When I first arrived in Nepal, I was really excited to hear about the Little Sisters events. These special days are organised by the Big Sisters to keep the younger girls learning, and in a really fun way. A great idea – but sadly when I went along to my first one I was really disappointed to see very few of the Little Sisters turning up. I must admit I could understand why – the day turned out to be quite dull, with most activities involving Little Sisters sitting down and listening.
The Big Sisters realised they could do more with these events, so asked for my help. Since then, we’ve all worked together to make future Little Sisters events bigger and better. It’s essential for events like these to include positive learning, building all the girls’ confidence as well as problem solving skills and team building.
‘Maths magic’ event
Fishing in action!
I’ve been working with the Big Sisters for a couple of weeks planning our next Little Sisters event, and we decided to call it ‘maths magic’. Seven maths related games were dreamt up, with the Little Sisters put into groups to go round each game and try to solve it within ten minutes. Needless to say the Big Sisters and I were very excited to start the games with the Little Sisters.
The most popular game by far was the ‘fishing’ game – a maths question was written on a paper fish, and one of the girls had to ‘catch’ one and then all work it out together. Number one challenge was sourcing magnets! Luckily there’s a phone stall near my house who were happy to help me out. Now the game has been made and the Big Sisters know how to use it, it can be adapted with harder questions as the girls keep learning in the future.
It was an incredible feeling watching the girls’ faces full of concentration, with the occasional shouts of glee when groups finished before the ten minutes were up. We all finished the day on such a high, and we’re already planning the next one.
New school uniforms handed out
Fun and games in the playground
In order to create equality within schools so all students are enthusiastic to learn, new school uniforms have been sourced and were handed out on our ‘maths magic’ day. Whilst the uniforms were handed to each girl, the teachers organised some sporting games to keep everyone entertained. After the devastating earthquakes in Nepal last year, we distributed school packs full of learning resources, and many of these included sports games like balls and skipping ropes.
Although the games were fun, it became obvious to me that the teachers didn’t understand the full benefits that could be made from these activities. Back in the UK I’ve been a sports teacher, so it’s planted a seed in my mind to carry out some more training with the teachers and Big Sisters to make sure these great resources are used to their full potential.
Watch this space…
A stark reminder: girls still miss out
The bright young girl looking after her brother
Although there have been a lot of positives recently, there’s always constant reminders that there’s a long way to go to get all Nepali girls into school. A couple of weeks ago Big Sister Samjhana and I were trekking up to one of the schools on the Sisters for Sisters project. We passed a really peaceful scene of a 12 year old girl cradling her little brother. This was a school day, mid-morning, so we asked why she wasn’t in school.
The three eldest girls basically all take it in turns - one will stay behind to look after their baby brother whilst the other two go to school. It bought tears to my eyes when the story was translated by Samjhana – the family clearly understood the importance of getting an education, but with difficult family circumstances, this bright clever girl was missing out. The young girl replied that she was the eldest of a family of four, but their mother had tragically died recently after a long fight against TB. Their father is in the Indian Army, so sends home money for them to survive on, but it was up to this one girl to look after her family. She was incredibly bright, and let us know that her other two sisters were at school today whilst she looks after her baby brother.
Thank you
Stories like this bring to light how crucial the work of the Sisters for Sisters programme is. I am hoping we can work with her extended family and get her back into schooling alongside her sisters. Because of your support, I am able to fight for each girl’s education in the Lamjung region of Nepal – so thank you so much.
Best wishes,
Judith
