The last few weeks in the Chepang Communtiy have been characterised by impatient anticipation, great excitement, joy and a lot of work. After a long preparation phase, the “goat breeding” project has finally been realised. The families of the first three groups, i.e. 58 families, received their goats. Beforehand, the accommodation for the animals have been renovated or newly built and grass has also be sown to ensure that there is enough food.
The material for the extension or construction of new stables for the goats was brought close to the village. With a lot of womanpower, fences and corrugated iron roofs were carried over arduous paths to the village and then to the future goat breeders. Under expert guidance, the shelters were built, extended or remodelled in collaboration with the respective owners.
Two weeks later, the time had come: the goats arrived in the village. They were eagerly awaited. The goats are insured, are tagged and then handed over to their families.
The work of preparing the grass for sowing and the subsequent sowing is a joint effort – everyone who can helps.
I travelled to Nepal in October 2023. After volunteering in a hospital, I decided without further ado to volunteer in a children’s home for the last month. I came across Tara Namaste by chance. Lilo Veraguth, my contact person, was very straightforward and organised everything spontaneously. So I travelled to Birtamod in mid-November 2023. I will probably never forget the friendly welcome from Narayan Pokhrel at the airport and what followed….
I was warmly welcomed by the Pokhrel family and the children’s home. I felt at home from the beginning to the end. For the first few days, everyone behaved towards me as if I were a guest and I wasn’t allowed to help in the kitchen or with the cleaning. But more and more I was no longer a guest, I became a member of the family and belonged. And that’s how it still feels today to have found a family in Nepal.
I will never forget cooking together, everyday life with the children, playing, talking and laughing. From now on, I will always associate the game UNO with Tara Namaste.
The Tara Namaste children’s home is a wonderful place, it is run in an exemplary manner and offers children a home with lots of love and respect. Each child is allowed to attend a private school and develop individually. Everything is very clean and Durga’s food is fantastic. The children sleep in rooms of 2 or 3, girls and boys are separated. This means that each child has their own space and can withdraw.
I have learnt a lot about life and about myself, plus I can now cook Nepalese food, although I certainly won’t miss dal bhat. 😉
Every cent donated makes a big difference and is a good contribution in such a poor part of eastern Nepal.
I have great respect for Nayaran, his daughter Yasoda and Durga, what they do every day is simply amazing!
Many thanks to Tara Namaste Foundation for giving me this opportunity. I will always keep this in my heart. One day I will return to Nepal, to Birtamod, to Tara Namaste.
58 members of the first four “goat breeding groups” took part in the training course on commercial goat breeding in December. The participants (10 men, 48 women) were trained by a local livestock development expert on the requirements for goat farming. Topics included animal behaviour, husbandry, feeding, diseases, etc.
A committee of five people was formed from this group. This committee is available to the members of the group for questions relating to goat husbandry, insurance issues and help with the construction of the goat shed.
Before the goats are distributed to the families, the stables must first be repaired or newly built. Quotations were requested for the necessary materials. Once the necessary letter of request has been received from the district office, work can begin.
A project management and monitoring committee was also set up under the leadership of the district chairman. One member from each breeder group, representatives of the Tara Namaste Foundation and the veterinarian also form this committee. This committee will decide on the implementation of the project and will meet every four to six months. At the end of the project period defined by Tara Namaste (3 years in total), this committee will ensure the continuation of the project.
The impact of the project will be evaluated at the end of the project. Seven households from each of the four groups with goats and seven households with chickens were randomly selected for the study in the community. The current status of 28 households has already been surveyed and is now being analysed.
Good networking and liaising with the local authorities is essential. The project has therefore been presented to various representatives of the authorities. We can count on the support of all local authorities.
Various goat farms are currently being visited to find healthy animals. Once the housing for the animals has been completed (February/March), the first goats will be allowed to move in with the families.
Since our visit in October 2023, a number of things have been implemented or initiated in the community.
In order to operate cost-effectively, a competition was organised among local food suppliers with the aim of purchasing high-quality food at the lowest possible price. The right supplier was found and, thanks to the cost savings, the budget is now sufficient to provide the children with an additional egg three Fridays a month and meat once a month.
After a number of lengthy administrative procedures and the preparation of a detailed project plan and all the necessary paperwork, our joint project is well on the way to being realised.
The submission to the Social Welfare Council has been made – now we have to wait for approval. This should arrive at the end of October/beginning of November. Our goal:
The project will support 130 households in Chepang in coordination with the local rural community in order to improve the economic situation of the community by promoting livestock farming (goats and chickens), building stables for the animals and training community members in appropriate animal husbandry.
Images: First orientation of the population in April 2023
Specifically, this means:
130 selected households will be divided into 9 groups (3 groups for the first year, 4 groups for the second year and 2 groups for the third year). Of the 3 groups in 2023, 2 groups will breed goats and the remaining 1 group will look after chickens. The groups receiving goats are instructed to give one offspring (a kid) of their goats from each participating household to the next group the following year, and from this second year’s goat, the kid must be passed on to last year’s groups. The group taking care of the chickens is not obliged to do so, as only one group is selected for the chickens in the first year. This will be realised together with the local authorities, the livestock owners will be trained by the veterinary service and the municipality will keep a watchful eye on the livestock owners at the beginning. They will sign a declaration of consent.
Each family receives a female goat (a healthy breed with high fertility) for goat rearing. One billy goat per group will be cared for in a selected family – the vet will also carry out regular checks. Before the animals are delivered, the future animal owners will provide suitable accommodation for the animals with our support.
Timetable: Training sessions for the future animal owners and the creation or adaptation of the animal accommodation are planned for November and December. First delivery of animals in February 2024.
The project will be continuously supported and monitored by our staff in Nepal. Refresher training sessions are planned. After two years and nine months, an evaluation will take place and the results and benefits for the population will be analysed.
We are looking forward to seeing it look like this in Chepang too!
The families affected by poverty lack the means to buy soap or other hygiene products. The small medical practice financed by the community is equipped with additional hygiene articles not financed by the government. This gives the doctor the opportunity to teach the population basic hygiene measures for health care and to hand out hygiene products.
Since spring 2022, we have been supporting the Shree Praja Jyoti School in the Chepang community in Ghyalchowk by funding an English teacher.
During our visit in October 2022, it quickly became clear that it is difficult for many families to feed their children. The children come to school hungry and their concentration and motivation are correspondingly low. They often stay away from lessons.
Since January, the children have been receiving a full meal of rice, lentils and vegetables every day before the start of lessons. The caretaker does the cooking, assisted by a mum from the community. The necessary utensils have been purchased.
A meal before school motivates families to send their children to school. The children are also more motivated and can follow the lessons better when they are full.
During our last visit in October, we were also concerned about the children’s clothing, especially in view of the approaching winter. Every child was provided with warm clothes and shoes. In a large-scale operation, children’s clothes and an additional two blankets per family were humped into the village in a half-hour march with the help of the local population. There was plenty of excitement and cheerful activity during the distribution. The people are extremely grateful for the support.
Our support continues with the aim of giving the whole village a better perspective. The food programme is to become a community project. Together with the villagers, we look for opportunities and offer start-up support for implementation. Based on their preferences and opportunities, people should be empowered to get involved and take responsibility.
Planting vegetables, rearing goats and possibly handicrafts for women are ways of contributing to the livelihood of families. Food security, basic medical care and adequate education for the children are important goals that we want to achieve together with the local people.
The next visit is scheduled for April 2023, when details and specific measures will be discussed and finalised.
The Shree Praja Jyoti Primary School is a government-supported primary school that was founded in 1991 as part of the Nepalese government’s education strategy. The school is located in Gandaki Village-7, Ghyalchowk Beltar Gorkha, Province No. 4, on the banks of the River Trishuli. This stunning river flows between Dhading and the Gorkha district and is world-renowned for rafting. It takes two and a half hours (90 kilometres) to travel from Kathmandu to Majhimtar Dhading to the school, taking the Prithivi motorway followed by a 30-minute hike up the mountain. The school has 65 pupils, 29 girls and 36 boys, from the Chepang (a marginalised community of people from the local area). They represent the third year of early childhood development (ECD).
Background:
The Chepang are an indigenous Tibeto-Burmese community inhabiting the ridges of the Mahabharat mountain range in central Nepal. The reserved, nomadic Chepang have taken a more open approach over the past two or three generations, and are now semi-nomadic. They normally live in caves or thatched huts and are dependent on the increasingly limited production of crops such as maize, millet and bananas, as well as fishing.
Poverty, insufficient education and a lack of medical facilities mean that the Chepang are often poorly educated, and this is particularly the case for children, older people and women. Children are greatly disadvantaged and often suffer from malnutrition, pneumonia, diarrhoea, typhoid, etc. Dysmenorrhea and uterine bleeding are similarly common among women, caused by child marriages, inadequate nutrition and unhygienic living conditions. The Chepang are one of the most at-risk communities in Nepal and are towards the bottom of the Human Development Index (HDI).
Objective:
Tara Namaste’s objective is to enable Chepang children to attend primary school and then subsequently access further education.
While 65 Chepang pupils are registered at the Shree Praja Jyoti Primary School, children frequently fail to attend school and skip class. The main reason for this? Poverty. Children often need to take up work to supplement their family’s income or they need to look after younger siblings while their parents are at work. Children need to be supported to ensure they can attend school on a regular basis: this is the only way for them to complete their basic education and then attend secondary schools.
‘Children’s sporadic attendance at school is primarily down to poverty. If we can offer support in the form of food, learning materials and clothes, they will attend school on a regular basis,’ says Ms Nirmala Aryal Regmi, the school’s headteacher.
Actions to help:
Assistance with food – distributing lunches
Food is the cornerstone of human survival. People living below the poverty line will always need to fight for their food, so it’s a huge help if food is provided for them. As part of this aid programme, pupils receive a nutritious lunch. For their parents, it’s one more reason to send their child to school, and the food programme also motivates children to attend school regularly. As a result, malnutrition is reduced, performance at school is improved, and truancy is minimised.
Distributing school resources: educational assistance
This aid programme provides children with school resources like textbooks, rucksacks, notepads, pencils, erasers, sharpeners and chalk. On the one hand, these resources are a great help in and of themselves, and on the other, they motivate children to attend school regularly.
Distributing uniforms: clothes and shoes
Children are unable to attend school because their parents are experiencing financial difficulties and cannot afford school supplies. The financial burden borne by children’s parents or guardians is eased if they can be provided with their school uniforms, shoes and bags via the aid programme. However, this comes with the expectation that parents and guardians will send their children to school and encourage them to attend.
Implementation partners
The Tara Namaste Foundation Nepal (TNF) is a non-partisan, apolitical, non-governmental charitable organisation registered with the regional government of Kathmandu. At present, this organisation is carrying out projects in the Gorkha and Jhapa districts, focusing on children’s health, education and the development of infrastructure for people below the poverty line. This programme has the financial backing of the Tara Namaste Foundation Liechtenstein.
The programme outlined above is also supported by the Tara Namaste Foundation Nepal in collaboration with Community Initiatives Nepal (CIN), a non-governmental organisation active in the healthcare, sanitation, environmental and education sectors and focused on supporting underprivileged people in urban and rural areas of Nepal.
Likely outcomes:
Our programme outlined above improves Chepang families’ quality of life and enables their children to access education over the long term. The number of children in school will increase, improving the level of learning and education for increasing numbers of children, and the quality of nutrition will ultimately ensure that quality of life in a general sense is improved.
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