The little school that's teaching a whole village.

The Breakfast Club at Her Farm doesn't star Judd Nelson or Molly Ringwald and certainly isn't about a bunch of kids spending time in detention, though I admit that was a good movie in its time. In the village of Mankhu, The Breakfast Club is quite different. We have students who come early, hours before their regular school time just to study English. The regular school in the village starts at 10am, but these students show up as early as 7am for English classes as they are that eager to learn. Many of them don't have enough food at home, or they arrive at Her Farm so early, we were concerned about them getting a good breakfast so they'd have the energy to study all day as we know a great many of them will not have any lunch. Unlike our western schools, there isn't a lunch program at the village school in Mankhu. Students must pack a lunch, which they call tiffin, and we see very few children with lunch packed for school. So, we began the breakfast club. At 7am we have a good hot breakfast ready at Her Farm and all the children who have come for lessons first enjoy a good meal, then attend English class. We know we've given them a good start for the day and served up a hearty meal that will hold them throughout the day. Attendance has gone up for classes as a result, especially amongst the girls. In many Nepali families, the men and boys eat first, the women next and last to eat are the girls. That means for many of the young girls it's slim pickens for breakfast and we think that's one reason so many young girls are joining the breakfast club at Her Farm.