Let’s educate to stop child marriage in Nepal

The main objective of the Edufem project 

The main objective of this project is to collect 1,500 Euro to be able to guarantee, for a group of girls from the Achham district in Nepal, to continue studying and thus avoid being married whilst still underage. 

This project is based on the idea that for each additional year that the girls may stay at school, we can delay their marrying age for up to two years. 

Who are you helping? 

We introduce here the girls whose lifes you can change by collaborating with us: 

Sangita Nath: her situation at home is very hard. Her father died many years ago and in Nepal widows have no rights. Her three elder brothers do not live in the house any more but, although they have stable incomes, they don’t want to finance her living costs, nor those of their mother, and much less pay for her sister’s studies. Her mother is already quite old, meaning she can’t work many hours; therefore she is not able to provide much income. With your help, Sangita will be able to continue at school and proceed to grade 12, specializing in Education in Nepal. 

Kamala Kumari Nath: she is 15 years old, but neither her father nor her mother can afford to support her, and much less pay for her studies. Her father can’t find any work due to his poor health and her mother is sicker each passing day, the illness making it more difficult for her to continue taking care of their only source of income, the crops. Any small donation can change Kamala’s life and allow her to continue studying grade 11.   

Manisha Kumari Nath: she is one of our coordinators. Manisha is Kamala Kumari’s sister, therefore her family situation is the same. Manisha has been working with us since 2018, first as a volunteer and then as coordinator. Without our help, she would not have studied and her destiny would have been very different. She asked us to work instead of to study, in order to be able to pay for her sister’s studies herself. But we decided to continue paying for her education and at the same time cover Kamala’s. Thanks to your donation Manisha will be able to go to University to become a staff  nurse.   

Kamala Bhandari: of the six members of her family, her father is the only source of income. He takes care sometimes of the village joinery, but due to his old age and delicate health, he can’t actually work much. They cultivate a small plot of land, but the majority of the earnings go towards paying the landowners. Although she is the eldest of her siblings, her education is not the priority of the family, being a female; therefore, without our help, she would not be able to continue studying. 

Manisha Bhandari: Their mother married at the age of eight. Victim of a child marriage, her health is not good: she is continuously sick, has got problems in the legs, the uterus, and suffers from many other non diagnosed physical ailments.  Manisha, being the eldest, and a female, she has to bear the weight of the household chores plus also help her father in the fields. Her parents have much difficulty in feeding the whole family, as they have incurred in several debts because of the mother’s hospital stays, so being able to pay for their daughter’s education is out of the question. 

Why is it so important that they can continue studying? 

To avoid them marrying when still underage. A girl, at her mother’s house, isn’t worth much. If the family has little money, they are not going to pay for a female to study because, as soon as she will marry, she will go live at her inlaws’. What is important is that the boys, who will remain at their parents’ house, may study, earn money, and provide for a better life for their family.  

Moreover, it is not only about 5 girls, but also that thanks to your help, we can continue giving sexual education and distributing menstrual cups to many more girls in Nepal. Because of their experience, they know better than anybody what it is to suffer the Chhaupadi, and can teach other girls to learn to live their menstruation safely and without taboos. 

What will we do with your donation? 

We shall destine it to finance the education and basic expenses of this group of girls. The annual cost of schooling, housing and part of the meals is €500 each. Hereunder we show a detail of the annual cost for education, housing, food, and everything a girl needs to live in Mangalsen. 

Can I do anything else to help these girls? 

Yes! You can become their sponsor, looking thus after their rights and ensuring that they themselves can decide upon their own future.
Actually 2 of the 5 girls are already been sponsored by a Spanish family, we are only asking the money for 3 of them.

The hitherto sponsored girls, whose biological parents fight against alcoholism, mental illnesses and extreme poverty, had never had any hope of being able to study. But now, thanks to the help of wonderful people, have become empowered women with a lot of energy and the wish to achieve many things. They continue gaining more confidence in themselves, and they have the ambition to change the world, specifically to make of it a fairer place for girls.  

Can you help us? You can do this in different ways:

1- Make a punctual donation of what you can and help to collectively finance the total amount of what the Institute / university costs and the food / living of the girls.
Reward 1- Thanks to the website of the 20/21 project and a screen saver for the computer or mobile

2- Make an annual donation of 250 euros and so you sponsor half of what the Institute / university costs and the food / living of the girls.
Reward 2 - Acknowledgments on the project website 20/21 and a book (ePub or PDF) made with the photos they take during the Rato Baltin

3- Make a donation of 500 euros a year and so you sponsor a girl, so she can finish her studies.
Reward 3 - Thanks to the project website 20/21, a book (ePub or PDF) made with the photos they take during the Rato Baltin and every 3 months you will receive an email from the girl directly to you, sending you photos and videos with news of how her studies are going, and she does it in her village.