Support Girls' Education in Rural Nepal

This fall, we will break ground on a second hostel in Salleri, Nepal to house 20 to 40 girls each year who will be pursuing a Bachelor's degree at the local universities in the Solukhumbu District. We are excited to provide this much-needed resource to girls in this region of Nepal, who typically do not have the chance to go to university. 

Girls like Roshani, who comes from a village where most familes try to marry off their daughters as soon as possible, so as to be rid of the burden and pressure of caring for them. Compared to other girls in her community, Roshani considers herself very lucky. "My parents encouraged me to study rather than look to marriage," she said. "They always told me that if I was educated, I would make better decisions for my life."

To support the upcoming hostel project, we plan to hold a fundraiser in Denver on Oct. 9th. If you are in Colorado, we encourage you to come out and celebrate education for girls in the developing world! You can RSVP and purchase tickets online. If you are not in Colorado, you can still support this project by making a donation of $50 or more through our Global Giving page! 

Or to learn about ways you can get involved on the ground with the hostel project, please visit our website for more on all of our International Volunteer opportunities. 

And to read more stories about all of the girls we serve at our existing hostel in Salleri, please read our 2013 Annual Report.

As always, thank you for your tremendous support of our work to empower and educate girls and women across the globe!

Links:

• Girl Power! Facebook Page
• Help Build a New Hostel for Girls in Nepal!

• 2014 Girl Power Invitation (PDF)
  

This week, 15 students from the St. Andrews School in Austin, Texas will board a plane for Nepal where they will work alongside local community members and Edge of Seven to build a secondary school for the students of Kaku in the Solukhumbu District. 

The K-10 campus in Kaku serves 539 students, half of which are female. Many of the classrooms in Kaku are dilapidated and in extremely poor condition. Students in Kaku are primarily Janajati, an indigenous population that is often excluded from Nepal's mainstream. As Kaku is located a 45 minute walk from the village of Basa, students who graduate from grade 10 in Kaku are able to pursue grades 11 and 12 at the higher secondary school in Basa that Edge of Seven worked to complete last year. 

Providing access to higher education, particularly for girls, is our chief aim at Edge of Seven. That's because girls in developing countries, like Nepal, are most often denied opportunities for advancement. At our Solukhumbu Girls Hostel in Salleri, we house 40 girls who are pursuing a higher education. Some girls, like Roshani, are lucky to come from families who support educating their daughters. Roshani says that her parents were different from other girls' parents in her Tamang village, where having a daughter was seen as a sign of misfortune. While most families endeavored to marry off their daughters as quickly as possible, Roshani's parents encouraged her to stay in school.

"They told me to study rather than get married," she said. "They always told me that if I was educated, I would make better decisions for my life. With an education, you have a clear path. Without it, you are blind."

By supporting Edge of Seven through GlobalGiving, you are helping to make the future brighter for girls like Roshani and students in villages like Kaku. Thank you for joining us in our mission to create more access to education for girls and disadvantaged students in Nepal!

Links:

• Edge of Seven's Website
• Edge of Seven on Facebook
• Edge of Seven on Twitter