You can make an even bigger impact on the lives of Nepalese families still recovering from the massive earthquakes in 2015.
Beginning April 25 at 9 a.m. EDT - the second anniversary of the earthquake - Global Giving will match gifts by 50 percent on projects that are helping Nepal to recover and rebuild. The $50,000 match will continue until December 31 or the funds run out - whichever comes first.
Our project – Help a Child Remain with a Loving Family - #24772 – qualifies for this generous opportunity. Our program allows children orphaned or abandoned after the earthquakes to live with extended family. The majority of the children lost one or both parents in the disaster, to death or disability, and all of the children accepted into the program were identified as being among the most vulnerable of the 8,000 applicants. By covering the most basic living expenses of school supplies, food, and health care, NYF is protecting children from sex or labor trafficking, and ensuring they are able to continue their educations despite the incredible disruption in the country.
Even a small gift can make a big difference in the life of a poor Nepali child. Please donate our project #24772 on April 25 and increase your impact!
Thank you and dhanyabad!
Santoshi spent three years of her childhood as a household slave in the now eradicated practice of Kamlari, but she promises that her four-year old daughter’s life will be vastly different.
After her husband died of typhoid fever and his family threw her out of their house calling her an “ill omen,” Santoshi completed a training program and business development course through NYF’s Vocational Education and Counseling Program.
She is now the proud owner of a successful food stall and earns enough to send her daughter to private school.
So far, 1,436 freed Kamlari have received vocational training – 1,230 of these young women are now in the workforce or running their own businesses. The young women train for careers ranging from motorcycle mechanics to nursing.
NYF has rescued 12,722 girls from Kamlari since it launched its successful campaign to end the practice in 2000.
We are so proud of Santoshi and of all the young people who are changing their lives through NYF’s vocational training programs.
Thank you and dhanyabad!
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Namaste!
It was another challenging year for Nepal and children and families we serve.
Just months after two major earthquakes devastated the country, political unrest and a prolonged blockade at the Indian border brought Nepal’s recovery efforts to a near standstill.
Petrol, cooking fuel, food, medicine and building materials were in short supply and prices more than doubled, causing even more suffering.
The crisis slowed us down, but it couldn’t stop NYF’s dedicated staff from doing everything they could to care for some of Nepal’s most impoverished children.
They rode bicycles when there was no petrol. When the cooking fuel ran out, they built outdoor fires to keep the community kitchens operating. They worked 16-hour days to help people who had lost everything.
We are so proud of what the NYF Nepal team accomplished in face of these hardships. We could not have done it without your friendship and support.
Thank you and dhanyabad!
With warmest wishes for the year ahead!
Nepal Youth Foundation
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Using street theater, leaflets, posters, radio broadcasts, counseling sessions and house visits, NYF staff and counselors are working hard to encourage young women freed from the practice of indentured servitude known as Kamlari to stay in school and resist family pressure to marry early.
Last year, counselors reached more than 4,000 former Kamlari through orientation sessions, street drama, house visits and leafleting public bulletin boards. Counselors are creating support groups for boys and we're bringing families into the effort by forming “Guardian Committees” comprised of parents and community members.
The project is part of NYF’s Empowering Freed Kamlari program which helps former Kamlari girls become healthy, happy and independent young women. NYF has rescued more than 12,700 girls since launching our campaign against the Kamlari system in 2000.
While marriage before the age of 18 is illegal, police and community members have tended to ignore the issue. Families often view their daughters as an economic burden and pressure them to marry, and this has been a particular problem for the girls we have rescued from Kamlari slavery.
NYF hopes to end the practice of early marriage by making girls, boys and their families aware of the negative health and economic consequences of dropping out of school and marrying young.
Thank you for your continued support!
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To provide economic opportunities to girls freed from the now abolished practice of child slavery known as Kamlari, Nepal Youth Foundation offers vocational skills training and job placement assistance.
NYF recently trained a group of 30 girls in tailoring using industrial machines. They are now employed at a garment factory that produces clothes for export to Europe and the U.S.
"As a child, I worked as a slave and received nothing in return....but now I make over 25,000 rupees ($233) every month and look after my family," one recent graduate said at a ceremony awarding certificates of completion.
At total of 336 freed Kamlari and their siblings received both long and short-term vocational training last year and nearly 80 percent of the graduates have been employed.
In 2000, NYF began a campaign to end the practice of Kamlari, a centuries-old system of indentured servitude embedded in the culture of rural Nepal. Our Indentured Daughters Program was twofold: to rescue the girls who had been sold into slavery and to abolish the practice going forward. More than 12,700 girls, some of whom had been enslaved since the age of six, were rescued and returned to their home communities. Our focus now is to help them to become healthy and independent young women.
Thank you for your continued support to help stimulate the cultural and economic development necessary to ensure that no girl will ever again become a victim of Kamlari.
Namaste!
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