Often, for children in the developed countries of the world, going to school is so much a certainty and a guaranteed opportunity that many of them look upon their education with disdain.  Bored with their studies and distracted by their electronic toys -- while living lives of fantastic abundance without knowing it -- these "first-world" children have little or no understanding of what it is to crave an education.

However, the children of Nepal live with this craving. These children know that they will only be able to improve conditions for themselves and their families if they can learn to read and write, learn the fundamentals of mathematics and science, and learn something of history and culture.  And to go to school is a supreme privilege that more than 30% of them will never get. The children who do get this privilege often start toward school before dawn and get home after dark.  Walking, literally, for hours on undeveloped tracks and footpaths, they arrive at crowded schoolhouses in distant villages with the hope of learning the information and gaining the tools that will free them and their families from ignorance and poverty.

In regions where few roads connect the towns and families have lived for generations farming small plots of land, children have historically gone to work in the fields with their parents as soon as they could walk.  For these children in the remote, mountainous regions of Nepal, the promise of education, a few books and a crowded schoolroom are priceless gifts.  And, these gifts are, at the very least, what the Nepal Youth Foundation's Village Scholarship Program ensures they get.

For approximately $100 a year, NYF provides books, paper and pencils, school uniforms, and the school fee.  As nominal as that possibly sounds to someone in the West, this sum is beyond the means of many parents in rural Nepal.  Through these modest investments, NYF's donors are giving more than hope and education.  They are providing the opportunity to change an entire culture one deserving student at a time.

To read more about Nepal Youth Foundation's Village Scholarship Program and our other projects in Nepal, please visit our website, www.nepalyouthfoundation.org

Students in Rural Classroom

Links:

• Nepal Youth Foundation