C.H.A.N.C.E for Nepal

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Street Children

Major problems facing street children in Nepal are lack of safe accomodation, a shortage of healthy hygenic food, poor santitation, abuse and violence. C.H.A.N.C.E for Nepal through Shenpen supports the organisation JAFON which is run by ex-street youths and has set up a shelter to provide accomodation for 25 street children in both a temporary and permanent capacity.

They offer washing facilities, non-formal education classes and meals. The children enjoy a good relationship with the staff and are open about their problems owing the the atmosphere of mutual respect. The longer a child lives on the street the harder it is for them to ever be integrated into a formal education.

Through Shenpen’s collaboration with SathSath, an organisation specifically targeted at street children, we provide:

• 24 hour medical cover via contact cards has been provided.
• Transportation to clinic/hospital where necessary.
• A drop in Centre where street children can have a hot meal and a shower.
• An awareness programme for the many street children who are addicted to solvent abuse with posters and talks on the dangers of such abuse.
• Counselling workshops.
• Street drama workshops.

Education

• Pegasus School, Shangri-La School and Maitri Griha children's home in Kathmandu. Educational sponsorship for several children whose parents cannot afford to send their children to school, and to give children with learning difficulties, or who are handicapped, the right to an education.
• A teacher’s salary at Pegasus School.
• The purchase of story books, maps and other equipment such as badminton racquets, nets and footballs for three schools.
• For the Maitri Griha Children’s Home for disabled boys: physiotherapy three times a week, an excercise bar, a sandbox, creative materials, a computer and printer, and sign language classes for a deaf child.

"If you are thinking a year ahead, sow a seed. If you are thinking ten years ahead plant a tree. If you are thinking one hundred years ahead educate the people" - Old Chinese proverb 500BC

Shenpen has long held the belief of the importance of a creative and innovative approach to teaching children as the way forward in education. Shenpen with Chance for Nepal is supporting Pegasus School which opens its doors to the really poor and destitute. We aim to create a model school that would become an 'educational school' for modelling good teaching practices and would grow into offering teacher training.

We are looking into the possibility of on-line instruction in Montessori methods and instruction on how to create Montessori materials to use in the classroom.

The Montessori Institute in Chennai, India, is kindly offering a scholarship to a teacher from Pegasus to study at their centre. On completion of the two year training programme the teacher would then return to Pegasus and be in a position to train other teachers, not only at Pegasus but at other schools in Kathmandu. We hope to be able to sponsor teachers from remote parts of Nepal to come to Pegasus and gain training in the Montessori style and to return to their villages and implement these initiatives to encourage children to be creative and learn from one another.

The Montessori Institute in Chennai, India has kindly offered a scholarship to two teachers from Pegasus School in Kathmandu who are half way through their training.

Rationale for the Model School/Teacher Training Program

Teachers in Nepal lack good educational resources, both in their own training and in good teaching resources, and yet many teachers are very eager to learn new and appropriate approaches for teaching children. They know that the ways in which they were taught are not enough for bringing our children into today's world, and that learning needs to be creative and fun.

Unfortunately, we know that in order to support such learning more money is needed, and we cannot find this money from our students’ families, since we target the poor and disadvantaged. Therefore, we look to others to help with funding our programmes. Offering our teachers some solid, creative and innovative teaching skills, as well as to equip our classrooms with needed supplies for fun learning has been a dream of Pegasus School for many years.

Our Project will offer:

• More space/classrooms for all students
• Larger classrooms
• Smaller class size
• Creative learning materials
• Teachers who are currently well-trained in educating young children who can share their skills to those teachers with little or no teacher-training
• It is our hope that the teacher-training aspect of this program will be ongoing and eventually self-sufficient
• Each child to receive one hot meal a day

Should you wish to support this project please contact Barbara through this website for ways in which you may help.

Health

Bir Hospital Burns Unit, Kathmandu

Conditions in the Bir Hospital are dire. Children lie on plastic mattresses with soiled rough blankets as a covers. The wards are drab and dirty. There are no chairs for relatives to sit on, and nothing to relieve the boredom for children. C.H.A.N.C.E for Nepal will continue to provide two counsellors at the burns unit to visit weekly helping the burn victims and their families deal with their child’s disfigurements and get their lives back on track.

C.H.A.N.C.E for Nepal also provides financial support for an awareness/educational/preventative programme at the Bir Hospital, as many of these burns could be avoided by better instruction on how to use and maintain kerosene cooking stoves, a major cause of burns in Nepal. From 2008 a physiotherapist visits five afternoon days a week to help the burns victims with exercises and rehabilitation.

Mobile medical clinic

We continue assistance for a mobile medical clinic which visits remote villages in the Kathmandu Valley, providing immunisations and medical care to families.

Vocational Training

Providing job opportunities for teenagers, enabling them to get work and thereby gain self esteem.

Animals

A pilot scheme giving rabies vaccinations for over 400 dogs in Bungamati and Khakana, two villages just south of Kathmandu. Many dogs are wild or have been abandoned and need to be rescued and treated. This will protect children and adults from contracting rabies.

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