After months of delay due to Covid-19 and then to the monsoon, what a joy to announce that the construction of the new boarding school for the teenage girls of the Chepang ethnic group in Nepal was completed this summer. The colleges and high schools having reopened, the girls have moved in to return to school.
With the reopening of schools and the resumption of full time classes since Friday, September 17 in Nepal, our new home opens its doors.
22 girls are now admitted and are already taking advantage of sports classes, school support and the attention of Sabina, the social worker of the home.
We asked the girls a few questions about what they think of this new home, here are their answers:
While the old home run by the Chepang Community Association was cluttered, dark, with only one bathroom for all the girls and no direct access to water, the new home offers several bathrooms, toilets, a water supply, large and airy rooms, a reading room and a field for sports activities.
Following Covid-19, have all the girls returned to school?
As in other parts of the world, the pandemic has further impoverished the poorest. During containment, families have struggled to feed themselves, domestic violence and child marriage have increased in Nepal. One of our biggest fears is that girls will drop out of school. For the moment, all the young people we were following in the former home have returned. We hope that the support and awareness-raising work of Sumitra, a social mobilizer from our partner Prayas who works alongside the families and is herself a member of the community, will bear fruit.
