Children stop to celebrate stationery at Buumidanda, Kavre
20th December 2010

More than 150 children at Shree Balprakash Secondary School in the village of Kavre have benefited from the generosity of My Small Help sponsors this week.

The youngsters, aged between 5 and 12, were given new stationery so that they can continue with their studies. This week My Small Help accountant Pramila K.C and UK volunteer Jo Young visited the rural village around 45 kilometres outside Kathmandu to distribute the much needed goods. They were met by excited faces eager to make use of the stationery. Pramila and Jo visited five of the classrooms where each pupil was presented with six new jotters, six pencils, one rubber and one pencil sharpener.

Headmaster, Purusottam Koierala, said: “We are delighted that My Small Help has made these donations to our school pupils. Many of them are very poor and simply cannot afford to buy the basic things that they need for school which means that longer term school education becomes a burden instead of a priority.

“When they are given stationery their parents don’t worry about them having what they need to come to school; they no longer have to stress about trying to find the money to buy it. The children are always very excited when they know that someone from My Small Help is coming to see them, and as we saw today even once they have been given their new jotters they are still keen to see what else is going on so they were peeping through the windows into the other classrooms.”

Each child introduced themselves and said thank you as they were presented with the stationery.

There are currently 16 teachers at Shree Balprakash Secondary School. It converted from a primary school to include secondary education in 2008.

Donating the stationery to the school is part of My Small Help’s pledge to support children so that they can stay in school and create a brighter future for themselves. Without support many families withdraw their children from education because they need them to earn money to supplement the household income. When My Small Help acknowledges this issue and helps to alleviate the stress by providing the basics this immediate stress is alleviated and the child is able to remain in education, which in turn will benefit the whole community.

Jo Young
MSH volunteer