Early Childhood Development Centre
The Early Childhood Development Center is the heartwork of Pushpa Basnet. Pushpa was inspired to care for children when she did a practicum during her final year at university working with the children of prisoners. When a mother or father goes to jail, and there is no extended family willing to take the child, the child lives in prison with the parent. Pushpa was deeply affected by this experience and made it her lifelong mission to care for these children while keeping them connected with their families. At ECDC the children live in a clean and healthy home where they are cared for by a loving staff headed by the indomitable Pushpa. The children all attend school and participate in various extra-curricular activities.
In 2012, Pushpa was honoured as CNN’s hero of the year and in 2016 she was awarded the CNN Superhero award. It’s fabulous that her work was recognized. With the award, she was able to build a permanent home for the children.
Save Blessing Child Home
http://www.sbchnepal.org/navigation/about-us/the-children.html
The Save Blessing Child Home was started by Kamal Bishowkarma toward the end of the Nepal civil war. Kamal and his partner Samjhana saw the need to provide a safe, familial home for lower-caste or orphaned children living in poverty in remote villages. Village committees recommend those that need help and, under Kamal and Samjhana’s care, the children live in a healthy, semi-rural home with a garden and room to breathe. All of the children attend school, study at least a couple of hours a day, and find time to play and do their chores around the home in a family-like environment.
Post-SLC
Once a child has finished Grade 10 they write an exam that, if passed, provides them with a School Leaving Certificate. The SLC is necessary for accessing any form of higher education. In Nepal it used to be enough to achieve Grade 10 but this is no longer the case. If you want to be able to support yourself and your family and don’t have a family business to work in, it is critical to get some form of vocational or college training. Once the Glasswaters’ supported children achieve their SLC, we work with Moni Chakradhar to develop a program to facilitate independence. Working with each individual student Moni provides supervision and guidance to the up and coming adults and makes sure room and board and higher education placements are secured. Currently we are supporting students completing grades 11 and 12, and studying health sciences, education and business management at post-secondary institutions.