Room to Read Blog

Girls' Education Program Participants Hit the Road in New Delhi

Despite a light drizzle, the air of excitement was palpable as 30 girls from Room to Read’s Girls’ Education program in Delhi arrived at a special life skills session. Anxious to begin the day’s activities, the girls lined up neatly to meet their mentors for the day—female drivers employed by Sakha Cab Company.

Today, the eager young students would learn the rules of the road, basic vehicle maintenance and, of course, how to drive. In large cities like New Delhi, which can be unsafe for women, the ability to drive is more than just a practical mode of transportation—it is a key to independence.

For the special life skills session, Room to Read India partnered with Sakha, a social enterprise that provides employment opportunities to women as drivers for other women, corporations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). They also provide a women’s taxi service throughout Delhi that will eventually be owned by the female drivers themselves.

Sakha’s professional drivers were equally excited to work with our Girls’ Education program participants, and began the day with a lively question and answer session in which they candidly shared the individual challenges they had faced in striving to achieve their career aspirations, and how they overcame them. “I used to be very shy, but learning to drive has given me so much confidence—I am a different person now,” shared Chandni, a 22-year-old Sakha employee.

Next up was an overview of vehicle parts and care as well as a test ride courtesy of the female drivers. Squeals of joy could be heard all around!

It wasn’t only the girls, though, that learned something. They brought with them some of Room to Read’s local-language books to share with the women they met, including one that teaches traffic regulations to children. “One of the biggest regrets that I have is that I couldn’t finish my education,” said Chandni to the girls. “Room to Read has given you the wonderful opportunity to complete your education, so make use of it!”

Learn more about Girls’ Education.

In Honor of World Day Against Child Labor: A Second Chance for the Kamlari Girls of Nepal

June 12 is World Day Against Child Labor, a date designated by the United Nations to reflect on both the extent to which child labor exists in our world and the measures necessary to eliminate it.

In several countries where Room to Read operates our Girls’ Education program, child labor presents a major challenge to achieving gender equality in education. In Nepal, for example, girls are often contracted into indentured servitude by their parents through the Kamlari system. Though officially outlawed by the Supreme Court of Nepal in 2006, the practice is still widely culturally-accepted, especially in the western region of Bardiya. The vast majority of Kamlari girls are forbidden by their landlords to attend school and many are subject to physical abuse.

But the story doesn’t end there. Together with local partner organization Friends of Needy Children Nepal, Room to Read is helping rescued Kamlari girls rewrite their own futures and find a way back to school. Several of these stories were documented by 10x10, a feature film and social action campaign dedicated to galvanizing support for girls' education. In Bardiya, 10x10 met with the incredible young women currently enrolled in our program, and heard—in their own words—about the impact of education.

In honor of World Day Against Child Labor, we bring you a short film featuring three of those stories, produced by 10x10. Watch the video below to meet Asha, Sita and Suma—three former Kamlari girls determined to create a better life for others in their community.

 

Learn more about our work in Nepal.

Guest Blog from Dr. Molly Teas: Celebrating Solutions that Work at the Women in the World Summit

The following is a guest post from Dr. Molly Maguire Teas, Senior Advisor for Education for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of South & Central Asian Affairs.

I am writing today from the Women in the World Summit put on by Newsweek & The Daily Beast in New York City. The event has a special significance for me because one of the featured participants is a young Nepali woman named Suma Tharu. Suma is one of the 1,200 young female scholars that my Bureau has supported through our partnership with Room to Read.  10x10, a global action campaign and groundbreaking film, brought Suma to New York for the Women in the World Summit to share her story.

Suma was originally slated to sing a song she wrote on the last day of the event. But, after hearing Suma rehearse, Tina Brown, the Founder of the Women in the World Summit, decided to change the entire agenda and add Suma’s song to the opening of the event as well.

It was a fitting beginning. Suma sang about her life as a Nepali girl who was sold into indentured servitude by her own family. After six years of work, a non-governmental organization rescued her, and Room to Read provided her with a scholarship and the associated tutoring, mentoring and life skills training she needed to enroll in school and reclaim her right to a dignified life. While her song broke the collective hearts of the audience when she sang, “Mother, why did you give birth to a daughter? Did you want to see me suffer?”, her confidence, her clarity about how education has changed her life, and her commitment to make life better for other girls inspired us all.

Meeting Suma before the event began was a joy for me for many reasons. One reason was the simple fact that Suma not only survived her ordeal but is clearly thriving and loving her new life and identity as a “pardeko keti” or school girl. Those who have read my previous DipNote blogs on State.gov know that I began my career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal nearly thirty years ago. At that time, I worked as a science teacher in a remote mountain village school with no electricity, water or latrine. Suma reminded me of the tiny group of girls in my village who managed to stay in school all the way to sixth grade, and who, despite long treks to and from their homes and the almost total lack of books and materials, were so thrilled to be in school that they, like Suma today, positively glowed. It was that small group of girls what also inspired me to commit the rest of my professional life to improving schools and education for girls.

In a most befitting way, Secretary Clinton, in her closing remarks at the Summit, highlighted Suma and the support that State Department’s SCA Bureau provided in changing her life and the lives of many like her. The inspiring image of Suma interacting with the Secretary of State and Oscar-award-winning actress Meryl Streep back stage is a symbol of what is possible when girls and women are empowered. 

The State Department is clearly committed to ensuring that girls’ education programs like Room to Read’s are expanded, and we are shining a spotlight on stories like Suma’s, so that others will witness the power of education and be motivated to support proven solutions that are advancing education for girls around the world.

Learn more about Suma's story and how you can help girls like her across Asia and Africa at www.roomtoread.org/meetsuma

From Nepal to New York City: Suma's Story

“I am happy when I am at school,” says Suma Tharu.

Outside of the tenth grade classroom where she spends most days, Suma seems the picture of a thriving young woman, but her story is one of extraordinary struggle. The only girl of four children born to illiterate parents in Nepal’s Bardiya district, Suma was contracted into indentured servitude at only six years old and sent to work in another family’s home.

Suma endured six years of labor and abuse in three different homes, trapped with thousands of other young girls in Nepal’s Kamlari system. When she returned home at the age of 12, she was unable to communicate even with her family. Sent away at such a young age, Suma had forgotten how to speak her own native language. 

Despite her late start and difficult childhood, Suma was determined to get an education. In 2008 she was accepted into our Girls’ Education program, and joined the seventh grade at the age of 16 with the help of some remedial education classes. In addition to material support, Suma was introduced to a social mobilizer (mentor) and invited to attend life skills training to help her transition back into mainstream society.

The life skills training also helped Suma develop the confidence she needed to stand up for herself. “I said to my mother: you gave birth to your sons and you gave birth to me, why discriminate? We are equals and I deserve the same opportunities.” Slowly, she says, her parents’ attitudes and behavior have begun to change.

Now 19, Suma is on track to graduate from secondary school in the spring of 2014 and has set her sights on a career as a health educator so that she can help empower more girls in her community.

Along with Suma, 655 other ex-Kamlari girls are currently enrolled in our Girls’ Education program in Bardiya. Working in partnership with Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation/Friends of Needy Children, who rescue Kamlari girls from bonded labor, Room to Read seeks to help eradicate the now illegal, but still widely culturally-accepted practice.

As part of her healing process, Suma wrote a song about her struggle to pursue an education, and has been invited to perform it—and share her story—at the Women in the World 2012 Summit hosted by Newsweek and The Daily Beast in New York City. 

Watch the live stream of her performances Thursday, March 8 at 6:30pm EST and Saturday, March 10 at 11:30am EST. Her story will also be featured in the groundbreaking 10x10 film, which tells the stories of 10 extraordinary girls from 10 countries who have overcome significant challenges in their quest to complete their education.

Elephant Mobile Library Treats Young Readers in Laos to a Day They Will Never Forget

“Elephants are coming! Elephants are coming!” Hundreds of young voices shout in chorus, the excitement palpable. But these are not just any elephants—they are four-legged libraries!

In Laos, the Asian elephant has long been a national symbol. Since ancient times, the loveable giants have been extremely useful—from battlefields to agricultural fields—but now they’ve found a new home on the endangered species list.

In an effort to both increase public awareness of the elephants’ plight and support literacy in rural communities, Room to Read Laos teamed up with two other NGOs (Action with Lao Children and ElefantAsia) as well as the local government to implement the first ever Elephant Mobile Library.

The perfect mode of delivery for remote communities, the Elephant  Mobile Library has been an instant hit. Stocked with 640 Lao-language children’s books (many featuring elephants) and supplementary educational materials, the library’s maiden voyage included four primary schools that serve more than 1,000 students in the northern province of Xaybouly.

Today, the Elephant Mobile Library has made its way to one of those very schools, greeted by hundreds of young readers. As the elephants enter the school gates, scores of students line up dutifully—eager to get a closer look at their unusual guests. With bright eyes and wide smiles, the youngest students strain to wait their turns, bouncing up and down with excitement. Our team is surprised when none of the students seem afraid of the giant creatures, carefully approaching the elephants one-by-one, and accepting a book from the “librarians” seated atop them.

The day’s events continue with literacy games, songs, storytelling circles and comprehension exercises lead by the Room to Read team, all with a focus on elephant conservation and what individuals can do to help these creatures thrive. It’s clear from the laughter ringing through the air and enthusiastic participation that for these young readers, the Elephant Mobile Library is a welcomed addition to the curriculum.

Learn more about our School Library program and other innovative in-country partnerships.

Making the Most of a Second Chance in Nepal

“I want to lead a worthwhile life, and I know for sure that my education will take me places,” says 15-year-old Phulmati Tharu, but her future hasn’t always looked so bright.

At the age of eight, Phulmati was forced to leave the second grade, her family and everything else she’d ever known to enter a new life as an indentured servant for a family wealthier than hers in a village far away. She spent four long years as a Kamlari—an illegal but culturally accepted practice in some parts of Nepal by which parents enter a contract to have their daughters work as bonded laborers. As a servant in Nepalgunj for a family of five she was expected to work around the clock, leaving no time to attend school. “Those were indeed dark days,” she says.

Then, in 2008, Phulmati received some very good news. The local government and several nonprofits in the area were cracking down on indentured servitude and called back hundreds of girls working as Kamlari. “Coming back home after four arduous years of labor was a memorable moment,” says Phulmati of her return. “I recall walking down the lane to my house and seeing all of my family members who had gathered to welcome me back.”

After her rescue, Phulmati was accepted into Room to Read’s Girls’ Education program, and immediately began an intensive bridge course to help her catch up to grade level. She finished the bridge course, which normally takes 6-9 months to complete, in just four months—driven to use her second chance in school to create a better life for herself.

“One day when I was working as a Kamlari in Nepalgunj,” she recalls, “I had to do all the grocery shopping and felt ashamed that I couldn’t do simple addition.” She believed she had been shortchanged, but couldn’t be sure. “At that moment,” says Phulmati, ”I realized how important education was, and made up my mind that if I should ever go to school again, I would make the best of that opportunity.”

Now a seventh grader at Shree Prithivi Lower Secondary School, Phulmati has become a dedicated student and avid reader. “I was devoid of the company of the books for four years,” she says. “Our school now has a beautiful library with scores of books that have helped me a lot to progress in my studies.”

And that’s not all that has changed in her life. Phulmati says her family now supports her 100 percent in pursuing her education. Two years ago, when her school partnered with Room to Read’s School Construction program to add more classrooms, her brother was first in line to volunteer labor to the project.

“He dedicated most of his time to constructing the new building, even though he had other commitments,” she recalls. “He said that no sister of his belongs in a school without decent buildings.”

Learn more about our Girls’ Education and School Construction programs.

Guest Blog from Bangladesh: Better Vision for a Better Education

This is a guest post from Zaki Hasan, country director for Room to Read Bangladesh.

*****

On a rainy morning in late September, a boat arrives on the shores of a small sandbar island in rural Bangladesh—filled to the brim with medical supplies, tools and doctors from a hospital in another district, which seems a world away.

Waiting patiently at a school nearby are over 100 girls from our Girls’ Education program, brought to the island from others in the region—each with an appointment to get their vision checked by a doctor for the very first time.

In this underserved part of Bangladesh, lack of access to basic medical facilities can severely hinder girls’ ability to attend school. Preventable or treatable diseases turn into chronic conditions, as most families are unable to afford the cost of transport to facilities in a larger city.

Recognizing the lack of health services as a real barrier to girls’ education in the region, our team decided to convene an “eye camp” at  one of the schools we work with, and connected with global health organization ORBIS to find the necessary supplies and personnel.

After hearing that none of the girls in our program had ever received a proper eye exam, ORBIS generously offered to fund the eye camp, and enlisted their partner—Mymensingh Eye Hospital outside of Dhaka, who agreed to handle the technical aspects.

The camp was scheduled to take place on an island called Solosoto Jangalia, but due to heavy rains, the medical team was forced to take shelter on another island along the way for most of the morning.

Luckily, 90 of the girls and their chaperones found themselves caught in the same storm, and waited out the rain on the same island.

Acting quickly, the lead doctor from Mymensingh decided to initiate “part one” of the camp immediately—setting up the equipment on the spot. When the storm let up later in the afternoon, the medical team, girls and Room to Read staff were able to complete their trip to Solosoto Jangalia, where over 100 more eager patients were waiting.

At the end of the day, 207 of our Girls’ Education program scholars had been examined by the medical team. Brand new glasses were provided to 12 girls, and 85 returned home with medicine for existing eye conditions in hand. For the seven girls in the group that will require further treatment, ORBIS has offered to provide the necessary care next month at their Pediatric Eye Care Center in Mymensingh free of charge.

It was a long day for all involved, but for the 207 girls who participated, one more barrier had been removed from the path to a quality education. As I headed home from the eye camp, I continued to reflect on the power of partnerships like this one with ORBIS to amplify the impact of our Girls’ Education program, and how one simple eye exam that day had changed some of the girls’ lives forever.

Learn more about our work in Bangladesh.

Guest Blog from John Wood: Kicking off the 2011 Clinton Global Initiative

The excitement is palpable as the world descends upon New York for today’s opening of the 2011 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). I’ve been lucky enough to attend CGI on behalf of Room to Read for the past five years, and now sit on CGI’s Advisory Board. Every year I’m in awe of how the forum has turned into a catalyst for game-changing partnership and collaboration in the field of international development. Each year, I leave with new connections and new ideas that we have been able to implement to make a difference for millions of children across the developing world.

This year’s CGI will be no different. Room to Read will unveil an innovative report, the inspiration for which was born at a meeting convened by CGI last spring. At the meeting, Cory Heyman, our chief program officer, met with representatives from FHI 360 and Amenons Nos Filles á l’Ecole (ANFE), two other nonprofits working in the field of girls’ education. Despite the multitude of organizations around the world dedicated to girls’ education, they noted, there has been very little research dedicated to identifying the factors that contribute to girls’ success in reaching higher education.

Together they questioned: If we know that gender bias, safety concerns, early marriage, pregnancy and financial disadvantage are major roadblocks to tertiary education, then what are the success factors that can help girls in the developing world overcome them? In other words—let’s not focus on the barriers, let’s learn about the real-world solutions that actually work.

As the idea for a study identifying such factors began to take shape, The MasterCard Foundation, with whom we first connected at CGI 2010, stepped in to provide guidance and financial support—kicking off six months of rigorous research.

The fact is, even under the most challenging conditions, there are young women across the developing world charting new territory and taking the bold step of seeking higher education. We wanted to hear from them—in their own words—about the factors that were positively contributing to their success.

Our team conducted in-person interviews with 160 of these trailblazing young women in Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, India and Mauritania, and found that despite political, cultural, and economic differences between their communities, the girls identified very similar success factors as being instrumental in their ability to reach university.

The young women we met shared personal stories that illuminated their common attributes of determination and courage. Many cited the encouragement of their families, teachers and communities as being paramount to their success, coupled with the material and emotional support they'd received from nonprofit organizations.

For Room to Read, these findings will help shape our Girls’ Education program curriculum, which we’ve built out over the years to go beyond financial support and to include extensive life skills training and mentoring as well as family and community engagement.

By releasing the final report at this year’s CGI Annual Meeting, we hope that these girls’ voices can reach across borders and help shape best practices in the field of girls’ education for years to come.

Read the complete report, Through Their Eyes, In Their Voices: Young women in five countries share their experiences navigating tertiary education, on our website.

Tune in tomorrow at 3:20pm EST to watch John Wood answer your questions live from CGI in an interview with Randi Zuckerberg broadcast on Facebook.

Cambodia Adopts Nationwide Library Standards, with Help From Some Friends

Last year, the Cambodian Ministry of Education released a report indicating that over 55 percent of the country’s 6,555 primary schools had libraries. Normally, this would be great news, but as it turned out, things weren’t exactly as they seemed. With no official standards to use as a guide, many of the schools reported having a library even if they had just a few books or none at all.

“Some called it a library with only a few books, others with only one chair and a single shelf for schools with many classrooms,” says Kall Kann, Room to Read’s Country Director in Cambodia. “In grades one through three," he continues, “they rely on two textbooks to study, and they have no additional reading material.”

Seeing a need to change this in their country, Room to Read Cambodia teamed up with local partner NGOs SIPAR and SVA, initiating a year-long effort to enact nationwide standards for school libraries including a set ratio of books to children, a description of the library environment, and minimum qualifications and pay for the librarians who run them.

“Without a minimum standard, schools couldn’t request money from the central government to allow them to buy books,” explains Kall, “they do not know how many books should be in the library, they don’t have librarians, and they don’t have an understanding of what qualifications are required for a librarian.”

Hammering out the details of the new library standards and getting the necessary approvals took just under a year, and included discussions with both national and provincial education representatives. It all paid off!  On May 3, 2011, the Ministry of Education finally adopted the new standards as the official benchmark for all primary schools nationwide.

“I see that when children read a lot, you increase their knowledge, increase their understanding and their attitude becomes more mature—they are much more understanding of the situation around them and trends across the globe,” said the Minister of Education, who hopes that the new standards will help his department to better mobilize its resources.

Kall also has high hopes for the new policy, and its potential effect on the Cambodian education system as a whole. “We need to make sure our children learn to explore, learn to do research, learn to summarize,” he says, things which “can be achieved by reading a lot.”

Read more about our work in Cambodia.

Homecoming in Nepal: Anita and Anju Reunite with Mom

Kamlari is a historically accepted social custom among the indigenous Tharu community in Nepal, in which poor families contract out their daughters into bonded labor. While the practice is now technically illegal, an estimated 20,000 Kamlari girls are still living as indentured laborers. Room to Read's Girls' Education program is one of the many levers of change being used to help free these girls and provide them with access to a quality education. Anita and Anju Tharu are two such girls.

***

Winter in the flatlands of Bardiya can be quite unpredictable, especially when hanging laundry outside on the line. As sisters Anita and Anju found out, when you hang your clothes out to dry, the weather might not cooperate. On a cold morning recently, Anita rushed to school wearing a blue skirt, a blue shirt and a blue sweater—the ubiquitous school uniform in Nepali schools. Once in class, she spread out her skirt and sat on the driest part. Anita had argued with her mother that morning about attending school in damp clothes. She diligently sat near the hearth, waved her skirt about in the air, and hoped and prayed her skirt would be dry enough to attend class. She had succeeded.

 

Her older sister, Anju, wasn’t so lucky and had to skip school that day. “I’d take school over staying home any day,” said Anju.  “I’m wondering what my sister is doing right now. Maybe she’s studying. Yes, I know she is. She frets about missing her lessons. I bet she’s even completing assignments in new chapters!” she exclaimed in envy.

It hasn’t been long since the Tharu sisters re-enrolled in school. Their attendance symbolizes the girls’ struggle for education and freedom.

It all started with a fight that landed their father in jail. With the family's main breadwinner unable to support them, Anita and Anju's mother, Rama Tharu, made an extremely difficult and painful choice: she asked her daughters to drop out of school. As their education came to an abrupt halt, their lives as Kamlaris—or bonded laborers—began. Gone were the days of careless mischief, or running around in the fields and coming home from school and finding a hot meal waiting for them. Those days were to be replaced by endless hours of chores, including caring for children who were not much older than them. At the time they left school to become Kamlari workers, Anju was just 11 years old and Anita was 10.

“Seeing my daughters go was the hardest blow," says Rama. "Suddenly I was all alone.” Her days without her two daughters were lonely. “Those two years were the slowest years I’ve ever faced. I would work through the entire day, plowing fields and doing any other manual labor that came my way.”

Since her husband was in jail, local work was hard to find. The community around her stigmatized Rama and her family, forcing her to commute longer distances to find work. Nevertheless, she prevailed and vowed to make her daughters stop working as soon as she could afford to do so. Her hope resurfaced when the 
Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation (NYOF), a Room to Read partner organization, started a campaign to end the Kamlari pratha, or system. With their assistance, and after two long years of constant labor, Anita and Anju were finally rescued and brought back home.

“Homecoming was great,” remembers Anju. “We hadn't had the chance to see each  other much during the past two years and when we finally got to see each other, it was something else. We all cried sweet tears of joy.” That night, Rama and her daughters sat down in their small kitchen, made a fire and cooked up their first homemade meal together in years.

Through Room to Read’s partnership with NYOF and the Girl's Education program, Anita and Anuj were able to re-enroll in school. Being selected for the program meant that the girls could continue their studies and focus on their education, forever ending their lives at Kamlari workers. Both of the girls are attending Shree Tribhuwan Higher Secondary School, where Anita is now in 5th grade and Anju is in 7th grade. Anita dreams of becoming a business owner. “As soon as I am able to do so,” she says, “I want to help my mother so that we don’t have to struggle financially anymore.”  Anju wants to study for as long as possible and ensure she can do it well.  “I had never thought that I’d be able to go to school again. Now that I have the chance I want to utilize it well,” she says.

Only 5 days left! All gifts made to our Girls’ Education program during the month of May will be matched up to $350,000. Support the next generation of women today at www.roomtoread.org/MayMatch.