Thank you for standing together with us
Dear Friends and Supporters, Happy New Year !
As we put the finishing touches on another year, our team is grateful for your dedication during this most challenging year of 2021.
I just wanted to sincerely thank you for standing by us and believing in the life-changing work that The Small World does. I am really proud to share some of our major achievements and positive impacts that we have made together this year.
We couldn’t have achieved any of these remarkable results without your support on behalf of our team, the children, and the communities in which we work. Thank you so much.
The Friends of Arhaus Children’s Home
Child protection program by providing safe place to live with gift of education for children to thrive
In the wake of Covid-19 in Nepal, every aspect of human life has been significantly disrupted, especially for children in regards to their education and safety. Like any developing country, orphans and vulnerable children in Nepal have been at the highest risk during the pandemic, facing not only hunger but also trafficking and abuse as they remained out of school.
Therefore, our goal to protect them by providing relief foods, safe places to live, and the gift of education made our work at Friends of Arhaus more important than ever. We have rescued and our relief support has benefited over 1,000 children during the pandemic.
Due to their remote locations, children faced a huge learning crisis during this pandemic. Particularly in geographically challenged regions like Solukhumbhu, it's nearly impossible for students to take online classes since basic infrastructures like electricity & internet have never been introduced.
The Arhaus Children's Home has provided not only food and a safe, loving environment to over 80 marginalized students, but also much needed organized daily classes inside the home. With every school in the region closed, our Senior girls from the Solukhumbhu Girls' dorm have been homeschooling students in the home while also maintaining safety rules. This has not only ensured continued education but has also established a strong family bond between the senior and junior students.
As the government prepared to open physical schools, many students, especially from marginalized families who suffered from this pandemic, have needed support with Back-to-School preparedness, so The Small World has distributed school bags, stationeries, face masks, and sanitizers to over 1,500 students in the Solukhumbhu area.
Seeds Of Hope, sustainable Agriculture support program
Like many developing countries Nepal also faced a question as to whether the real crisis from COVID-19 would come from health or from hunger. The Mountain region like Solukhumbhu experienced a food crisis even before the virus caused severe health problems because of the lockdown and community heavily dependent on food import. To achieve sustainable and healthy diet specially in marginalized COVID affected communities The Small World helped over 300 families with the Seed Of Hope program.
This program provided support to mothers in terms of access to inputs like seed, fertilizer and technical knowledge. The women were also encouraged to sell the extra products in the local market so that they can provide the family with extra financial support.
Phuleli Community medical Center
The spike in Covid-19 cases in Nepal has shone a harsh light on the lack of medical infrastructure in the country and the situation was way worse for mountain communities. Infrastructure is costlier to build in the mountains, which is why healthcare infrastructure – in particular – should have been a priority. The Small World in coordination with Nepal Government successfully provided Covid Vaccination to over 700 people in Everest region through our Phuleli community medical Center. Now we will be launching emergency services at the center. In the absence of a proper health infrastructure the local communities are forced to travel 6-8 hours to reach the nearest health center. Our community Medical Center will help provide emergency services in their own community saving hundreds of lives.
Covid Food Relief program.
During the lockdown and rise of covid crisis in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu daily wage earners, mothers and children were spending their days without hot meals as they lost their job and income.
Also, the visitors and relatives of Covid patients were without food as everything was shut down and nowhere to eat out. The Small World with the help of supporters from all over the world provided more than 400 cooked hot meals every day for over a month.
Our former students volunteer to prepare and distribute more than 12000 hot meals amid the covid crisis.
As the lockdown eased, we provided over 500 porter families with rations like rice, lentil, oil, salt, dry foods to last for months. In total over 15000 kg rice and 1000kg lentil 1000ltr oil 1000kg salt and 1000kg dry foods were distributed to the families most severely affected by the economic fallout of the pandemic
Girls Higher Education Program
Data shows that about 40% of girls in rural areas are married by the age 14. Child marriage is a prime reason why in rural areas in Nepal, more than 70% of girls leave schools by the age of 16. The socio-cultural and economic factors compel girls to take household responsibilities early-on in their life’s which cascades into early marriages. As a result, the school-to-work transition gap is bigger for girls, which then increases their vulnerability to early and forced marriage, domestic slavery, and trafficking.
There are more opportunities for high school graduates, such as pursuing higher education or seeking entry-level positions in the formal sector. Furthermore, more than one in three girls in this age group are neither employed nor are receiving formal education or vocational trainings, indicating higher risk of exploitation.
So, through our Girls’ Education Program, at least 20 young girls graduate every year out of which, nearly 65% are serving back in the community as teachers, community nurses, serving in hospitality industry, and even in respectful law enforcement agencies as police officers. Once they choose their career path, they are also aspired to pursue further education to achieve more and perform better in their respective professions. Our Girls’ Higher Education Program is one of the leading programs and efforts in helping girls bring in the economic mainstream in the Everest Region. Our program has proven to transform the life-scenario of girls for better. We firmly believe that through girls’ higher education, we can empower girls, change perceptions of girls and women’s roles in the societies. We are committed to ensure that every girl child in the Everest Region goes to the school regardless of extremities they face in the mountains, eventually enriching the societies around them.
Every contribution from your side, no matter how small or large can impact. We heartily welcome you to be a part of our effort in improving and enriching the lives of girls in remote Himalayan community of Nepal.
With great hope and care, we wish that the year ahead brings you and your loved ones good health and many moments of peace and joy.
P.S. We’ve tried to share this message with everyone on your team who works closely with us, but please forward this to any colleagues we may have missed.
Namaste ! and Thank you !
Stay Safe and healthy !
Karma Sherpa
Executive Director & Co-Founder
*The Small World*
Email: karma@thesmallworld.org
www.thesmallworld.org