Rehabilitation for 50 Children with Disabilities

Greetings from Nepal! We have raised US $18,963 from 136 donors till now through GlobalGiving. Thank you so much for your donations and good wishes. Thank you for bringing positive changes in the lives of children with disabilities in Nepal.  We are   very happy to inform you that we are participating in the International Youth Week campaign organized by GlobalGiving starting on Monday, Aug. 6.New recurring donations made during Youth Week will be matched and we can also win a bonus prize. The Youth Week ends on Sunday, Aug. 12. We request our all well-wishers to give maximum support for successful performance in the campaign.

This time we are going to report about vocational skill empowerment training held at patan CBR.It was held  on June, 2018 for 6 days. The number of total participants were twelve. Six Youth with Disabilities (YwD) and six parents of Children with Disabilities (CwD), Youth with Disabilities (YwD) actively participated in the training program. The program was conducted under Vocational skill empowerment project financed by Lions Club of Kathmandu Harati Mata, Kathmandu and Lions Club International. The participants were trained to make different accessories of bead like bangles, earrings, necklace, bracelet and lockets. They also learned to make different sizes of candles and how to do packaging for the candles made. After the completion of training parents of CwD, YwD and Youth with Disabilities will be able to produce items like candles, accessories of bead in their household and   sell the products to be financially self – sufficient.

A marketing unit has also been established with four staffs of Patan CBR. They will promote the sales of the product by marketing to prospective vendors. On achieving sales target of Rs 4000 per month, each one   will receive Rs 1500 per month as sales commission. Parents will also be included in the marketing team.

Patan CBR has been providing vocational training to parents and Youth with disabilities from very long time. It has also promoted the sales of the products made by them through opening of products outlet as well as   marketing to the people within the network e.g. different organizations have ordered for envelopes and candles.

 Lions Club of Kathmandu Haratimata has been continuously supporting Patan CBR in this endeavor since 2008. Patan CBR has focused on the vocational training for empowering skills of youth with disabilities which has supported their livelihood through self-employment, self-dependent economic activities and expose their potentialities into the general workplace environment ensuring a step towards self-sustainability of the beneficiaries.

A closing program was held at the last day of training.  In the program, Lions Club of Kathmandu Harati Mata, Kathmandu had committed to use the envelopes made by YwD of Patan CBR for their daily official work. Previously also they had ordered   envelopes. The rose candles also made by YwD will be used as token of love to   be given to delegates during their formal program. The certificate of training   completion was awarded to all participants. There was also display of the products made in the training in the same occasion.

 In the same closing program, products made through Bettys Nepal Help Project were also displayed. Bettys Nepal Help Project has been supporting Patan CBR from very long time. Under Bettys Nepal Help Project, training has been given to Parents and Youth with Disabilities to make different shapes of candles using locally available materials like bamboo, glass, egg shell. Dye is used to make the products colorful. Floating candles, Christmas candles are also made through the project which are more popular abroad to be used as decoration piece.

Bettys Nepal Help products have been put into display for sale at a souvenir shop in Mangal Bazar, Patan, Nepal. Some products have been taken to Austria by the project. The products were displayed in Austria to promote marketing.

Problems faced

• Some people are not so interested to buy products produced by Youth with Disabilities. It is due to cultural beliefs of people who think disability is due to sins committed in previous life.
• The competition in market is very high. Other industries produce similar kind of product in large scale so able to sell in cheaper cost   whereas small scale production by the project is more expensive. Also since these are   made by Children with Disabilities, finishing may not be good and also loss incurred due to rough making of some products.
• The parents who have taken the training say it is not possible for them to go to shops and sell the items they prepare. So, finding market is problem. The wages paid are low and mothers need to give caregiving to CwD and do their household chores. So they don’t get much time to pursue other occupation.

The youths with disabilities who participated in the training said they were very happy to learn all the skills. The YwD were found to be enjoying a lot being creative and producing something useful. They can develop it as a hobby and sharpen their creative skills.