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Nepal Jesuit Social Institute has been contributing in the different sectors like education, protection and livelihood in the earthquake effected areas since 2015 and this time NJSI team went to Suri, Dolakha to facilitate women out there about our new Constitutional rights. On 6^th and 7^th October programs were conducted in two different places of Suri. The first place consist people of Tamang Community with 33 participants and on the second day people of Surel community was facilitated with 24 participants.

The program started with ice breaking game and then followed by interesting presentation and fun activities that make the participants actively participate. The presentation mainly include all the basic rights of women, legal laws on domestic and sexual violence and general information about Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights(SRHR). At the end, certificates were distributed to them for participation as an encouragement to get involved in these kinds of programs.

Despite of their busy schedule during Dashain, they manage their time for the program and attended with full enthusiasm. They showed their interest by asking questions about the laws against Domestic Violence and Polygamy. They also helped us in conveying the message that we should stand for our rights and speak against the crime without any hesitation. They expressed their gratitude by thanking us personally for empowering them about on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.

On 27^th September, a two day long camp was organized for the students of grade 8, 9 and 10 of Shree Saraswati Secondary School at Balephi-7, Sabhachaur which is approximately 5 km uphill from the main road of Khadichaur, Sindhupalchowk. The village has a thick residence of Tamang community and people from Brahmin and Chettri community as well. A total of 48 students participated in the program.

The camp was conducted to improve personal development of students through exposure to higher education and career opportunities and also to help the students to identify their potential and encourage them to be mindful of self, community and environment through promotion of creative thinking through presentations, interactive sessions and conducting activities. Meanwhile Eco-club was also introduced in which importance of the environment was discussed with the student representatives of the school. President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Logistics Coordinator were elected among the students and later at the end of the program, students were asked to clean the surrounding of the school. Reinforcement provided through the healthy competition motivated the students to be an active listener and active participants. To conclude the program, 3 best scores were awarded with gifts. Meanwhile other participating students were also provided with certificates and small gifts.

Students expressed their thankfulness towards the program for helping them identify even more scopes and areas for higher education. They shared that their knowledge of fields of study has broadened after attending the program. Eco- club was relatively a new topic for the students, so they expressed learning something new.

 

 

NJSI staff along with Doctor and two lab technicians went for the medical intervention at Kavre on 26^th September, 2018. The intervention was conducted at two different places. Bhagwati School is located at Kharelthok and has 20 special children whereas Kalidevi School is situated at Kunta with 10 special children.

In the program blood samples were collected and regular medical checkup was done for the safety of children. It was difficult to conduct their medical intervention as their cases were slightly severe but they were cooperative throughout the blood withdrawing process.

Caretakers adored the medical intervention for the special needs children and they shared their wish for continuation of such program and not to limit it in just a onetime medical intervention. They also appreciated the way that the doctors made children feel secure throughout the process.

Special children of Kalidevi School can now have a better residence after inauguration and handover ceremony of newly built hostel on 25^th September. There are altogether 10 special children and the school is situated in Mandendeupur-7, Kunta of Kavre district. NJSI team along with 2 representatives from Caritas Italiana (Sponsor), Deputy Mayor of Mandandeupur Municipality Ms. Nirmala Shahi, local women’s group, students and committee member of school gathered for the program which was short and precise with the introduction and felicitation of the guests followed by official inauguration and handover of the hostel to concerned authority.

The presence of all the students of Kalidevi School made it more special as everyone was so excited to be a part of the ceremony. Despite of the scorching sun, they were carefully listening to speeches and enjoying to the fullest. The hostel is designed for the children who are mentally challenged and their mental status varies heavily as some of them are able to make conversations but some of them are still unaware of themselves. The previous hostel was too congested and was not designed well for sufficient light and fresh air. Now they have separate rooms for boys and girls and also have enough space for dinning, studying and conducting any games or activities.

Their caretaker, Ms. Fulmaya seem very happy during the program and Deputy Mayor also expressed her gratitude towards NJSI and Caritas Italiana for their support.

Thumka Danda village is situated south-east of Kavre district under Roshi Gaunpalika. The village is on the difficult terrain and mostly populated with Tamang indigenous community who are economically very poor and literacy rate among them is negligible. Throughout the year except the monsoon season village is very dry. Since village has no water source of its own even for drinking, women of the village have to fetch water from below the valley, spring water, walking the stiff terrain for 2 to 3 hours daily carrying it on a bamboo basket in plastic bottles.

On the request of the villagers, NJSI is laying 6700 meters water pipe line connection from the nearest water supply tank and will be storing it in an eighteen thousand liters tank for the various use of the villagers. On 19^th September 2018, Fr. Anil and Mr. Tikaram Regmi went on a bike to attend the laying of the foundation and a blessing of proposed Water Tank installation. The beneficiaries of this project had gathered in a big number for the ceremony. The villagers, especially the women, were very happy and expressed joy and hope that it would be completed before the Dashain-Tihar holidays.

NJSI, as a team, hope to fulfill their dreams before festivity begins and bring smiles on the faces of villagers and in particular on the faces of women who have to spend hours on the difficult terrain to fetch the water for the household needs.

Kavre is one of the major project sites where various projects and activities are conducted by Nepal Jesuit Social Institute. On 14^th September 2018, foundation was laid for women’s activity center at Mandendeupur.

The beneficiaries will be Deridevi Women’s group who came together to be self-reliant.  Most of them belong to Tamang community who are involved in agriculture and animal rearing. Now, they are planning to use that center for conducting meetings, developing skills through various trainings and to discuss agendas for social and economic community development. This revolutionary idea was suggested by Deputy Mayor of Mandendeupur Municipality, Nirmala Shahi.

For the foundation ceremony 13 people gathered from the locality. They were very thankful to NJSI for making them believe in their capability and showing an approach for independent living.