SuMa After-School provide academic, emotional, and medical/nutritional support for close to 200 children living in extreme poverty in Nepal. Our program provides a safe place away from traffickers; healthy meals and regular medical checkups; and a creative, hands-on STEM curriculum that teaches students how to think critically and creatively. Our mission is to provide pathways out of poverty for Nepal's most vulnerable.
Nepal is one of the world's poorest countries with nearly 60% of the population living on less than $2 a day. only 12% of children in the lowest wealth quintile are proficient in literacy and math compared to 65% of children in the highest wealth quintile. Nepali children living in poverty also face threats of being forced into child labor, working in the drug trade, or being sold as an indentured servant or sex worker.
SuMa After School is a holistic, community-based, academic enrichment program designed to address the immediate health and educational needs of children living in extreme poverty in Nepal. Our goal is to provide children with the essential foundation (basic nutrition, physical safety, access to healthcare, academic support and child-directed learning) that will increase their chances of becoming healthy and financially self-sufficient adults.
In the long term, SuMa After School aims to achieve the following: Children exhibit improved and lasting emotional and physical health. Children are safe from criminal activity, drug-trade activities, and trafficking. Children enroll in vocational training or higher education. Children achieve financial independence in their transition to adulthood.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).