Home To School

 Last year our Project Manager Kavita Adhikari came to us with an idea for a program that we could support called Home To School. The concept was fairly simple. Because village families sometimes lack the funds for their children’s school uniforms and school supplies, those children do not go to school and instead work on the farm or other places. What if school supplies and fees could help those children go to school instead of staying home. Hence the phrase “Home to School”. The idea was initially brought to Kavita’s attention through a village official looking to get more village children in school and out of the fields. Kavita honed the idea to selecting students from the neediest families, those who have income disparities and difficulties of all sorts. Because we’re talking about a lot of children here, and Hands in Nepal only has funds for a part of that number, Kavita came up with a ranking depending on single parent households, no parent households, (think unhoused children or raised by a grandmother) poverty issues, low caste issues etc. children are selected using this type of ranking, and so we currently have 46 children from primary grades to secondary that we are able to help as long as we have the funds. 

Vvillage school where Home to School is being implemented 

Yesterday’s ceremony was humbling! Villagers from near and far came to see the strange lady from America, who would hand out the carefully prepared packages of school books, school stationary, a receipt saying the year’s school fee was paid, and collecting a separate package containing a new school uniform. Long speeches were made expressing gratitude to Hands and school officials, I was asked to get up and talk, which did with a full heart and dear Kavita trying to translate my own flowery words of gratitude and encouragement to parents to keep their children in school.

Kavita, owns and runs a bakery when not helping Hands in Nepal, made a box lunch for everyone that included samosas, chips and muffin. And a juice box! Very enjoyed by all!

Many of the Didis hung around after the meeting broke up for photo ops with the tall silver haired American lady! Me, in turn, loved taking photos of villagers with their Sunday best dresses, scarves, jewelry and “Bidis”on their foreheads. The packages we gave out are very heavy, they contained not only books and supplies with a dictionary and must have weight around 30+ pounds, I kid you not! Many villager s brought their baskets they use with a head rope to carry the heavy package back home. I was impressed by little grannies half my size strapping their baskets on their backs secured with the head around their foreheads-my Gish! All that weight held mostly by their necks. Nepal women are some of the strongest, inside and out, that I have ever met.

I’ll post some photos here. Enjoy,