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NCEF is excited to announce that we are beginning work in a new area of Nepal.
It is with great pride that we at NCEF announce our latest plan to develop our presence within the small village of Sipapokhare. Sipapokhare is a remote village in northern Sindhupalchowk, about 75 km from the capital city of Kathmandu.
Traveling to and from Sipapokhare is quite difficult, calling for a four-hour bus ride from Kathmandu followed by an hour-long walk. Roughly 5,000 people live in this village, most of them farmers. As with most areas of Nepal, this village is home to people of many ethnicities as well as many marginalized groups. Because of this, the area was a hotbed of activity during the decade-long insurgency.
According to our area coordinators’ report, about 15% of children here do not attend school. Factors such as poverty and parental pressure to help on family farms are two major contributors to children leaving school at a young age. One local non-profit organization, SUK Nepal, conducted a survey and found that young girls leave even sooner because of early marriage and lack of adequate facilities.
With the help of our donors, NCEF will begin bringing in resources and setting up the infrastructure to sponsor some of these children and provide them the education they may have otherwise missed out on. Check out our newsletters in the coming months to see how the NCEF presence in this area is unfolding.
Many thanks to Raj Kumar Bhattarai, a native of Sipapokhare and undergraduate student in Kathmandu, for his report on the area and his service as the area coordinator in this new location. | |
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In April, we heard from Shyam Gnawali after his visit to Nepalgunj where we were introduced to five students ages 5-8. This month, we’ll get to know Jyoti, 10.
Jyoti Sharma is a 10-year-old girl from Bhrikutinagar, Nepalgunj. She attends the Shree Buddha English Boarding School and lives with her mother who is physically disabled. Jyoti and her family have an unstable income, which would keep her from attending school were it not for the help of NCEF. Her teachers describe her as a dedicated and hardworking student who thrives in school. A lover of both drawing and badminton, Jyoti’s main goal for when she grows up is to become a nurse. Her favorite subject is English and her favorite thing to do over the weekend is to visit new places.
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