CHANCE for NEPAL is delighted to support the ‘Magic Read’ with Mountain Heart Nepal, (MHN). Having seen first-hand, being on one of their medical camps last November, I know how important these books are for the children. Text books are such a luxury in Nepal, especially in remote areas. Teachers, parents and children see them as a great treasure. For many children, this book will be the first book they ever own!
During the medical camps conducted by MHN, the children eagerly await to be given their very own book. CHANCE for NEPAL supported this new initiative – ‘Magic Read’ throughout 2018, and will continue to do so during 2019.
Dr Aban Gautam, founder of MHN said ‘this initiative was aimed to foster the acquisition of health-related knowledge and improve early reading success in children.
The early years are critical for children as it is the time when linguistic and cognitive systems are developing and becoming interdependent. At this important juncture, book reading has special power to have an enduring impact on the child’s development, particularly, on the language and the concepts. However, most parents in rural Nepal do not spontaneously make the most of the opportunities that books present, mostly because of their higher cost. As a consequence, children routinely do not have access to high-quality secondary textbooks.
Therefore, we specifically targeted this critical time to create a lasting impact on a child’s health by increasing access to secondary textbooks related to health and personal hygiene. Further, the distribution of books is accompanied by mobile outreach clinics, which helps to address any acute health issues among children and provide guidance for reading as well as the importance of personal hygiene.
Keeping with that, we continued our mobile preventive health program in Kakani Rural Municipality on 18th January, 2019. The health-related secondary textbooks were distributed to 150 school children of Shree Bramhayani Basic School’.
