Sabina has no mother

Sabina has no mother, 

two sisters, father very poor --

still she keeps smiling

I received this email from my friend Pam Whitworth, Director of Shanti Children's Foundation, regarding a young girl who needs a sponsorship as a boarding student in Kathmandu, Nepal. We have been sponsoring a student through this nonprofit foundation for 12 years and find it very rewarding. I hope that someone who reads this will also feel moved to help Sabina.

Dear Friends,

This little girl is Sabina Gubaju. She is approximately 7-8 years old. (many families, being illiterate, do not keep track of the age of their children). Sabina’s original home is Sindhupalchowk, which is one of the least developed districts in Nepal (and where there is quite a lot of trafficking of girls and women). Her parents migrated to Kathmandu many years ago to try to get work. They have had a hard time. Sabina's mother died about a year and a half ago. Sabina’s father is a manual day-laborer (they are very poor) and this is only when he can get the work. This is the lowest menial work and pays next to nothing. 

          Sabina has two sisters. Without the mother, the father cannot look after the girls on his own since he does not have enough income to manage. When he works, he is also away from home, leaving the girls alone and this is a very unsafe situation. Sabina's two sisters have now been sponsored (one by us and one by another organzation). We still need help for Sabina.

          Sabina is very much in need of our support.  She needs education to raise above the extreme poverty her family has experienced. This is the only way she might have a chance to have a future other than hard labor at a young age or an early marriage and a life of hardship. 

          With sponsorship she would get an education, which is something her father cannot afford for her. In addition, she would board in the hostel where she would be safe, fed and have a stable existence and new possibilities.

          Let's help this young girl have a better life. She needs only $800 total for her annual school fees, room and board, books and uniform, bedding, etc. This can be paid $400 twice a year. Another option is to co-sponsor with another person. That would be a commitment of only $400 annually (each, for two people ). Let me know if you have any questions and/or you think you can perhaps sponsor this little girl. I am crossing my fingers. She is very much in need and it would be wonderful to get her into a more stable situation as quickly as possible.

          Thank you, each and every one of you, for your very kind consideration! You have been a good friend to Shanti Children's Foundation and that means the world to us.

Pam Whitworth

Director

Shanti Children's Foundation

2331 Broadway, #2B

Boulder, CO 80304

www.shantichildrensfoundation.org

wings of Pegasus

wings of Pegasus --

peaked white earth domes perched

on the side of a green hill

The white domes at the hostel for Pegasus School are constructed from earth-filled bags coiled like a straw bee skep and then plastered with earth. They look like Hobbit huts perched on a green hill outside Kathmandu. When Pam and I visited two years ago, the inside walls and the domed ceiling of the kitchen were black with soot from gas cooking fires, but that only added a natural patina, while the potato storage room was painted blushing pink.
          We arrived at the start of a Maoist general strike which shut down everything -- government, schools, businesses, banks, street vendors, and traffic, except for emergency vehicles -- and there were rolling blackouts. It was too dangerous to walk in some areas, so we had to wait to visit the two schools where Shanti Children's Foundation, founded by Pam, sponsors a number of needy children. It was a joyful moment when I finally met Thrinley, the girl we've been sponsoring for 12 years. 
          Now we hear from Kinley Lama, the Director of Pegasus, that things are "the same or getting a bit worse. Power cuts have reached 14 to 16 hours a day, but the good thing is that we know in advance when we will be having the cuts so we can prepare. Fuel prices have gone up by 10 to 20 % and even with the high increase in prices fuel is not available. Which makes us all wonder, what is happening to this country?"
          He goes on to say that "the biggest problem is cooking fuel, kerosene as well as cooking gas. Both are not available anymore and the weird thing is that the government or people responsible for these are not doing anything. Cooking for the children is now being done by firewood. We buy it from the local villagers. The staff use cooking gas but everyone seems to have only enough stock for maybe a week. Then it looks like we have to go back to using firewood too. At least for us we have the option of using firewood, but I am wondering what is happening with the people living in the urban areas?"
          And I am wondering what happens when they can no longer get fuel for the bus that takes the boarding students from the hostel to town every school day? During the Maoist strike, when they could not get to the school in town, they had classes at the hostel, all of the students in one big room, seated from oldest to youngest.
         The good news is that the children are all fine and two more girls will be joining the hostel on Friday, an auspicious day for them. "Thank you very much for that," Kinley writes. "I think we most probably saved the older one from being a domestic helper for life." He also thanks Pam for her hard work and support in finding sponsors. "I know that it is very hard for most people in the US also with the financial crunch."
          Perhaps harder for some than others, although we still have electricity and fuel, so far. But I'm glad that we have a wood stove, a wind turbine and solar panels!