helping them to break away from discrimination based on caste, disability, gender and social status. By facilitating processes that empower families, they can assume an active and decisive role in addressing their own problems. We aim avoid creating dependencies amongst those with which we work and act as a catalyst for genuine and lasting social change.

To share with you more about CHILDREN-Nepal and its educational/literacy activities, I am going to tell you the story of one of the children we are working with. Her name is Israt .

(click on each thumbnail image to see the larger version)

This is Israt. She is 13 years old and lives with her father, stepmother, 4 sisters and 2 brothers. She comes from the Tari, a flatland region of Nepal near to the Indian boarder.( As you that Nepal has top of the world and below the sea level.) All her life her father has traveled to the growing city of Pokhara to work as a construction laborer, sending money home and visiting his children at festival times.

Nine years ago Israt's mother died and her father remarried. She remained in the Tari with her grandmother and 2 sisters until 6 years ago when they moved to Pokhara to live with their father.

After 3 years their stepmother and half brothers and sisters also moved to Pokhara to live together in their father's rented room.

Slide 3 (Family)

Here is Israt's family. Asma is 12 and Anita is 11, they share the same mother. Nicot, who is 8, Sait, 7, Bitu,4, Roshani, 2 are her half brothers and sisters. We first met her at CHILDREN-Nepal 3 years ago.

Now Roshani is 2 but then she had just been born. Israt's stepmother was still trying to get occasional work to add to the family wage. This meant that Israt and her sisters had to do all of the cooking and washing. They also helped in their landlords garden in order to keep him happy, reduce the rent and get some vegetables. Their relationship with their stepmother was difficult. Israt felt she and her sisters were resented.

Her stepmother made Israt work particularly hard during the day because she was the oldest, but in the evening when her father came home, she would say she had not done what she was told. This caused many arguments and there was a lot of tension in the house.

Israt's father wanted Israt and her sisters to go to government school, but his low wage and seasonal, temporary work meant he could save no money and he could not afford the enrolment fee or money for uniforms and books. Her stepmother did not think they needed to go to school. She thought Israt should go to work in a house as a domestic 'servant', to bring in extra money for the family. Gradually their father began to come to the same conclusion.

So, that was Israt two years ago. Eleven years old, never been to school, feeling lonely and depressed because of the tension within her home, and preparing herself to begin work as a domestic helper.

Israt first heard about CHILDREN-Nepal from her neighbor who had attended one of our first local meetings. She told her that we were planning to set up a centre for children who could not afford to go to government school. A few months later Israt made friends with a girl who had just started to come to our new centre, and she decided to come along with her.

Israt attended CHILDREN-Nepal's program for out of school children for one year. Each day she got the chance to learn Nepali, Math's and English, and meet, play and dance with other children like her. At CHILDREN-Nepal we make every effort to show the children that we care about them by listening to what they have to say.

Slide 9 (Out of school program)

We have been conducting Out Of School Programs aimed particularly at children who are working. They are designed to provided education in an informal environment and prepare the children to attend or return to government school or link to other service provide agencies for their further capacity building.

As soon as Israt came to the centre, one of our social workers went to visit her parents. To start with we spoke most with her father because we recognized that he was more open than her stepmother, and keen to protect his three eldest children from the discrimination that was developing within his family. We explained that he didn't have to pay anything for Israt to attend the centre, and that we would provide books and pencils. We told him that our activities run from 10 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon, so Israt would still have time in the morning and evening to help around the house and work in the garden.

Very soon Israt brought her brothers and sisters to CHILDREN-Nepal so that her stepmother could concentrate on looking after the new baby and give her the chance to take occasional work. If they could not come with her, she would have had to stay at home to look after them.

To begin with they spent a lot of time together but this began to hold Israt back with her learning so gradually we encouraged them all to make new friends of similar ages.

Now her young brothers and one mal nutrition sister attend our pre-school child development program, designed for children between the ages of 2 and 5 of parents who are unable to arrange childcare during the day.

After a year Israt's studies had really improved and she told the staff that she would like the opportunity to go to school. We also felt she was ready to make the move into school but knew that her family still could not afford the fees and materials. We put her on CHILDREN-Nepal's register of children awaiting supporters and in two months a supporter was found for her first year of school.

Israt says that life in her home is much happier now. Staff from Children Nepal continued to visit her parents and over time encouraged her stepmother to join one of our parents groups and Adult literacy program. Parents groups have been set up for each of the children's programs we run and meet once every 1months to share experiences and build a self supporting social network which will help them when dealing with service providers.

Slide 15 (Parents group)

In the beginning Israt's stepmother was very quiet and did not want to communicate with the staff of Children Nepal. When talking with other parents she began to open up. Gradually she warmed to the idea of her children spending time learning. With more time for herself and youngest children her attitude to her stepchildren also began to change. We have also designed a psycho-social counseling for children and their parents to assists for their capacity building.

In time she explained to our health worker that she was concerned about the prospect of having more children – she did not feel she could cope. Our health worker explained the options to her and she now lives more confidently with the knowledge that she will not be adding to her already-large family.

Israt says that there are no longer the arguments there once were between her parents, and when I spoke to them to prepare for this presentation, both seem very proud of all of their children.

Of Israt her father said "I look back two years and think how close I was to sending Israt to work. I am pleased I didn't".

The family home is still only one room. It costs 700NRs per month to rent (that's US$11). This might not seem much but consider that the father's irregular income averages 3000NRs (US$45) and that he has a family of 9 to support and you gain another perspective. The room is small for the nine of them but there is a tap close by, and they are managing well.

The stepmother seems more hopeful and less depressed. She has more energy to keep things in the home organized. More and more she sees the family as a whole unit.

Israt's father gets up each day at 4am. At this time Israt will also wake to do her homework. It is the only is quiet time she will get. At 6.30 her younger brothers and sisters get up and she will help them to get washed and dressed before helping her stepmother with the cooking and cleaning.

She leaves her house at 7.30 to come to CHILDREN-Nepal where she attends our program for ‘low caste’ girls who are attending school in Pokhara. This is a tutoring program run 5 days a week to provide support with the girl's homework and study. It aims to help with the girls integration into the schooling system which tends to punish those children who fall behind with their work.

I asked Israt how about her good experiences of school. She said "it is good because I have made more friends and I have got the opportunity to read and write. I am now the first in my class".

I then asked her to tell me about her bad experiences. She said "I feel that the teachers don't love and care for us. I do my homework but if I have made any mistakes sometimes I will be beaten. Some of the other children tease me but when I told my teacher she just laughed. We are told not to throw rubbish but the teachers all do, they just ask us to pick it up. They tell us to love younger people but they do not love us".

Slide 24 (Israt's class at school)

CHILDREN-Nepal attempts to alleviate some of the difficulties children like Israt are experiencing by entering into a dialogue directly with their school. On a wider level we have begun to facilitate training workshops for teachers to encourage them to change their attitudes and look at teaching in pedagogic (social and creative) way.

Since going to school Israt has also become involved with CHILDREN-Nepal's Child Self Help Group. Currently there are 21 members between the ages of 13 and 16. They meet every 2 weeks to share their experiences and plan events to promote and mobilize others in support of their welfare and rights. This is Israt at their first event – a speech competition called 'We children our rights at the school' at a local school.

And, this is Israt talking about her involvement with CN at this year's Annual Meeting.

As part of her role in the Self Help Group, Israt acted as a researcher into a piece of work commissioned by Save the Children UK called "A better future for the slum children". Children Nepal conducts research into child welfare issues in Nepal with a holistic approach, attempting to take into account the wishes of the children and families with which we are involved. In this case we wanted children to carry out the research to avoid the inclusion of adult preconceptions and show that, provided children are given the right opportunities, they have a capacity greater than that which they are often given credit for.

Most of the people who live in the slums provide cheap construction labor building Pokhara, but the attitude towards the slum people is very negative in general, especially amongst officials. For parents life is a matter of day-to-day survival and earning enough money for food. For many, the only option they see for their children is work in different labor fields. This is a growing problem as people move into Pokhara from the surrounding villages.

This photo is of the slum area where Israt's family used to live. CN works with several of the children who still live there. There are many children like Israt in Nepal and many who would have worse stories to tell. CHILDREN-Nepal directly can only reach a few, however, through our research, training and sharing with social institutions throughout the country we aim to influence others.

Together we can bring about far reaching change.

So:

What are Israts hopes and concerns for the future?

How do her parents views compare?

and:

Where does social organization like Children-Nepal fit in?

What will be the further step to take from the side of government and non govt. social organization to help support these children and their families?

Israt wants to do well at school. She is mature for her age and is interested in social issues. She is determined and works very hard. Her father says he will be supportive of her aims.

However, she does worry about her brothers and especially her sisters. She worries that they won't get the chance to go to school.

Israt's story will not end now. Over the last 3 years our involvement with her family has reduced as they have become more self reliant and integrated into local support networks. Her brothers and sisters all show interest in attending school and over time we are confident that with the help of like-minded supporters we can provide this opportunity.

When I was talking to Israt as preparation for this presentation I asked her how she sees her family in the future. She said that specifically she didn't know but that she thought it would be 'Ramro Huncha" – good.

*Social Integration Forum for Working Children.
P.O.Box:357 Pokhara, Nepal.
Tel: +977-61-32054
Email: ramcn@mos.com.np
Ramchandra77@hotmail.com

• 7.8 million people can not sign their name
• 80% people live in rural communities
• GNP per capita is less than US$200

• 49 are girl
• 51 are boys
• 93 live in the village
• 7 live in cities
• 80 are immunized
• 63 are malnourished
• 40 belong to extremely poor families
• 68 are admitted to school, but only 27 complete primary level
• 61 boys and 39 girls are enrolled in primary level
• 42 dropout after first of school or repeat it.

• 52 % of total population is children below 18
• Every year about 779000 babies are born
• Every year 78,000 children die
• Everyday 206 children lose their life
• 45,000 children die of diarrhea every year
• There is only one Children's Hospital
• The is one child specialist to 1,02,671 children
• Only 37 % population has access to potable water
• There are 23,284 primary schools
• 2.6 million children are engaged in different sectors of child labor
• Girl aged 10-14 work double as the boys in the same age group
• At least 40,000 children are bonded labor
• 26000 children are working and living on the streets
• 1500pregnant mothers out of 100,000 die in child birth every year
• Annually 5000-7000 women and children are trafficked to India
• 34% of marriage involves children below 15 year
• About 100 children are in adult jail

Sources:CBS/UNICEF/Ministry of Education/ILO-IPEC/Family Planning Project-UNFPA/Nepal Medical Council