SDG 4: Help All Children Access Education in Nepal

Children’s Paradise is a preschool here Nepal that was founded by local woman Buntty Gurung. What makesthis preschool different to any others is that some of the students have mental and physical disabilities and teaches up to grade one for these particular kids. The centre has 53 students and 7 of these have children that have disabilities that include Autism, ADHD, and learning difficulties.

In Nepal there is such a stigma attached to children with such disabilities – parents blame each other for their children being born with such ailments and extended families blame the parents leaving families too ashamed to leave the house with these children. When families do take their children to the Doctor, quite often the kids are misdiagnosed or the parents are told their children will grow out of it in five years. There are no Doctors here that specialize Paediatrics or Mental Illnesses in Children so finding help and support can be extremely difficult.

Buntty takes in such children and supports their families. She encourages the parents to not give up and that their children can be valued members of society. Buntty and her teachers show that these children can make huge improvements with patience, consistency, and a stable learning environment.When starting out this project four weeks ago, Buntty asked that GVI’s role be to work one-on-one with the disabled children to give them more attention and use our experiences to help these kids progress. Also for GVI to reach out to the parents and let them know that they aren’t alone, that children all over the world have these problems, and how they are treated elsewhere. The later was to be addressed in a presentation for the parents of those children with disabilities. Amanda, our first volunteer on this project, took on this task with gusto. She compiled information on the different disabilities that affected the kids at Children’s Paradise, and then discussed with staff members Ruth and Jo about their experiences with such disorders. Amanda and Ruth spent time with the students logging and photographing their progress to show the parents, and researched how children on other countries were supported. All of this information was put into a power point presentation and on Saturday the 26th of January Buntty had assembled as many parents as possible to listen to and discuss this information.

A two hour presentation turned into a four hour open forum. The parents listened intently to our experiences, definitions, and ideas on different disorders and could see how much we wanted to help. Ourlong term goal for their children is to help them transition into mainstream schools as they advance and to help the families with support and ideas for their kids at home. Those parents whose children have been at the school for longer discussed with the new parents how their perseverance with such ideas had led to their children doing much better in class.After the open discussions we stuck around to talk one-on-one with some of the parents. Two fathers approached Ruth and Jo and told them how grateful they were to have a chance to discuss their children with people going through similar circumstances, and that they would fully support us holding a presentation and discussion once a month. With this monthly meeting parents could come to us with topics they’d like to hear more about and could help them and their kids.In all the day was a great success – we were able to convey the information compiled, show the parents that they’re not alone, and let them know that we are in it for the long haul right alongside of them! Buntty is grateful for the assistance, as for so long she has had to support these families on her own, and she continues to be excited about working alongside GVI to reach a common goal for each of these children.

Links:

• GVI Charitable Trust
• Follow us on twitter
• Join our Charity Challenge and visit this project!