With the intention of moving ahead with our
project, we brainstormed what could be the next possible step of our project.
After a huge discussion with our group members and teachers, it was necessary
to know about the situation of the girls living in the various slum areas of Kathmandu
and Bhaktapur District.
On the suggestion of our facilitator Mrs. Sarita
Dewan, we visited Prerana, a non-governmental organization which helps the poor
and needy people, where we met Mr. Moti Lal Lama, the program coordinator of
the organization. After having a conversation with Mr.Lama, he gave us the
feedback to visit slum area of Manohara, among the various alternatives which
were slum areas of Sankhamul,
Tripureshwor, Bhaisipati and Manohara.
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| Our members with Mr. Moti Lal Lama, the program coordinator of the organization. |
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| Prerana Organization |
After this visit, we discussed about choosing the
most appropriate place on the basis of which we could proceed out project. Depending
upon this discussion, we chose to visit Manohara as there were six hundred
households who were inhabiting there for about 10-15 years and it was the widest slum area among the alternatives and it had less facilities
comparatively.
The number of households were comparatively
higher than that of other slum areas. On the visit, we observed that there were
four communities. DIAL COMMUNITY CENTRE was established by the Korean
government to provide support and help to the children and teenage girls. We
were provided with great support and appreciation by Mr. Kul Bahadur Tamang of
the community and his fellow colleagues.
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| Dail Community |
The slum was 3 KM in diameter, there we observed
the desperate and deprived condition of girls and other people. They were at
their worst and pitiful condition as there was no environmental sanitation and
they were dressed up in ragged clothes. We also found that there were few
sanitary stores where the necessary items were hardly available. We also had a
conversation with few of the teachers of ‘Saraswati Prathamik Bidhyala’, which
was the only school of that slum area, and with staffs as well as people. They
guided us to Chandramaya Tamang, a member of Kishori Shakti Samuha(a committee
which gives knowledge to the teenage girls related to physical changes) who
again led us to Kishori Sitaula, leader of that group. She and her family
provided us with necessary information which helped us a lot in our project. We
also interviewed some of the natives and collected more information. The
natives said that there was a lot of problem related to violence and abuse in
the slum.
We extended our gratitude for providing us with
necessary information for our project and we were thankful for their
appreciation and guidance. We observed the whole slum area of Manohara with
full support of the Sukumbasi ( slum) people. We also found out that most of the
people were very friendly and cooperative.
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| A volunteer teaching the students of the slum in DIAL community |
