Well it’s Sunday evening here in Kathmandu and we are just catching our breaths after what turned out to be an unexpectedly eventful weekend. As is often the case in Nepal, things have the ability to surprise you in the most unexpected ways, sometimes good and sometimes not so good.
On Friday evening we went to Bhaktapur to spend the evening with our friend, Rabindra. He has a beautifully restored Newari house in Bhaktapur and we always look forward to the chance of spending an evening there relaxing away from the hustle and bustle of Thamel. This time was no different and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Rabindra followed by a fantastic quiet night’s sleep and a lovely breakfast the following morning.
We then met some other friends in Bhaktapur’s main square later on Saturday morning. These friends are 2 students who we have been sponsoring since the Mitrataa Foundation started 7½ years ago. As you can imagine, they have grown so much in that time and it was wonderful to see them now developing into young adults.
On Saturday afternoon we returned to Kathmandu and were greeted with quite a shock. There is a woman who works on the streets of Thamel running a small cigarette cart and selling stitched bags to tourists. We have known her for many years and have suported her and her family in various ways. This time she seemed quite agitated about something and although her English is quite good she could not immediately communicate her problem to us. After a lot of gesticulating and questions we finally worked out that she was telling us her 16 year old daughter was being sexually abused by the caretaker of the hostel where she was living. Absolute shock and horror does not begin to describe how we felt once we were sure this was what we were being told. Although we were aware this was a common problem in Kathmandu we had never encountered it personally.
It turns out that this has been going on for many years but the girl was too afraid to tell her mother and did not want to worry her. However, the problem has become worse recently and she has become too afraid to go back to the hostel when school resumes next week. The problem was made worse by the fact that her education is being paid for by a foreigner who stipulated that she would only support the girl if she attended this school and lived in this hostel. Naturally the girl and her mother were concerned that if they told anyone of the problem this educational support would be lost. Mess does not begin to describe things!
We have had no experience of how best to handle this type of issue in Nepal so we spent the rest of Saturday evening and Sunday morning on the phone with various friends and contacts trying to work out what could be done. Fortunately, thanks to one of our partner organisations that works with, among other things, abused women and children, CWISH, we have been able to help. A counsellor from CWISH has been very helpful in gathering information and details from us today and has explained exactly how these types of things should be dealt with in Nepal. We will take the girl tomorrow to CWISH to meet with the counsellor and help her understand what has happened. We will also be helping the girl to find another school so that she will be able to start there when school resumes next Sunday after the Tihar festival.
Whilst in this instance it appears that everything is going to work out, the whole experience reminded us of some of the disturbing things that can happen here. It became apparent that the hostel caretaker singled out this girl because he knew she came from a poor family and so wouldn’t be able to do anything (supposedly) to stop him. He also prevented her from making phone calls or emailing even though these are standard facilities available to children living in this hostel. He also threatened her that if she told anyone she would lose her sponsorship to go to school and she would “end up on the streets like her mother”.
Without wanting to draw out the unpleasantness of the whole thing further I will just add that this situation really reminds us of how important education is for people in developing countries. With education people learn about their basic rights, where they can turn for help if they need it, and also hopefully people learn that such behaviour is never acceptable. I know this girl is one of the lucky ones, and the ordeal is by no means over for her yet, but tonight she is safe. We will be working with her from now on and closely monitoring her progress. We are very grateful to CWISH for their support and for the wonderful work they do in this area to protect women and girls.
Lastly, if anyone would like to contribute to supporting this girl we are urgently looking for sponsorship. We are not sure of the exact cost as yet (it will depend on which school and hostel she attends) but any expressions of interest would be appreciated. You can email me at adam@mitrataa.org.
05 November 2007
02 November 2007
Teacher Training Workshop
We have had the most amazing time over the last 2 days conducting our frst teacher training course in the new model school we will be working with. The course was entitled “Teachers’ Workshop on Learner Centred Education” and was attended by around 20 teachers from the Rosy Garden School in Maijubahal, Kathmandu.
The first day of the course included an introduction to Howard Gardner’s model of “multiple intelligences”. The seven main intelligences in this model being linguistic, logical/maths, visual/spatial, musical, bodily/kinaesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal. The teachers explored how they can use this model in their classes to help their students learn in different ways. On the second day we put this into practice and delved into the importance of lesson plans and thorough preparation to ensure the teachers use as much learner focused activity as possible. It was very practical and the teachers went away with many examples to help put what they had learned into practice in their classrooms.
We were heartened and encouraged by the enthusiasm and commitment of the teachers involved. Many of them had not had any formal training but nonetheless approached each of the tasks and activties with vigour and a can-do attitude.
At one stage Rebecca had the class standing in a circle outside and throwing a roll of toilet paper at each other whilst asking questions and shouting answers. I’m sure they have never encountered such a thing before and may well have been hoping they will never do so again!
Nepal’s education approach is based heavily on rote learning to pass exams and we hope to break open this way of thinking with more of these courses in the future. We have tentatively scheduled the next courses for March/April 2008 and beyond then we will be providing advanced training to some of the teachers with a view to them then conducting the course on a more frequent basis for teachers from other schools. We also plan to make the course available to teachers from outside the Kathmandu Valley through some form of sponsorship program for teachers from remote schools in disadvantaged areas.
The Rosy Garden School has only recently been taken over by some people that we have been working closely with through CWISH. They are extremely passionate about developing a school that is cutting edge in terms of its approach to education and it is for this reason that we have become involved. We have many great plans for the model school (including a name change!) and are so excited about the possibilities it presents for the development and growth of the Foundation through the number of people whose lives we can touch.
We will keep you posted as plans progress but it certinly seems as though 2008 is going to be a huge year for the Foundation and we can’t wait to share all of the experiences and excitement with you!
The first day of the course included an introduction to Howard Gardner’s model of “multiple intelligences”. The seven main intelligences in this model being linguistic, logical/maths, visual/spatial, musical, bodily/kinaesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal. The teachers explored how they can use this model in their classes to help their students learn in different ways. On the second day we put this into practice and delved into the importance of lesson plans and thorough preparation to ensure the teachers use as much learner focused activity as possible. It was very practical and the teachers went away with many examples to help put what they had learned into practice in their classrooms.
We were heartened and encouraged by the enthusiasm and commitment of the teachers involved. Many of them had not had any formal training but nonetheless approached each of the tasks and activties with vigour and a can-do attitude.
At one stage Rebecca had the class standing in a circle outside and throwing a roll of toilet paper at each other whilst asking questions and shouting answers. I’m sure they have never encountered such a thing before and may well have been hoping they will never do so again!
Nepal’s education approach is based heavily on rote learning to pass exams and we hope to break open this way of thinking with more of these courses in the future. We have tentatively scheduled the next courses for March/April 2008 and beyond then we will be providing advanced training to some of the teachers with a view to them then conducting the course on a more frequent basis for teachers from other schools. We also plan to make the course available to teachers from outside the Kathmandu Valley through some form of sponsorship program for teachers from remote schools in disadvantaged areas.
The Rosy Garden School has only recently been taken over by some people that we have been working closely with through CWISH. They are extremely passionate about developing a school that is cutting edge in terms of its approach to education and it is for this reason that we have become involved. We have many great plans for the model school (including a name change!) and are so excited about the possibilities it presents for the development and growth of the Foundation through the number of people whose lives we can touch.
We will keep you posted as plans progress but it certinly seems as though 2008 is going to be a huge year for the Foundation and we can’t wait to share all of the experiences and excitement with you!
01 November 2007
Women Journalists' Forum
It feels like a long time since my last blog but that is partly due to our being so busy here in Kathmandu! So, to bring you all up to speed, let me start with Monday this week.
As I had mentioned in previous entries, we have been joined in Kathmandu by one of our good friends, Janet. Janet has worked in journalism in Australia for many years and has been very eager to use her skills to help women journalists in Nepal. Journalism for women in Nepal is similar to many other professions in that it is much more difficult to be heard whether from a career prospective or simply just in the content of your work. The problems of access to education and family and social pressures also make journalism a challenging pursuit.
We invited a group of around 10 women who all shared a passion for making their voices heard to a round table discussion on the issues facing women in this industry. Janet, Rebecca and I met with the women in the ‘back room’ of a café in New Baneshwor and spent a lively 2 hours discussing the main issues they face, their hopes for the future and the areas in which they felt they needed the most help and support from us. Some of the recurring themes included their strong desire to hear about Janet’s experience of journalism in Australia and the prospects for women there. All of the women felt that this type of discussion was really inspiring and motivating for them. They were also keen to have an impromptu class on the basics of constructing a story and looking at some examples of the way news is reported across different publications in Australia. Janet came well prepared on this front and had even brought copies of some different newspapers from Australia to illustrate her points which the women enjoyed.
The tone of the class and the feedback afterwards was overwhelingly in favour of us working with Janet to setup a formal training course and in fact a number of the women enquired as to whether Janet would be available next week to start the training! This is testament to Janet’s demonstrated knowledge in this area as well as her presentation technique and we are immensely grateful to her for putting herself ‘out there’ and giving this a go. Of course now the real work for all of us begins as Janet is going to work on preparing a course that will give maximum benefit to the women whilst we will be working on the logistics of running the course probably some time in March next year.
Some unexpected benefits of the forum also came in the form of a number of the women meeting each other for the first time and vowing to keep in touch and perhaps even form an ongoing support group in order that they might work together on particular issues and projects. This would be a fantastic outcome as we always try to keep sustainability in mind when developing these projects – if these women can take their experience and training we provide and use them to promote their causes and help others to do the same, then who knows what the future might hold for Nepal?!
Stay tuned for updates as this project takes shape…
As I had mentioned in previous entries, we have been joined in Kathmandu by one of our good friends, Janet. Janet has worked in journalism in Australia for many years and has been very eager to use her skills to help women journalists in Nepal. Journalism for women in Nepal is similar to many other professions in that it is much more difficult to be heard whether from a career prospective or simply just in the content of your work. The problems of access to education and family and social pressures also make journalism a challenging pursuit.
We invited a group of around 10 women who all shared a passion for making their voices heard to a round table discussion on the issues facing women in this industry. Janet, Rebecca and I met with the women in the ‘back room’ of a café in New Baneshwor and spent a lively 2 hours discussing the main issues they face, their hopes for the future and the areas in which they felt they needed the most help and support from us. Some of the recurring themes included their strong desire to hear about Janet’s experience of journalism in Australia and the prospects for women there. All of the women felt that this type of discussion was really inspiring and motivating for them. They were also keen to have an impromptu class on the basics of constructing a story and looking at some examples of the way news is reported across different publications in Australia. Janet came well prepared on this front and had even brought copies of some different newspapers from Australia to illustrate her points which the women enjoyed.
The tone of the class and the feedback afterwards was overwhelingly in favour of us working with Janet to setup a formal training course and in fact a number of the women enquired as to whether Janet would be available next week to start the training! This is testament to Janet’s demonstrated knowledge in this area as well as her presentation technique and we are immensely grateful to her for putting herself ‘out there’ and giving this a go. Of course now the real work for all of us begins as Janet is going to work on preparing a course that will give maximum benefit to the women whilst we will be working on the logistics of running the course probably some time in March next year.
Some unexpected benefits of the forum also came in the form of a number of the women meeting each other for the first time and vowing to keep in touch and perhaps even form an ongoing support group in order that they might work together on particular issues and projects. This would be a fantastic outcome as we always try to keep sustainability in mind when developing these projects – if these women can take their experience and training we provide and use them to promote their causes and help others to do the same, then who knows what the future might hold for Nepal?!
Stay tuned for updates as this project takes shape…
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