Poverty Feb/09

I don't realize the extent of the poverty that some of the children live in until I hear a couple stories.

There are approximately 85 students from very poor families (the rest of the students are orphans that live at Maiti Nepal).

One little girl, her father is paralyzed, her mother runs a tea shop. The family lives in a cave...that they have to crawl into...they can't stand up in it. One day this child was crying at school the teachers asked her why she was crying, she said that her mother hadn't fed her for two days so she was crying because she was hungry.

They fed her however they spoke to her mother. The mother said that she was busy at the tea shop and couldn't leave to drop off lunch for her daughter. This child often comes to school in a dirty uniform. They tell the mother that she must ensure that she feeds her daughter.

Talk about breaking my heart...I can't imagine people crawling into a cave to live and a child going hungry or how the mother copes to support the family (3 children) and look after her husband.

Other older girls before they start school fill bags with sand from the riverbank for 10 rupees (6 cents) a bag. They come to school clean and tidy in their school uniforms and do the same after school and still do their homework and go to school every day.

I think about these stories it is hard not to do so. I wonder if there is something I can do to help this little girl's family in particular. I hate to think of them living in a cave but if they go hungry then perhaps food is their first priority.

I discuss with Maiti Nepal if there is a way that I can help them or if an emergency lunch program can be set up to feed children sometimes if their parents are unable to...I'm not sure how a program like this could be managed?

After some discussion it is suggested that the best way to help is to cover the child's school fees however Maiti Nepal currently covers these fees so I don't see how paying them will improve the families situation and as my future plans and income are uncertain I can't see making the committment at this time.