The visit to the local municipality and Uttargaya Public English School on December 28 2023, allowed HCC Nepal to strengthen its connection with the local community. The monitoring activities conducted by the team will contribute to the ongoing improvement of our educational support programs. Furthermore, the distribution of winter supplies reflects our commitment to addressing the holistic needs of the students we serve.

The post Rasuwa Visit appeared first on HCC Nepal.

For the last seven years, Himalayan Children’s Charities has been supporting students and families in rural Nepal. What began as educational support for children orphaned by the 2015 earthquakes, has evolved into dynamic outreach programs that include wifi towers, computer labs, anti-human trafficking awareness, menstrual hygiene classes and food support for a neglected and marginalized segment of the Nepali population. We have cultivated a network of humanitarians, local government and school officials who alert us to dire need in these areas and communities. It was through this network that we learned of the critical need for food in Benighat, Dhading at the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020. This community, which is composed of mostly Chepang and Magar families, suffers from widespread poverty, food insecurity, lack of running water and sanitation. The five schools we are supporting to improve opportunities need everything from books to toilets; and even then, they are limited to grade 5 by geography. The nearest upper level school is two hours away. 

In January 2021, after this introduction to the Benighat community, HCC graduate and HCC-Nepal executive director, Mun Maya Rawal read an article in a local paper about mounting suicide rates in rural areas of Nepal. The article sighted a family from the Magar community in Benighat who had lost their mother to suicide and their father was suffering from a debilitating alcohol addiction. The children were fending for themselves, and the eldest daughter, only 12, has been caring for her younger siblings, ages 10, 8, and 3 year old twins for the last year. These 5 children were living in squalor, surviving on the one meal a day provided by the school.

Right away, HCC was able to provide warm clothing, school supplies and much needed food support for the children. And in May of 2022 we received permission from the father to move the children. To ensure their safety and care, we enrolled them in an English-Medium boarding school in Dhading Besi, that we have been working with since 2016. In this new environment, we are already seeing the children prosper. Not having adult care for over a year left the children malnourished; they had head lice and their basic hygiene had suffered. 

As residents of the hostel school, they have their own beds, 3 meals a day and the personal care all children deserve. This is a wonderful change of circumstance for these 5 children that have been through so much and lived in such dire conditions. There are 295 more children in Benighat that are also in need of help. Poverty and circumstance makes them vulnerable to early drop out, child labor, child marriage, and human trafficking. They need clean water, basic hygiene and food support. By investing in their education and well-being, we are investing in the next generation of Nepal.

If you want to help support our outreach in Benighat, and beyond, donate today!

The post One Child at a Time appeared first on HCC Nepal.

Mun Maya and Laxmi traveled to Dhading to deliver backpacks with supplies and warm track suits for the children supported by HCC.

They meet with each student individually to insure they are keeping up with their studies.

Many of the students have some surviving family, but without support they wouldn’t be able to stay in school. Children in remote districts, like Dhading, are especially vulnerable to early marriage and human trafficking. 

Your support makes this work possible! Donate today to help us continue to provide education and bright futures for these students!

The post First Dhading Trip of the Year appeared first on HCC Nepal.

Ambika:
I was very happy to hear my result. We have a grading system in Nepal. I got 3.70 GPA. After completion of grade ten, we are called to the school after our results are published. Likewise, I was called to the school. I went to school with my friends. I was very excited to go back to my school again. We were honored in the school. We distributed sweets to all the students and teachers. I enjoyed each and every moment at the time. The door for my good education opened because of your support. So thank you so much for your support in each and every step of my life. This wouldn’t be possible without your love and support. I am sure one day I’ll make you, my family and everyone around me proud.

Sonu:
I am very happy for my SEE results which I passed with good grades (3.70). We were called by the school on the next day after the results. We were welcomed warmly with KHADAS [traditional ceremonial scarf]. I enjoyed my SEE break and I’ve learned a lot during these holidays. I will be joining my College in the next month. Thank you so much for your kind support. Your support can help me do the best in my future.

Chadani:
My happiness knew no bounds when I heard my SEE result where I passed with GPA 3.70 (A+). I along with my friends were honored in school because of our best attempt in an exam with the best result. We even distributed sweets to our teacher. Now I probably have a month to join high school. Thank you so much for your kind support and help. Your support always motivates me to do better and better in my everyday life.

Tripti:
I am very happy about my results. It was in grading and my GPA is 2.85. After my results, we were called in school and welcome with a beautiful scarf. I decided to study Hotel Management. On my vacation, I learned different activities like life skills; manpower; leadership; etc. I also learned sewing, cooking. It was really fun and entertaining.
Thank you so much for your love, help and kind support.

Sunita:
I passed my SEE with 3.7 (A+). I was very happy when I heard my SEE result. I am very thankful to you all for giving me an opportunity to get a better education.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND HELP.

Your support is essential, donate today!

The post In Their Own Words – Students on Passing Their SEEs appeared first on HCC Nepal.

Trekking in Nepal

One of the biggest draws of Nepal for travelers and locals alike is the breathtaking scenery. From the beautiful lakes, gorgeous temples and bustling cities, Nepal has a lot of offer to visitors as well as citizens seeking to enjoy and appreciate their home. Perhaps nothing encapsulates the allure of Nepal more than the presence of the Himalayas, particularly the highest point on the globe, Mt. Everest. Recently, avid hikers embarked on a trek through the Himalayas and part of their trekking fees were used to benefiting HCC programming.

Himalayan Sewa Expedition and Trek are a trekking company in Kathmandu owned by Rajendra Timalsina, Dinesh Raj Sapkota and Madhav Dhamala with which HCC has long been connected. HCC student Manoj Shrestra even developed Himalayan Sewa’s website. Currently, they have raised 7,000 Nepali Rupees for HCC programming, and Rajendra and Madhav have committed to making on-going donations to HCC programs and students. Check out Himalayan Sewa Expedition and Trek here.

The post Himalayan Sewa Expedition and Trek Raises Funds for HCC appeared first on HCC Nepal.

On November 10, 2017, HCC will be launching our first annual fundraiser in Boston, MA, held at the beautiful Langham Hotel in downtown Boston. The fundraiser will be hosted by Maia Pandey, former HCC intern, and current HCC supporter. After being so moved by her experiences working one on one with students and staff in both Kathmandu and rural Dhading, Maia sought to spread the word about HCC’s work in her own community of Boston.

This will be a great night not only to share news and stories about HCC’s work but also to have some fun with our US-based HCC Family! It promises to be a night of cocktails, a scrumptious 3-course dinner, silent auction and more! All proceeds from the evening will go to support HCC programming for orphaned, abandoned and at-risk children in Nepal. All are welcome to join us! Any interested parties should feel free to share the event with other compassionate community change makers among their family and friends. We love meeting new people! Click below for more details and tickets.

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

The post Boston Fundraiser in November appeared first on HCC Nepal.

Although officially a community health event, the KCS event also incorporates fun community events, like sports, talent shows, theater, and trivia games. Saraswati played basketball during the event to blow off some steam and participate in healthy competitive camaraderie. In addition to the blood drive and community health services, the event also sought to help victims in Nepal of the horrific flooding overwhelming Nepal, Bangladesh, and India.

The post Saraswati Works Public Health Event with Karuna Charitable Society appeared first on HCC Nepal.

After taking a 5-hour ride to Dhaka from Dhading Besi, HCC staff conducted a three-hour interview and scholarship distribution session with 32 students. While Laxmi collected academic reports to verify scholarships, Khil interviewed each student one by one to check up on both academic progress as well as the personal development and home environment of each student. They also repeated the same process for 8 students in Todke, ensuring that each student received individual attention from HCC. After three days, Laxmi and Khil returned to Kathmandu to report back to the HCC Kathmandu base on the status and progress of HCC students in Dhading.

We’re thrilled to hear about our students thriving and growing academically in Dhading, one of the districts most heavily burdened by the aftermath of the earthquake. There are plenty of students still in need of sponsorship. To sponsor a child in need, reach out to us at contact@hccnepal.org for more information.

The post Dhading Scholarships Field Report June 2017 appeared first on HCC Nepal.

Dear HCC Family,

We would like to take a moment to celebrate our accomplishments and the life-changing impact that sponsors and staff have achieved together. HCC has now been changing the lives of children in Nepal for over 17 years.  In just the last year and a half, we’ve watched us accomplish so much, and we’ve witnessed firsthand, over and over again, the life-changing impact of our work.

Since 2015, we’ve tripled the number of orphaned, abandoned, and destitute children that we serve directly through our programs, and have started to provide services to families, schools and communities throughout 8 districts, exponentially increasing the reach and effect of our programs. Such programs now range from educational scholarships and kinship support for single-orphaned children to WIFI connections, libraries, and teacher training in rural schools, to mentorship programs for orphaned and underprivileged children led by our own HCC youth, including in the areas of mentorship and academic counseling, health and hygiene workshops, and child trafficking awareness campaigns.

As we continue to strengthen and build on the successes of our Signature Program in Kathmandu out to rural Nepal, the core HCC values and goals of compassionate leadership and giving back to society are being realized.

Together, with our HCC youth, we are now developing and implementing innovative and integrative new projects that meet some of the most pressing needs of at-risk children in Nepal today. We can all be proud that we are building such a strong foundation for our youth to stand on, and a better world for our children to inherit.

Here are some of our achievement highlights over the last year alone:

– In March 2016, HCC graduated our first group of 10 students from university and HCC programs. 8 students graduated with university degrees, and currently, 5 students are pursuing further education, including in digital animation, psychology, MS in pharmacology, and MS and MA in business administration and finance.

– Over the last year, HCC has employed 3 graduated HCC students to help develop and run our programs. Khil is our Program Operations Officer, Laxmi is our Administrative Coordinator, and Mun Maya is our Program Coordinator.

– HCC youth in Kathmandu are currently in the process of registering an independent non-profit, Himalayan Children’s Charities, Nepal, with a projected registration date of July 20th, and a tentative first general assembly meeting scheduled for September 15th, 2017. The HCC youth are taking on roles of leadership within the organization, including on the executive board, and as general members of the Nepal-registered HCC organization which will be an official partner of HCC, and help to manage and run HCC programs on the ground in Nepal.

– HCC currently supports 8 university students, 9 college students (grades 11 and 12), 2 graduate school students, and 3 students in postgraduate and technical degree courses

– Since the devastating earthquake of April 25th, 2015, HCC has provided life-saving support to over 100 children survivors.  Currently, through our Earthquake Orphan Scholarship Programs, we are supporting 86 children in the Dhading district, 4 children in the Nuwakot/Rasuwa districts, 1 child in Dolokha, and 5 children in Sindhupalchowk (starting from this new school year in April/May 2017). These programs include educational scholarships and family support for those children who are able to stay with surviving parents and/or family members, as well as for boarding school and hostel fees for those children with no family or unsafe living situations.

– As of April 2017, HCC has connected 6 schools and a food kitchen in rural Dhading and Makwanpur districts with Internet connection and has launched a computer literacy training program for these teachers and administrators in order to bridge the enormous achievement gap for students at these rural, public schools.

– HCC is printing 10,000 copies of an educational comic book, which is being distributed to children and schools throughout the vulnerable central hills of Nepal, in order to raise awareness and help curb the alarming rate of child trafficking from the region.

– HCC youth-led initiatives are underway to build two libraries in the Gorkha and Sindhupalchowk districts, with nearly 2000 books collected already, and early childhood literacy programs under development.

– Khushi Ghar, HCC’s youth home in Kathmandu, is thriving as the stable and nurturing home base for HCC students, and functioning as a catalyst for the experience of family and home life, as well for learning of important life skills. At Khushi Ghar, the 50+ students in HCC’s Signature Program are busy with mentorship and leadership courses, participation in community service projects, exposure visits, extracurricular activities (including music lessons, sports, dance, and art), individual academic/career/emotional counseling, and family fun and celebration.

– HCC currently has four grants out for consideration and is looking forward to further broadening of our support base. These pending grants include two with UNESCO Florence, as well as nominations for consideration for the World Of Children Education Award, as well as with the OpenIDEO Peace and Prosperity Challenge. 

–HCC is continuing to explore partnerships and grow relationships with a number of organizations and groups, in order to collaborate in bringing more opportunities and resources to children in Nepal, including with: the US Embassy in Nepal, the Society of Nepalese in Hawaii, CauseVision, Nepal Children’s Organization (Nepal), Creating Possibilities (Nepal), the Foundation for Underprivileged Kids (Nepal), the Umbrella Foundation, the Maya Gold Foundation, iTrek Nepal, and the HCC International Youth Council.

Our programming and community building work here in Nepal is going well, and we are expanding our reach and support base across the US and around the world. This is an exciting time to be a member of the HCC family. We each play an important role in this family, and looking forward, we need each and every person reading this to bring what you can to the dinner table. Have time? Volunteer! Have money? Contribute! Have an audience? Share our stories! Now is the time to make a difference!!!

Together, let’s be the ones to teach children, in each and every corner of the world, that they matter and are deserving and capable of achieving their dreams. With your help, we can leave a legacy of empowered young people who are thriving, living a better life and giving back to their communities.  

Thank you again for helping to make the work of HCC possible, for sharing in our vision to end the global orphan crisis and for your continuing support in making the world a better place.

With Love and Gratitude from Nepal,

Susan and Bruce Keenan

Sadie Green

Hira and Dinesh Sapkota

Mun Maya Rawal

Khil Bahadur Thapa

Laxmi Karki

Rachel Cunningham

The post Biannual Update 2017 from HCC Team appeared first on HCC Nepal.

HCC’s Youth Ambassador Rehna Sheth traveled to Nepal for the first time this spring, documenting her experience in her journal entries below. 

My name is Rehna Sheth and I am 17 years old. I started working with Himalayan Children’s Charities when I was 14, which is when I first met Susan and Bruce Keenan while doing my 8th-grade IMPACT project on poverty in Nepal. Since then, I have done multiple projects on HCC and raised $5,000 dollars for this noble cause when I completed my Bharata Natyam Arangetram (the graduation of the art form of the Indian classical dance, Bharata Natyam) in 2016. I am the HCC Youth Ambassador and I started a youth group in Atlanta to connect kids in the United States to kids in Nepal at HCC. After spending years learning about all the wonderful things HCC does to help children, I wanted to finally meet the students and really get involved with the Charity.

Saturday, March 18th – When my mom and I arrived in Nepal on Saturday, March 18th, I was so excited to finally meet the kids at HCC. But I was also very nervous. What would it be like to finally meet these HCC Nepali students? Would they be friendly? Would we have things to talk about in common?  It was 3 in the afternoon, and as the car pulled up to Kushi Ghar I could feel my stomach turning in knots.  As I got out of the car and the gate to the house opened, I saw at least 20 students (all around my age) standing on the pavement to greet my mother and me. Sadie Didi, one of HCC’s Directors of Nepal Program Development, who I had met and worked with before, was the first to walk up and greet us as she joined her hands, smiling and said “Namaste”. We were then directed towards the two girls our family sponsors, Shristi and Saraswati, who gave us beautiful silk scarves as they welcomed us. After that was a jumble of hugs, laughter, awkward smiles, names of the students and more hugs.  With a rush of eagerness, we all walked inside the house and sat in the large, green living room where we engaged in different discussions. As I sat between Shristi and Saraswati, we began a conversation about school and activities we enjoyed. I was still so nervous, but everyone was so open-hearted and happy, it was hard not to laugh at my first attempt getting to know the whole HCC family.

Sunday, March 19th – We woke up early the next morning and all 12 of us (Bruce Uncle, Sadie Didi, Dinesh Uncle, Mun Maya, Khil, Giri Raj, Laxmi, Seeta, Josiah, Dinesh Uncle, my mom and myself) piled in the van on our way to the rural Dhading district. Giri Raj was the only student I had met on Skype before, so I was a little intimidated by the older students. But by the end of the day, I was laughing and joking with them as if I had known them for years.

The trip to the Dhading region was beyond anything I could have imagined. At first sight, I was amazed at how isolated these people in the villages and mountains were. Some of the most remote villages were four to five miles away from the only school in the area. The kids, who knew that their only good meal might be their lunch at school, walk one to two hours to get to school each day. Reliable transportation and access to good food at any time is something we, students in America, take for granted.

The most unforgettable and outstanding memory from this entire trip was our welcome experience when we arrived at the first school, Shree Bageswari Secondary School. As we walked up the mountain we saw 700 kids lined up the two sides of the windy road leading all the way up to the school. And as we walked nearer to them, and finally just before the procession started, we were each given beautiful and fragrant garlands of red Rhododendrons and white silk scarves. The children were clapping as we walked through what seemed like an endless path of overwhelming joy. These children were clapping for only one reason: pure gratitude for all that HCC does to help their school and keep them educated. That sense of appreciation was not only refreshing for me but a great reminder to be thankful for all that I have.

When we arrived at the next secondary school that afternoon, I got a chance to talk to an interview with the principal of the school. One of the questions we asked him was “Do you try to teach the children how to use technology?” His response pulled at our hearts as he explained how there are only a few working computers and almost 400 kids who need to learn how to use a computer, and to add to that, the Wi-Fi didn’t even work most of the time. The lack of funding also meant that the teachers at the school hadn’t been paid in three months and they were still missing teachers for many of the classes. This brought Khil and I the opportunity to teach a basic English lesson to a class of seventh graders and another class of fourth graders. Instructing these classes was a remarkable experience as I love teaching children and I loved the positive attitudes of the kids in each classroom.

Monday, March 20th – Monday, for me, brought a whole different perspective on the realities in Nepal. After a whole month of hearing about four young kids (Monica, Smriti, Anisha, and Manju) that HCC recently brought in from the Nuwakot district and put into school, I was so excited to meet these children. And I was definitely in for a treat. These four kids, who came from almost nothing, had the biggest smiles on their faces and the sweetest personalities. Their laughter made our hearts’ melt.

After visiting the kids, we got a chance to visit Manju’s family who had been living in the Internally Displaced Persons camp for two years now in nothing more than shacks made of tin roofs and tarp walls. What struck me the most was how humble and giving the families were. Even when they themselves did not have very much, they offered us tea and asked us to stay and talk to them for some time.

Tuesday, March 20th to Thursday, March 23rd – For the rest of the week I was able to stay at Kushi Ghar and really get to know a lot of the students there whom I can now call my good friends. As the HCC International Youth Ambassador for the Youth Council in Atlanta, this was an eye-opening trip for me as I now have a clearer understanding of how kids in the United States can help make a difference in Nepal. I believe the first and most important way to help Himalayan Children’s Charities benefit impoverish kids is to spread awareness for the disparities of underprivileged children in Nepal. But besides spreading awareness, I have a new set of ideas on how we can fundraise money, what kind of materials are needed and ways we can collect learning supplies to give to rural villages.  More so, this trip sparked numerous, fresh ideas that incorporate kids from both the U.S. and Nepal and I am really looking forward to putting some of these ideas into place. I can definitely say this was one of the most inspirational experiences of my life!

The post HCC International Youth Council Ambassador appeared first on HCC Nepal.