Insight into the Sisters for Sister's Education Project

An insight into the Sisters for Sister’s Education

I don’t really know where to start with this initial explanation so I hope it is not too dry! So first a few bare facts that I hope will help to set the context. Girls and women are disproportionately affected by Nepal’s 55% extreme  poverty rate. 60% of Nepali women are illiterate (higher in the villages) and 7% of girls are married by the age of 10 and 40% by the age of 15. 30% more boys are sent to school as a parental priority and the girls are kept at home to look after younger siblings, work in the house or in the field. They are not seen as a priority.

So this project, funded by DFID and VSO, has been set up to convince girls, their parents and communities of their right to education. Put into words it sound obvious and even simple but as I am finding it is far from straightforward. Hence the delay in writing this blog! The project has been set up in 4 districts each with 12 schools. It involves many tiers from the Ministry of Education, the District Education Office (DEO), VSO, Global Action Nepal (GAN) (Nepal NGO), Community mobilisers the schools, communities, families and girls.

 

I am based in the GAN office in Besisahar, Lamjung. Blog followers will already know a lot about the area as Simon has written many excellent articles with photos and description. The staff is all young and wonderful and it is a pleasure to spend 6 days a week with them. Yes, Sunday is a normal working day, in fact an important one as we hold a weekly planning and update meeting so it is hard to miss! The District Coordinator, Raj, and Professional Mentor, Srijana, head the team of 5 Community Mobilisers, Anju, Manju, Muna, Samjhana and Sarita and finally the wonderful, smiling Suchana who keeps everything in order. The average age is about 23 years old, all under 30. Oh then there are 2 old ladies, both from England who if added to the average would really upset the figures! However despite this age gap we are not only welcomed but they all seem delighted with our input (it is fortunate that in Nepal there is great respect for age!!).




Anju, Samjhana, Suchana and Manju making dominoes and letter squares!

 

Each Community Mobiliser has 2 or 3 communities, based on a chosen needy school, and they look after between 6 and 9 Big Sisters in each. The Big Sisters are girls who have just passed, or nearly, their School Leaving Certificate, so between 16 and 22 years of age. They in turn have 4 “Little Sisters” who have been identified as at risk of dropping out of education. This might be due to ethnic group, poverty, challenges of getting to school or menstruation. More about these in future blogs. 

A group of Big Sisters with Sarita in the middle of the back row.

My colleague Ann’s role is as a Teacher Trainer. Although full of challenges, some of which are hard to believe, has an obvious role as the title says. More to follow. Mine however is not so easy to describe but will gradually unfold. Basically I am here to help with the mentoring process across the whole team, add support, facilitate training and ideas and to, believe it or not, add kudos!

Early morning exercise.

An enthusiastic welcome committee!!

 

The word  kudos, makes me smile. Imagine a walk up the side of a mountain from about 700 metres to 1600 meters (the equivalent of climbing Ben Nevis perhaps!!) in the steaming heat of 29 degrees in the shade, near vertical in places! Sweat literally dripping off my brow, down my neck, rucksack and clothing sticking to my back. In most cases I have also been carrying a pile of notebooks, pens etc as prizes and a vital litre of water.

 

The climb up and down is hard going.

Thank goodness that I had a change of top which I managed to change into in a quiet corner (there aren’t many in a village). To my astonishment the school had been gathered and I was shown to a seat of honour and was adorned with garlands and red Tika onto my already red face. I was then asked to speak. Oh no! Those language lessons had spent hours on this but where were the words? However I thought of my dear old father, a veteran speaker in his day, and managed to raise a smile and laugh, probably at my own expense but it worked. Was it the words that made them smile or the sight of white/ blotchy red skin with red Tika stuck not only to my brow but splattered on my sticky nose!!

Oh dear! Is it that bad!

However there are many wonderful experiences. Meeting these Gurung ladies who gave me a wonderful welcome during our descent.

A welcome chance meeting with these Gurung ladies.

     Well.........the views are truly spectacular.