Help us rebuild schools in Nepal

Recently, we shared the stories of two experienced educators who have become enthusiastic ambassadors of reading aloud to children after joining our training program. Here are two more.

Dhurba

Dhurba’s school, Kusadevi Secondary School in Kavre district, has the most primary grade students in the entire Panauti Municipality and he is the glue that holds it together. His students refer to him fondly as “The Storyteller.”

Whenever he gets a chance, he reads aloud to his class and has helped children make more than a dozen books in the six months following our training.

“I’m old now,” he says. “I’ve been teaching for more than 25 years with 5 more years to go. I wish I had collaborated with an organization like yours long ago, but unfortunately there aren’t many like this. I’ve worked with other organizations, but this one is different. If an old man like me can create ingenious learning materials inside the classroom, then the young and vibrant students surely can.”

“I am only passing on what I have learned from the organization to my students,” he continues. “Students ask me all the time when we can make another book again.”

Sarita

As a child, Sarita would pretend to be a teacher and cast her cousins and friends as her students. She would instruct her charges differently than she was being taught at school—a sign that even at an early age she sensed that there was room for improvement in her chosen profession.

Now, as an adult and a teacher at Jana Jyoti Primary School in Kavre district, she has been a vocal member of our training sessions, which encourage teachers to give children a voice in the classroom—a chance to share their stories and communicate with their peers.

Sarita has been a true leader putting this into practice. She is attentive to the social and emotional skills her students need to thrive, a relatively new concept in rural schools. While reading aloud and making books with her class, she has noticed her younger students developing empathy.

“Previously, they were selfish but now they take care to listen to their friends,” she says. “Students have become much more calm and less selfish.”

“With each read aloud and with each story, students are learning about new characters and those characters’ feelings, and they are able to share their own feelings with their friends,” she adds.

Thank you for your support

Your donation helps us deliver new kinds of learning activities and experiences, like beekeeping and reading aloud, to children in rural Nepal. We’re deeply grateful to all of you.

As a donor, you can feel confident that your support is making a real, positive impact for children in remote areas of the Kathmandu Valley. Please continue your support today.