Information for students

The Himalaya is the highest chain of mountains in the world. Do you know where the highest peaks of these mountains are situated?

1. History; 2.Chitwan National Park;  3. The ability to read and write 4.Form of gouvernment and politics; 5 General provisions; 6.Founding Sapana School; 7.Poverty; 8.Children; 9. Not to school? 10.You can help too!

Nepal is one of the most beautiful ánd one ot the poorest countries in the world. Nepal is mainly Hindoeïstic. A lot of Bhuddists fled from Tibet and because of this there is a large Tibethean-Bhuddistic community in Nepal.

Nepal is one of the most beatiful countries in the world, but is suffering a lot of problems.
Why support Sapana School? The llife expectations for the people in Nepal is only 61,6 years and almost half of the grown up population has no paid jobs. The average year wages are € 300,-. Can you imagine that? How much is the income of your father and/ or mother? And how much do you earn yoursel, if you already have a part-time job, or how much pocket money do you get per year?
The high mountain chain of the Himalaya is in the North of Nepal and it forms the border with Tibeth, a country that has been annexed by China.
In the south of Nepal is a vast virgin forest, the Therai, and in the middle of this forest is the Indian border.

The original inhabitants of this area are the Tharu. It is a tribe that lived for ages in this jungle.
We want to tell you about the people of this region, about their ways of life now and especially about the life of the Tharu children.
The aim is that you will get to know them better and that you will want to help them.
Your help is needed badly to give the children an opportunity to go to school, to learn a trade when they are older and to give the children who want to go to college later on, give an opportunity to do so.  Their parents can’t afford to pay for their school fees. When you earn 70 dollar cents or at the most one fifty a day than you need all this money to buy food for you children. What can you buy for 70 dollar cents?

For pictures of Tharu, agriculture and animals see: http://www.sapanalodge.com/gallery_village.php

1. History
Let's look at the history of the kindom of Nepal the last 100 years. Until 1951 the borders were closed to normal travellors. Foreigners were only admidded to enter this country when they were invited to do so.
The king and his family, the noblemen and the landlords lived prosperous and they decided what was going to happen. All other people lived off what the land and their amimals provided for and they had small businesses and shops. Although they had not much to spend they shared the food so no one was hungry. Because of the contacts with the outside world and they supposed that all foreigners were tich, the people that had some money put it into banks outside Nepal. They forgot about their neighbors. What do you think  happened then?

In 1952 the king of Nepal, who loved to go hunting, decided to close a part of the forest for ordinary people. Then he could invite his royal guests to go hunting there. And the trees in a different part of the jungle were cut. This ground was divided in small lots and given to the Tharu people as a payment for the rest of the jungle. Do you recall who the Tharu are?

Right,! the original inhabitants of the Therai, in the southern part of Nepal. They used to be a tribe of hunter-gatherers. By decition of the king they were chased away from their natural territory where they always had had enough food by hunting animals and collecting and preparing eatable plants in the woods. They had not learned to till the ground and to grow eatable crops. They built their huts on a part of the lot and sold the rest of the land to get Money to buy food. Now they work as farmer hands or as stone and wood carriers or in construction companies and all of this for small day wages, very little money.

2. Chitwan National Park
Under the pressure of the Word Wildlife Fund the hunting area of former king is transformed in the Chitwan National Park. No one is allowed any more to hunt here and the wild animals can live their life. There are rhino's, tigers, bears, monkeys, elphants and different kinds of dear living there. There are game watchers who see to it that no body secretly hunts or kills the animals. They are safe and they are at ease. But how are things for the people?

3. The ability to read and write.....some more history
Did you that 50 years ago only 5% of the Nepalese could read and write? That means that in a group of 20 persons there was only óne who could read the news paper. All other people needed to have read someone else their letters and other written information. These people could not even draw their autograf. Do you know what someone does who can not write and has to subscribe a document?
Exactly: draw a cross mark.
And still at this moment there are average 9 people in a group of 20 who did not have the opportunity to learn to read and wirte, that is 40%!

4. Form of gouvernment and politics
The biggest problem in Nepal, that is blocking all improvements for a long time already, is the political instability. From 1962 on they try to implement forms of democracy but every time when trouble arose about this the king took everything to himself again.

In 1990 a new constitution was accepted by the government in which the human rights and the right for education for all children are laid down. In 1991 the people in Nepal could vote for the very first time! And do you know: the hardest part of all things is to unlearn learned things. During ages they had so to say played the parts of 'king' and 'subjects'. Then it is very hard to sit together and really rule the country. There were changing politicians in the gouvernment and in 1996 a guerilla war started by the Maoísts who did not agree with the rules and regulations. The political parties did not agree at all.

In 2001 there was a dramatic event in the Royal Palace. They say that the crown prince went out of his wit and shot his entire family and he got killed himself in this action. Then an uncle was made the new king. He is put out of power in 2008. A lot of people did not believe the story and the struggle became harder. The country got to be so insecure that the tourists, who provided for income for a lot of people, went to different countries.

Only in 2007 the different party's came to an agreement. The king was sent away in 2008 and they declared the Republic. Now they are busy founding the Republic of Nepal. The political leaders use a lot of time understanding each others point of view. Little time is left to really gouvern the country. By all commotions around this the state wallet is almost empty.

5. General provisions
Consequences are that roads cannot be fixed in the right way. The roads have big holes and are crowded with old trucks that transport all kinds of goods from North to South and from East to West. A drive from the capital Kathmandu to Chitwan, where our friends the Tharu live, takes 7 hours in stead of 3 hours. The distance is 160 kilometers, like from Chicago to Milwaukee. In 2008 there was no electricity during 7 hours a day! There was no government money to pay for the fuel for the electricity companies. There is no money for garbage men and their service. This you can see very well in the larger cities. A lot of people in Kathmandu wear nose-mouth caps because of all pollution of the old cars. When you wipe your nose with a clean white handkerchief you can see the black spots of it.

6. Founding Sapana School
The school that we are going to build for the Tharu children is called Sapana School. Sapaná means ‘Dream’ in Nepali. The government doesn’t have enough money for this school. We hope a lot of people will donate money for this good cause. The gouvernment considers education as an important issue, although there is hardly any money. The schools that have been built turned out to be very shabby as no money is provided for the maintenance. There is no glass in the windows, the floor is of clay and the schoolrooms are very small. As a roof corrugated iron is used. Sometimes also only straw. When the outside temperature is 40dgrs.Celcius you could bake a cake in the room. And the rain makes so much noise that listening is very hard!

Because the gouvernment does not have the money to pay the teachers this is to be done by the parents. And as nobody can pay much there are 60 to 80 children in one classroom very close to one another on long narrow benches with a board like fixed tables. In the classrooms is hardly any room to walk.

You might be able to know what the consequences are. The children in the first rows can keep up with the teacher but in the back of the room children can’t see or hear everything and are distracted much. That’s why 60% of the children leave school before 8th grade. And this happens to the children who dó go to school.

7. Poverty

In the area around Chitwan National Park people are so poor that 30% can not afford the schoolfees. Most of these people are Tharu children.  Their grand parents were sent out of the jungle where their families have lived for ages.Their parents build their houses of long wooden poles, bambu mats cemented with clay and as a roof they use straw of the rice. The outside of the walls are decorated with hand prints and drawings of the animals from their former homestead, the jungle.

Such a house lasts 5 years. Then the clay has washed away by the rains of the monsoon and the bamboo and the rice straw started. Then they will build a new house.

Most pieces of ground for agriculture are small and that is why the work on the fields is done by hand. The owners of the larger pieces of ground hire land workers for a small amount of day labour, because the agricultural machines, who are broken down most of the time and stay in the barns, are more expensive than the land workers.

The growing and harvesting of mais, rice and mustard seeds is manual labour.  Then very many people are needed in agriculture. The children are needed as well. The school gives days off during harvesting and planting days. Everyone gets up at 5 in the morning and together they get the job done. It is a time consuming hard labour.

Cattle and domesticated animals have a place of their own. They live close to the people. Around the house, on the premises and up and around daily life. When you kill an animal in a traffic accident it costs you a lot of money. The amount of the ticket is connected to the economical value that the animals have for their owners.
 

8. Children
There is little time for the children. They help their parents on their own land with the daily affairs like coocking, doing the dishes, taking care of the animals, planting crops and harvesting. The elder children help their parents by watching younger brothers and sisters. Some times they take them along to school. Do you think you can concentrate when you had your little brother or sister with you in the class room? How could you learn with a toddler on your lap?

Of course there is time to play as well, with self made toys, because toys from a shop are to expensive and there is little money to spend.The children swim in the river as well ánd for their pleasure and also to be nice and clean. In their home there is no bathroom and no toilet nor a sinc. Sometimes there is a water pump at their homestead or somewhere in the village, everyone can use it then.

9. Not to school?

The life of the Tharu children looks like vacations in a way, even though you have to help your parents every day. And you learn a lot of things this way, when you have to help your family, that you would not learn in school.

But when you don’t go to school as a child, because your parents can’t afford it, you stay behind because you didn’t learn to lean. Then you can’t write stories, or google, then you can’t subscribe to a training to become a pilot or artist, teacher or nurse. For you have to attend school for all professions, in Nepal as well. The poor children will stay poor grown ups. They can’t help their county in further development and the country will remain poor for ever.   They cannot help to develop their country and Nepal will remain poor. They will always need the help of others to be healthy and to have a good life. Would you always want to ask for help to other people or would you rather be self sufficient and be able to help other people as well?

How would you feel to walk around in torn up clothes all the time. To be sick and not to be able to buy medicines? To have to work on the land to help your parents to earn money to be able to buy food? To see how other children can go to school and you can’t?

10. You can help too!
Yes, Dhurba has a dream that will come true when we all help. The children that go to Sapana School will get school clothes, school uniforms. All children will wear good clothes and then you don’t see the difference anymore between the richer and the very poor children. They will also get milk and fruit and a school lunch every day.

Please! Do you want to help these Tharu children and the other poor children in Chitwan? When you help them, they can go to school and will have a better future after finishing school. They really need YOUR help too!