Himalayan Hope Home: Empowering Girls in Nepal

The Himalayan Hope Home
Himalayan Hope Home has become a true and heartfelt home for our girls who, having been rescued from dire circumstances, are provided a safe shelter in a family environment, complete with love, peace, security, and the gift of education to change their lives for a strong future. Today, Hope Home, as it is known, is delighted to share that it has expanded its support and family from 30 girls to 36 beautiful young girls.

We are Family . . .

Here at Hope Home, our girls have found a family again. All of our girls live, plan, and work together for their future dreams. They care for each other as sisters, study, share games, and enjoy singing and dancing together. They all actively participate in helping with household chores, cooking, and community activities.

Hope for the Future . . .

Every year during our annual anniversary, we ask our “Hope” girls to share their dreams. These 36 girls are an example of how strong and determined girls can be if we can provide them a safe place and educational opportunities. With the power of education and the self-confidence they are moving steadily toward achieving their dreams. And they have made us very proud in the goals they have chosen.

Many of our girls want to be teachers and nurses, but many of them dream of becoming actresses, photographers, journalists, pilots, or doctors, all dreams that emanate from their deepest desires that would never have been possible before the Hope Home, and it makes us more determined than ever to help more at risk girls. What is so exceptional as well is that the areas many are choosing are not common fields of study that Nepalese girls would consider or even think possible. This is because the Hope girls are determined to take the less travelled road and leave a footprint. In spite of their troublesome and difficult pasts, they are all, every one, exceptional and strong-minded, and rather than lingering in that past, choose instead to leap forward and reach for the stars and a bright future.

Ten of our girls have joined the self-defense class, and we continue to encourage all of the girls to learn these important skills to help keep them confident physically and mentally under any circumstances. Just this year, in 2018, they have won the Interschool Martial Arts Championship!

We can also count among our girls some aspiring writers, because six of them have chosen to learn professional writing under the guidance of writer and scholar, Cindy John. Writing gives them a voice into their lives and helps them create, dream, and share their stories with the world.

Krishma , age 15, says, “I have spent most of my childhood in Hope home and every experience here has made me confident and strong.”

We cannot express how thankful to Arhaus & all individual girls sponsor for helping us change “Girls at Risk into Girls of Change.”

Looking back . . .

Today, when we look back and remember how the girls were when they arrived at the Hope Home, we still feel that fear of what turn their life could have taken without the support of Arhaus. They could have easily fallen into the trap of human trafficking, child abuse, violence, and malnutrition, and many of them could have become child brides without voices of their own, pawns in the continuing cycle of hopeless poverty and ignorance for themselves and their families.

On behalf of all the girls at Hope Home and the Small World family, we want to express our deepest gratitude to Arhaus for their crucial contribution toward girls’ education in Nepal. Their every support will reach far in the lives of many girls, but it is important to realize that yours generous support is reaching much farther than these girls. Your support, just like ripples in a lake, is also extending through these 36 girls for the future benefit of their 36 families and communities.

The Himalayan Hope Home in Kathmandu was founded as a place of refuge and support for at-risk girls from underprivileged communities in remote Nepal. Girls who are vulnerable to trafficking and abuse are provided a safe home, parental care, and every opportunity for their holistic development. Thirty orphaned or abandoned girls now enjoy being part of a family, and receive education, proper nutrition, clothing, and health care. At Hope Home, their lives are precious, and so is their childhood. They don’t just dream; they learn how to achieve their dreams.

The Himalayan Hope Home believes that every girl is entitled to an education and a voice in the world. And now, through a mentoring project, some of the girls at Hope Home have taken expression a step further, developing their written voice—in English. Their essays about life at Hope Home have been included in The Color of Hope: Abstract Paintings in Acrylic and Collage, a collection partly inspired by artist Margo Miller’s recent experience in Nepal and time spent at Himalayan Hope Home. These essays are windows into their lives.

This moth, enjoy the words of Krishma  below – in her own words.

I Am Happy Now

By Krishma , Grade 7

My name is Krishma.  When I was very young, I could pronounce nothing more than Krish, so I became known to my relatives by the name Krish. I grew up with my father in a small remote village called Taksindu. I used to work in the field which was very difficult for me. I also had to wash all my clothes. I worked very hard there.

My mother left me with my father when I was just seven years old and went for her own happiness. I do not want to remember her; I never miss her because she left me, and I didn’t get any love from her. Thinking about this used to make me feel very bad, but now I am not that way. I am okay without mom. I found another family with so many sisters who love me very much. I feel very lucky to have this family.

When I was 10 years old, an organization offered me a chance to come Kathmandu for my studies. I was very excited, but when I reached Kathmandu I felt nervous because all the new people were there. I saw many people my age. They seemed happy, but I was sad. When I went to school the first day a teacher came and spoke to me. English language was very new for me, and again I had no idea what to do. A friend from Hope Home told the teacher all about me. Later, all the children became friendly to me, and I also became happy.

Hope Home is not only a home like other people see from outside. For me, it is another world where I found my happiness. I have the life I used to wish for. I do not have to work here, and I am going school, playing games at home, practicing dance, watching TV with friends, visiting new places, and going shopping. This makes me very happy.

Here we understand each other very well. If someone gets sad we will all be there to make her happy. We share everything, even sadness. We celebrate all the festivals together, and I feel like all my friends are my own family. People from outside sometimes ask us if we are from the same family. We reply, yes, we are from different mothers but same family. The thing I like very much here is taking care of each other.

This home is a very precious gift for us. Now I am 14 and I understand so many things about life: why we are here, what we have to do, and what is the importance of our family life. I am very happy here, dreaming to fulfill my goals every day, and I see the other sisters are also very happy here. I love my Hope Home and my sisters.

I want to be a good actress in my future.