Simple Fixes to Big Problems.
1
“With the money I made at the art coop, I hired a plowman for the wheat harvest. My children have all gone to the city for work and my husband and I are getting too old to manage it alone. Even when I am too old to work in the fields, I can still make baskets and sell them. We will have income even when we are very old.”
2
“I am seen as a leader at my neighborhood women’s committee. So, a few years ago they asked me to run for office. I was initially thrilled but then we learned national regulations require all officers know how to read and write. I found out about the women’s school and immediately started taking classes. I can now read well enough to run for office and I have a fire in me to win that seat and make some big changes.”
3
“I will open a tailoring business from the money I earn at the art coop. I know I am a good basket maker but I love working and chatting with customers while I make their clothes. I need $200 to start up and I already have half that saved.”
4
“My in-laws wouldn’t allow our daughter to attend a coed school after her 12th birthday, it is our custom. There is an all-girls school nearby but the fee is $3 a month. If I want her to continue going to school, it is my job to earn the money to send her. If I don’t, they will insist she get married. Working with the art coop I am able to earn the tuition money and still take care of the household chores. My in-laws are very happy to see their granddaughter study and wait to be married. Now they understand there are other options.”
5
“My husband is a laborer in the middle east and sends his wages home to us. When he first left, I cried every day because we could not afford to talk on the phone. I was humiliated having to ask our young children for help reading his text messages. Now, being able to read his messages and write him back has lifted the loneliness I used to feel. And my children are so proud of me. They told their teacher that their mother is in school too!”
WHERE WE WORK
Bridges Between has supported programs in the Kathmandu Valley and the Greater Lumbini Area, Nepal.
Formal education and especially literacy are essential in a bustling capital city where one must read street signs and job advertisements to survive. We are supporting women’s literacy, jobs skills and disabilities services programs in Kathmandu.
Nestled in Nepal’s quiet grasslands are clusters of small villages who rely on subsistence agriculture. Families have rich traditions that center around planting and harvest seasons and marriage and birth ceremonies. Greater access to formal education and new ways of generating income are needed to keep their livelihoods in tack. We have supported business skills training and economic opportunity programs in Lumbini.
OUR IMPACT
We continue conversations with women across Nepal. We discuss the big issues; women’s empowerment and poverty. We also talk about their personal dreams for the future. Through these exchanges, we have identified several areas that will generate large scale, positive change in personal lives, families and communities at large:
1. Economic opportunity
2. Formal Education/Literacy
3. Resource Sharing
Focusing in these areas will offer paths for women to lift themselves out of hardship, sustainably and independently. We know that education is the key to breaking the barriers that keep women from reaching their potential. Literacy, skills training and access to medical resources leads to increased family income and a path out of poverty.
Our time spent in Nepal has taught us to listen. Then act. We have been immersed in their environment which gives us a unique perspective allowing us to implement appropriate solutions, closely monitor these four impact areas and build programs that really work.