Monday, May 13, 2013

Visit to Manohara: Slum Area Kathmandu, Nepal

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. 
Our members with Mr. Moti Lal Lama, the program coordinator of the organization.


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. 

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.
A volunteer teaching the students of the slum in DIAL community

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