Helping schoolgirls in Nepal get an Education
Andrew Allright is raising money for MondoChallenge Foundation
Story
MondoChallengeFoundation will provide boarding facilities at one of the key schools we support for up to 30 girls per year to complete secondary school education. My target is to raise £15,000 that will pay for: -
- A hostel that will house 30 Nepalese girl students per year where they will stay for 2-3 years for secondary education.
- The hostel will include living quarters, kitchen, shower and bathroom facilities.
- Over 10 years, the project will support at least 100 girls who would otherwise not complete their secondary education.
- Food and living costs for each girl will be £15 a month or £180 a year. This will be covered by the volunteers who visit our projects each summer as well as donation in kind from the girls families.
Our country manager in Nepal, Jimmy Lama, says
"we have done tremendous amount of work over the last few years in making primary education accessible for most children in the villages across Helambu region, but there is still lots to be done to ensure that they (mainly girls) complete their secondary level of education. If there is no opportunity for secondary level education, the odds are that the girls drop out as their family do not feel secured for them to go to a place where accommodation cannot be trusted. For example, last year from one of our parter schools Gunsa alone, 10 girls left the School and of them 4 have left for jobs abroad at very young age. Amrita Tamang, 14 years old says "It is unfortunate that I do not have opportunity to continue my education because there is no secondary education in my own village and I have not found a School where I can go and live, but I really hope this would not be the case for my younger". The worse is that many girls when they leave school then become vulnerable to being sent to work in far off distance like middle east as house maid where conditions are not good for them.. Despite all the potentiality to succeed in their lives with higher and better education, they end up living miserable life and their only fault is that did not have the opportunity to continue their education. So, here we would like to make a difference by building a boarding house with special accommodation arrangement for girls only. Beginning the mid of 2014, we are aiming to to be able to house at least 20 to 30 girls to do their secondary education"
Foundation Background
We have raised and spent over £1.2 million in the last 10 years working with local partners who identify the needs of the community. Administration costs are kept to a minimum and, at 12%, are well below the sector average so you can rest assured that money raised really does it reach the intended recipient! The Foundation is making 2014 our “Year of the Woman” where we are strengthening our already significant efforts on projects which will lead to better lives for the girls and women in the areas where we operate. Our Tanzanian Mama programme, for example, has helped 650 HIV affected widows to set up small businesses and support their families.
One of the Foundation’s main achievements has been to encourage parents and communities to allow the girls to stay in school up to secondary age and the good news is that we are already making a huge contribution to changing these habits. Three years ago, only 23% of 14-year-old pupils in the rural schools where we work were girls. Today it is 47%, a staggering improvement. However, there is still an awful amount of work still to be done and attending secondary education is still difficult and off-putting for girls, as the distance to school can be 2 hours walk in each direction and basic toilet facilities are often lacking.