07 Nov 2017

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes Posted in Community Support, Disaster Relief Permalink

ChoraChori is still supporting villagers affected by August’s Nepal floods.

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes On November 7, 2017

Delivering materials to communities affected by the Nepal floods

It’s three months since the terrible Nepal floods and associated landslides that caused such devastation in south and southeast Nepal. But ChoraChori is still there helping villagers to rebuild their lives.

Our emergency appeal

In August we launched an emergency appeal in response to the worst floods in south Asia in decades. The public response combined with grants has to date raised a total of £14,685. This allowed us to deliver immediate food relief to affected communities, while keeping some funds in reserve for rebuilding. Specifically, we were able to help 97 families who had lost everything, providing them with rice, lentils (dal), oil and salt. We also provided some additional items like cooking utensils, blankets, quilts and hygiene items. These families were living in rural areas that we know well, remote and impoverished places where child trafficking is a constant challenge. Thanks to our efforts these villagers were less vulnerable than they would have been otherwise.

Time to rebuild

ChoraChori has been monitoring the situation in the villages over the recent holiday periods. And yesterday field staff members Yogesh Dhami and Pratap Titung returned to Makwanpur District for a follow up visit. But they didn’t go there empty-handed. Thanks to our fundraising we have been able to support 18 of the most needy families by helping them purchase wood and corrugated iron sheets to rebuild their homes. Villagers like the woman pictured left have thumb-printed letters of commitment to use the funds as we’ve agreed. This process was witnessed by the Chairman of the local Ward as a further safeguard.

The villagers now have one month to complete the wooden frameworks to the agreed high specifications. After that we will return to distribute the corrugated iron as roofing material. The new homes will be built better than before meaning that these families will be less at the mercy of future floods. And this is just the first phase in our rebuilding programme!

30 Sep 2017

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes Posted in Supporting Schools Permalink

In memory of Zoe Carss

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes On September 30, 2017

ChoraChori helps ensure that Zoe Carss is remembered in Nepal

British woman Zoe Carss died in a tragic swimming accident in Thailand in 1996. Just beforehand she had spent part of her gap year teaching in a school at Godawari, on the southeast of Kathmandu valley. In response to her loss, Zoe’s parents Richard and Tessa set up an education charity in her memory. Ever since The Zoe Carss Education Trust has been making grants towards education projects in Nepal and South Africa.

ChoraChori values highly “in memoriam” projects. Earlier this year we were honoured to be able to set up Physics and Biology laboratories at Kitini Higher Secondary School in memory of Lucy Monro who died in a cycling accident in Dubai in 2015. And now Kitini School can teach all science subjects to the highest grades thanks to the Chemistry lab that we’ve founded in Zoe’s memory. This is especially appropriate as the school where Zoe taught was just along the way from Kitini and she would have known the area well. Now, just like Lucy’s picture is on the wall of the Biology lab so also will Zoe’s picture go on the wall of the new Chemistry classroom.

2017 has been a really successful year in our relationship with Kitini School and in our Nepal education projects. Not only have we established the science department but we have also set up a new computer suite, thanks to grant funding from Hatemalo in Germany. We have even rebuilt one of its associated primary schools in memory of Christian Kaesler. As we look ahead to plans for 2018 we will continue to support education in our local area and are very open to suggestions for doing so in memory of other special people who loved Nepal. Just drop us a line if you would like to explore commemoration possibilities with us.

12 Sep 2017

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes Posted in Community Support, Education, Tipling girls, vocational training Permalink

Handicrafts training brings opportunity to Nepali girls

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes On September 12, 2017

Opportunity for Nepali girls

Handicrafts training is being developed by ChoraChori to improve options for a group of disadvantaged Nepali girls.

Background

In an earlier post we described the challenges faced by girls from the Tipling area, close to the Tibet border. The 2015 earthquakes made the region’s grinding poverty even worse; all its buildings were destroyed. So in July 2016 ChoraChori intervened to bring a group of 10 girls to Kathmandu to allow them to complete their education. We selected these ten because they had shown the commitment to successfully complete their Grade 10 examinations. There was no possibility of going beyond that in Tipling as the nearest school that was still standing was three hours’ walk away from their village.

Recent developments, handicrafts plans

ChoraChori has followed up on this initiative by admitting a further nine girls to the programme in June. This (and future plans) became possible only through the generous financial support of the Soroptimist International President’s Appeal 2015-2017, “Educate to Lead”. Not only will this vital funding be providing full academic support to the girls but it will also train them in handicrafts through inputs from Western visitors who know the overseas market. October programme visitors Lara Hilder and Ben Harvey will build upon the product development initiated by Alice Alderson in January. Lara has a degree in textile design while Ben has a degree in womenswear design and technology. They will be followed by Dutch visitor Aagje Hoekstra who has a Bachelor’s in product design. Exciting times indeed!

Inspiration for one beneficiary

One Tamang girl said to us:

“My mother passed away when I was just seven days old. My father re-married within a month and abandoned me. After that my aunt raised me until I was 12 years old. When I turned 13, I came to Kathmandu to study. I was excited to be independent and live the city life. My dreams shattered when I couldn’t afford my studies in Kathmandu and my father didn’t support me financially. With a heavy heart, I went back to my village and re-joined my old school.

After 10^th Grade, when I learnt that ChoraChori is helping us to come to Kathmandu to study, I was excited but nervous at the same time. I was scared that I might not be able to afford to live in Kathmandu like before. Especially since after the earthquake we didn’t have any money as our house had collapsed. Initially I was very anxious but I as joined High School and met ChoraChori staff I breathed a sigh of relief. I still can’t believe that I am being helped to this extent to fulfil my dreams. I am glad that I have received an opportunity like this to study and also get involved in training programmes.

When I finish my studies I want to become a teacher and go back to my village so that no girls and boys are deprived of education. If I stay in the city, I want to be like the staff members of ChoraChori-Nepal and help others.”

An escape from the prospect of abduction

And a girl from the Ghale community said:

“I remember one terrifying event when a friend was married to her maternal uncle’s son. In our culture marriage by abduction is very common. If the boy likes the girl, he comes and kidnaps her and that’s how they are married. My friend didn’t like her husband at all. But a girl’s consent doesn’t matter and she is forced to live with him forever. Well, that is how my mother was married to my father too but thankfully they are happy now.

Hadn’t ChoraChori helped me come to Kathmandu and study, I would have faced the same fate as my friend. I would have been forcefully married and never gotten a change to go to school again. No one would listen to me when I tried to tell them that I wanted to study further. I am very grateful to be receiving this opportunity. Right now, I feel that the training that I am getting with other girls will be very useful in future and that it’s helping to empower us. I see a great prospect for my future because I want to be a designer after I complete my studies.”

Can you help?

If you think you might be able to help our wonderful handicrafts programme in any way, please do drop me a line. Donations, as ever, very welcome through the button below.

23 Aug 2017

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes Posted in Community Support, Disaster Relief, Floods relief, Landslide With 1 Comment Permalink

ChoraChori responds to landslide devastation in Nepal

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes On August 23, 2017 With 1 Comment

Landslide and flood in Nepal

Boulders sweep away homes

The unseasonal torrential rain in Nepal has brought flood chaos to Nepal’s southern plains. But in the hills to the north the rain has had a different impact with landslides being just as deadly. Houses have collapsed under a surge of boulders and mud and villagers have lost everything. In response, ChoraChori is concentrating its initial efforts on a village area in Makwanpur District, south Nepal.

Chipleti and Pratappur

The ChoraChori Operational Director Shailaja CM has gone with field worker Pratap Titung to visit Chipleti and Pratappur. These lie around 40km from the District town of Hetauda. They got there by a half hour motor bike ride followed by a two hour hike uphill.

Pratap Titung conducting a family assessment

Chipleti, which consisted of 127 households, is perched on a hillside that has been destroyed by a landslide. The ground is full of crevasses and very unstable. The only road access - a gravel track - has gone. So far only the police had been able to get to the village (briefly). Shailaja and Pratap found the villagers in a desperate state, getting by on a diet of maize. Just about all of the houses have been damaged. Everyone has accepted that there is an immediate need to relocate to lower ground and rebuild their village there.

Pratappur consists of 20 households. Homes have been swept away by both landslide and flood so people are now living in temporary shelters they’ve constructed and cooking in the open. The Red Cross has visited and given each family 10kg of rice, some lentils, beaten rice and tarpaulins. But this is not nearly enough. The villagers have been surviving on one meal a day to make the rations last. Meantime children are falling sick.

Emergency Relief

Shailaja (right) supervises the delivery of emergency supplies

Thanks to our Appeal we have been able to send £5,000 straight away for the purchase of food and essential supplies. However this is just half of what we need to provide one month’s worth of food security to the villagers while they rebuild their lives. We need to deliver 50kg of rice, 25kg of lentils, 10kg of beaten rice and 5kg of salt to each household. The cost of that is £10,345. Please help us overcome the impact of the landslide by donating below:

20 Aug 2017

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes Posted in Community Support, Disaster Relief, Floods relief With 1 Comment Permalink

Floods in Nepal

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes On August 20, 2017 With 1 Comment

Floods wreak havoc in south Asia

A humanitarian crisis is unfolding across parts of south Asia with 16 million people in India, Nepal and Bangladesh affected by monsoon floods.

Nepal devastated

Floods have swamped one third of Nepal following the worst monsoon rainfall in fifteen years. See the grim statistics in the image on the left. Now an estimated 5 million people have to manage as best they can after losing loved ones and homes to floods and landslides, their crops destroyed. You can’t fail to be moved by the harrowing pictures in this report of how a father unable to bury his child just released the child’s body into the flooded river.

A “one-door” policy

There was an added risk of this natural disaster being compounded by a manmade element when the Government of Nepal announced a “one-door” policy. This meant that all relief work would have to be channelled through a central body. This is fine in principle (to avoid inefficiency and duplication of effort) but the Government attempted this approach previously after the 2015 earthquakes and it failed badly. Such a strategy only delays essential emergency relief getting to the point of need due to red tape. Moreover it only serves to antagonise (or criminalise) those genuine individuals and NGOs that do respond with a sense of urgency. The legacy of a “one-door” policy is a long and painful one. Two years down the line an Asia Foundation survey has found that earthquake recovery work has been painfully slow.

Happily the Nepal Supreme Court has now instructed the Government not to implement this policy and relief supplies can now flow.

ChoraChori’s response

How can a small children’s charity like ChoraChori respond in a meaningful way to a disaster of this scale? First of all we can’t not respond given the scale of the crisis. And we have always prided ourselves in being a “can-do” charity. Whilst we can’t reach out to five million people we can certainly focus our efforts on village areas that we know well. These are communities in the south to whom we have returned children rescued from India. The ChoraChori-Nepal Operational Director, Shailaja CM, is currently making a needs assessment and this morning we transferred our first grant across to Nepal to begin to address the hardship she has identified.

The floods are now receding somewhat but the landscape has been lain waste and families left vulnerable with lack of shelter, food and water. There have already been reports of outbreaks of disease. We suspect that the worst is yet to come. Please help ChoraChori to deliver resources to the flood victims and desperate children before it’s too late using the button below.

A further report to follow.

10 Apr 2017

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes Posted in Community Support, Education, Supporting Schools With 1 Comment Permalink

A science laboratory for Kitini School in Kathmandu

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes On April 10, 2017 With 1 Comment

A boost for one of the top government schools in Nepal

The kids at our refuge attend Kitini College in Godawari, one of the top government schools in Nepal. Seventy percent of its pupils are girls because parents choose to send their sons to private schools. So ChoraChori decided to give the school the education that Nepali kids deserve!

ChoraChori helping education in Nepal

As part of its contribution to earthquake recovery, ChoraChori has been conducting a major education programme. The aim has been to restore and develop government schools in Nepal so that they are even better than before. So far, this has involved rebuilding three schools in the hills (job done!) and developing secondary education at Kitini College. Kitini serves these schools and many others within a wide catchment area. We have pledged to help Kitini replace its antiquated computers and set up science laboratories. These latter will allow the school to extend its curriculum into teaching science to Higher Secondary level (“Plus Two” = Grades 11 and 12). See the film above to hear from the pupils and headteacher, Mr Saroj KC, explaining the need.

A great start at Kitini

This past week we’ve made a start thanks to a generous grant from a UK Foundation. This has paid for us to set up a biology laboratory and purchase some of the items the school needs for its future physics laboratory. The picture left shows the outstanding learning environment that students can now enjoy.

What we need next

Our educational needs are laid out in our education programme document, but our next priority is to raise £7,000 to complete the set up of the physics and biology labs. An equal priority is the need for £3,700 to replace the antiquated computer suite (see picture left).

If you can help us with a small donation towards this project then please use the button below.

06 Apr 2017

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes Posted in Community Support, Education, Tipling girls With 2 Comments Permalink

Nepali girl abduction

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes On April 6, 2017 With 2 Comments

Nepali girl abduction a common crime

Nepali girl abduction is commonplace - indeed socially accepted - in some rural communities in Nepal. The UK’s Daily Mail reported on this two years ago, describing how it impacted upon Dalit (“untouchable”) girls in remote northwest Nepal. Young men abducted these girls to force them into child marriage while girls’ families offered little resistance. See this article. We’ve come across the same practice further to the east in Tipling, Dhading District, which lies in the mountains bordering Tibet. In the midst of stunning scenery (see picture above) young men commit crimes against girls, robbing them of their childhoods and futures.

Tipling - a tough place for girls

It takes two days’ travel from Kathmandu to reach Tipling, its remoteness contributing to endemic grinding poverty. This is home to the people from the marginalised and historically downtrodden Tamang community. Family incomes are derived from subsistence farming, manual labour and from acting as porters. Women’s lives are particularly difficult with a high incidence of child marriage and early pregnancy. These are major contributing factors towards infant and maternal mortality. Families often can’t afford to educate their children. If they can, they will prioritise their sons’ schooling and send them to private boarding schools in large towns. Girls can only expect to attend local government schools that are chronically under-resourced. Eventually poverty forces many girls to drop out of school early to begin work. Or they may be forced into child marriage even though this is illegal in Nepal.

The thing is that there’s little protection for girls. There is no police post in the area; the nearest one is a day’s walk away. And often parents can be away from home, tending cattle in lowland pastures. So it’s easy for a young man or young men to kidnap a girl and claim her as a wife.

Abduction of two sisters

A young man kidnapped 22 year old Mara when her father was away from home working as a herdsman. Mara ran away from her captor four times before he turned up at her parents’ home. He offered alcohol as a goodwill gesture to the family and to obtain her father’s blessing. The family agreed and Mara’s fate was sealed. Later, another lad and some friends snatched Mara’s younger sister, Nanimaya. She escaped five times but each time her abductor went to her home to retrieve her with the family’s consent. After the sixth escape the young man gave up. But, bizarrely, he claimed £4 equivalent from Nanimaya’s father as “compensation” for the “divorce”.

In our society we’d quite correctly view these practices as kidnap and rape. Not necessarily so in rural Nepal and even if there is a police presence, they turn a blind eye to these crimes for fear of upsetting complicit villagers.

The ChoraChori Tipling Girls Project

Mara and Nanimaya’s youngest sister is one of ten girls who came to Kathmandu last July. ChoraChori responded to a request from a Jesuit priest in Tipling, Fr Norbert, that we give these girls a chance to complete their education in Kathmandu. For they had successfully passed the coveted Grade 10 School Leaver’s Certificate (SLC) examination at their school in Tipling. This was a remarkable achievement in spite of the 2015 earthquakes that had destroyed their homes. There was no option to complete higher secondary education (Grades 11 and 12) in Tipling. Moreover, lawlessness had become much worse after the quakes and these girls were very susceptible to abduction, child marriage or even human trafficking. Tamang girls are physically attractive and therefore highly sought-after for the sex trade.

The Tipling girls are now staying at ChoraChori Operational Director Shailaja’s home. In the mornings they attend college while in the afternoons we have been teaching them handicrafts. Soon we plan to extend their extra-curricular activities to English lessons. These will increase their future employability. And in June we expect a further ten or so girls to join the two year programme. A programme that will give these young women a chance of making something of their lives while providing essential protection from kidnappers.

To support this project and help us fight Nepali girl abduction please donate using the button below:

22 Feb 2017

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes Posted in Supporting Schools With 1 Comment Permalink

Supporting Kitini Higher Secondar School, Lalitpur, Nepal

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes On February 22, 2017 With 1 Comment

The boys from the ChoraChori refuge in Kathmandu attend Kitini Higher Secondary School which is one of the best state schools in Nepal. This is thanks to its first class leadership, including from the Headteacher, Mr Saroj KC. The school provides a full education from ECD classes right up to Bachelor’s degree level. At the moment there are 600 students attending in classes ECD up to Grade 10, with 550 in the High School and Bachelor’s programmes. And pupils are drawn from a wide area including from the three hill village schools that we have supported through our 2016 “Educating Reeti” campaign. Results are remarkable with a 100% pass rate in last year’s 10th Grade School Leaving Certificate examination. School graduates progress to find very good jobs and sometimes quite prominent places within Nepali society. See the film “When I grow up” by clicking on the image on the left.

Nevertheless, our refuge boys are in a minority at the school for 70% of the pupils are girls. Why the imbalance? The reason is entirely one of gender discrimination for parents are willing to fund their sons’ education at private schools while their daughters are sent to state schools. It’s difficult, but not impossible, to overcome such attitudes within Nepalese society, but in the meantime ChoraChori aims to give the school the funding support we believe it needs and deserves.

We are asking for your kind help with two fundraising goals. The first is to help us purchase the 12 new computers that will allow the school to extend computer studies to the highest grades. The existing 12 computers are now obsolete (10 years old) and of these three aren’t working. The second goal is to set up a science laboratory without which the school can’t teach the subject in any meaningful way. A science lab will benefit pupils in grades 8 to 10, with 85 pupils in each year.

To find out more about ChoraChori’s broad education programme and objectives for 2017 please click here. To make a donation - in any major currency - please use the button below. Many thanks!

18 Feb 2017

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes Posted in Building Schools, Challenges, Community Support, Fundraising, Supporting Schools Permalink

Nepal International Marathon

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes On February 18, 2017

Nepal International Marathon

ChoraChori is recruiting runners to take part in this year’s Nepal International Marathon. This challenging, scenic trail running event takes place each November and is held in the hills above Kathmandu.

Fancy taking on the run of a lifetime?

Applications are now open for this year’s Nepal International Marathon that the Impact Marathon Series will manage between 13th and 19th November 2017. The idea of the Nepal International Marathon is that you can run in support of a chosen Nepal charity project. During the course of the week you’ll get the opportunity to visit your project and get your hands dirty with a short local volunteering task. The magical part is that you and 120 fellow runners will stay in a pop up camp that the organisers set up in a stunning hill-top location.

Choose your camping style and running distance

There are three options - taking your own tent (£495), glamping (£645) or luxe glamping (£795). You can select a 10km, half marathon or full marathon route over trails that involve significant Nepalese undulations. Click the picture above left to get an idea of what it’s all about and to sense the amazing atmosphere. Not to mention the pain and the triumph of crossing the finish line!

Helping Nepali schools

Children enjoying a free lunch at a ChoraChori supported school

By choosing ChoraChori you will be raising sponsorship towards our education programme. Through this we have been reinstating education in the wake of the Nepal earthquakes of 2015. Those two massive earthquakes had a devastating impact on Nepali children. But we’ve risen to the challenge, rebuilding three schools. Additionally, we’ve provided vital short term revenue support to encourage attendances and reduce drop outs. That initiative makes children less vulnerable to trafficking.

Our preferred fundraising platform for UK participants is BT MyDonate. Although it has fewer bells and whistles than the other fundraising sites, it is undoubtedly the most cost-effective. You can find out more about the Nepal International Marathon and sign up through the button below. But please remember that November is a peak time to visit Nepal and flights become more expensive to book the longer you wait!

09 Feb 2017

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes Posted in Building Schools, Community Support Permalink

Remembering Christian Kaesler in Nepal

Sticky Post By Philip Holmes On February 9, 2017

Yesterday was one of those really heart-warming days that we are privileged to experience from time to time in Nepal. It was the occasion of the official opening of the new TulsaDevi school that ChoraChori rebuilt after the earthquake. But it was special also in that the inauguration was in memory of Christian Kaesler, whose parents were major donors towards the project. Click on the image on the left to watch the film and find out more.

Delivering materials to communities affected by the Nepal floods

Our emergency appeal

Time to rebuild

ChoraChori helps ensure that Zoe Carss is remembered in Nepal

Opportunity for Nepali girls

Background

Recent developments, handicrafts plans

Inspiration for one beneficiary

An escape from the prospect of abduction

Can you help?

Landslide and flood in Nepal

Chipleti and Pratappur

Emergency Relief

Floods wreak havoc in south Asia

Nepal devastated

A “one-door” policy

ChoraChori’s response

A boost for one of the top government schools in Nepal

ChoraChori helping education in Nepal

A great start at Kitini

What we need next

Nepali girl abduction a common crime

Tipling - a tough place for girls

Abduction of two sisters

The ChoraChori Tipling Girls Project

Nepal International Marathon

Fancy taking on the run of a lifetime?

Choose your camping style and running distance

Helping Nepali schools

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