Category: NYF News
Psychological Counselling in Nepal, Ankur Covid-19 Heroes
Psychological Counselling in Nepal is in high demand. Did you know? Ankur is the Sanskrit word for flower bud, sapling, or sprout.
Welcome to Part 2 of NYF’s Mental Health Month series, featuring the amazing frontline mental health care workers running Ankur Counseling Center, a center offering psychological counselling in Nepal during lockdowns. (Click here to read Part 1, featuring Chhori Laxmi Maharjan, if you missed it!)
This is Sumitra Dhakal. Once she’d earned her Master’s in Clinical Psychology, she joined the Ankur Counseling Center team in 2010 after hearing from a friend about the rewarding opportunities at NYF – particularly the blend of fulfilling work with children and the focus on Psychologial counselling in Nepal fostering quality education for staff members. “I felt like it could be a good platform to develop my technical skills,” Sumitra says. “Additionally, I have always enjoyed working with children. So it seemed like working with these children and being a part of their healing process would bring me a sense of satisfaction.”
A thoughtful career move became a mission, and 10 years later, Sumitra is still with NYF. While Chhori was studying in the United States, Sumitra managed operations at Ankur. Her favorite part of the job is the working environment: “Teamwork, supportive environment, satisfaction in knowing that I am able to help distraught children and adolescents through the counseling. Being able to actively work towards the quality enhancement of Ankur’s services – this is what motivates me and makes me happy,” she says.
Like many people throughout the world, Sumitra isn’t thrilled to be cooped up at home. “I am grateful that I am living safely in my home but sometimes I am irritated and frustrated due to the various difficulties I come across during this situation,” she admits. “So I’ve been trying to cope by doing self-care exercises.” The Ankur team has been sharing those self-care exercises online in easy-to-forward Nepali-language handouts.
On a more upbeat note, Sumitra says, “I have been providing tele-counseling to the children at Olgapuri and other few clients as well as tele-psychosocial support to members of the community. I feel it is good for myself to be helpful to others through my work at this time of crisis as I get to support them by listening to them and helping them to cope with the current situation.”
To help Sumitra keep this important work going through the COVID-19 crisis, NYF needs your help! If you’d like to support the work of Ankur Counseling Center, please click here to donate.
Read Part 1 of our Mental Health Month series
Read Part 3 of our Mental Health Month series
Read Part 4 of our Mental Health Month series
Center for Mental Health Counseling Nepal, Covid Heroes
NYF’s COVID-19 Heroes, Ankur Counselors
Part 1 of a four-part blog post series in honor of Mental Health Month
Center for Mental Health Counseling Nepal – NYF is Proud of our Covid Heroes
In the United States, Mental Health Month has been observed in May since 1949. Each year, Mental Health America launches a new campaign aimed at spreading awareness, breaking stigmas, and encouraging screenings and other practical ways to improve lives across the country – and beyond.
Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting lives across the globe, many of us need more mental health help than usual! Anxiety, depression, isolation, and trauma are only some of the very real mental and emotional effects of this ongoing international disaster. Here at Nepal Youth Foundation, we’re so grateful for the hard work of the mental health professionals serving communities all over the world during this incredibly tough time.
If you’ve been following our updates, you know that Nepal has been under a strict lockdown since mid-March. The offices at our Ankur Counseling Center, a Center for Mental Health Counseling Nepal are closed. But NYF’s counseling team is working harder than ever!
We’ve prepared a four-part blog series in honor of Mental Health Month. Let us introduce you the amazing women running Ankur Counseling Center from lockdown. Please join us in celebrating the spectacular work they do every day in Nepal!
Meet Chhori Laxmi Maharjan, the head of Ankur Counseling Center. She began her counseling career serving adults and children living with HIV/AIDS, but she felt a special connection with the children most of all. “I believe all children deserve to get education, basic needs, love and respect,” she says.
When an opportunity arose in 2006 for Chhori to join NYF, she felt she’d found the perfect match for her own life goals and personal values. She’s been a valuable member of the team ever since.
She’s also among the first Doctors of Psychology in Nepal, having only recently returned home from her PhD program here in the United States (she specialized in sand play therapy for children with trauma). “Lockdown brought me an opportunity to spend quality time with my family,” she says, optimistically focusing on the bright side. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to be home and reunite with my parents and extended family. I had missed so much of our everyday lifestyle. … I had been away from them for five years for my doctorate degree.”
Chhori is putting her years of hard work, education, and practical experience to good use during the pandemic. Working from home in lockdown conditions much stricter than those in the States, Chhori says, “I’ve been providing tele-counseling services for children and families to minimize distress amid COVID-19. In addition, I have been providing training and supervision for peer counselors and mental health professionals working for violence against children and women. These peer counselors and mental health professionals are actively providing counseling services in the community.” She’s also offering counseling services over the telephone to front line health care workers, the children in NYF’s care, and NYF staff members.
“The negative impact [of lockdown] is not seeing my clients and colleagues face-to-face,” Chhori admits, “although tele-counseling is somewhat helpful.”
The best part of working at Ankur? For Chhori, it’s always the children. “I see them grow and thrive into the persons they were meant to be. This is the best part of my job and it always brings me joy and inspires me to work harder, stay connected and strengthens my intentions to serve Nepalese children.”
To help Chhori and her team keep this important work going through the COVID-19 crisis, NYF needs your help! If you’d like to support the work of Ankur Counseling Center. Please click here to donate.
Read Part 2 of our Mental Health Month series
Read Part 3 of our Mental Health Month series
Read Part 4 of our Mental Health Month series
COVID-19 Update
As this pandemic continues to develop, NYF is committed to keeping the vulnerable communities in our care safe and healthy. We are so deeply touched by the ongoing concern and support from the NYF Family — thank you.
Nepal Programs
The situation in Nepal is quickly evolving as positive cases, though still relatively low, are increasing — and the strict, country-wide lockdown that has been in effect for a month is anticipated to last another month.
Both China and India have closed their borders to Nepal, leaving the small land-locked country with skyrocketing prices for food, medicine, and other essentials. As of this writing, there are 42 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Nepal. The government has also confirmed that the virus has started to spread at a community level. This is alarming, seeing that up until a few days ago, cases were only limited to those who had returned from foreign countries. Tension is very high as there are serious doubts the healthcare system could withstand an outbreak.
NYF staff members are working from home under strict lockdown conditions — only able to communicate with one another over the telephone and the internet.
Olgapuri Children’s Village is closed to outsiders to ensure that all 77 of the children who live there are safe. As schools are closed, the children are finding creative ways to learn and stay active with help from their live-in house parents. They attend regular classes so as to not fall behind academically, and play basketball, soccer, and table tennis on the grounds. They have art and craft activities, and are learning skills in the kitchen as well as in the gardens.
Children at Olgapuri Children’s Village learning new skills, staying active, and creating art during the country-wide lockdown in Nepal.
On April 21, we safely brought 11 more college students receiving NYF scholarships to stay at our NRH emergency shelter. These students had been staying in different hostels, dormitories, and small apartments since the beginning of the lockdown — but had started to get nervous about their unsafe living conditions. Hearing these concerns, NYF coordinated with local police and the chief administrator of local authority for vehicle movement permission, and collected them from different locations in the valley. This means we now have a total of 21 kids staying in our facilities in Kathmandu — 16 college students at the NRH facility, and five children at the New Life Center.
Though Ankur Counseling Center can no longer provide in-person sessions, our four trained counselors are working tirelessly to continue providing essential services over the internet and the telephone. Their workloads have increased during the lockdown, as they try to reach families suffering from increased domestic violence (a side-effect of lockdown conditions). NYF is working with the government for longer-term solutions for these families, but in the meantime, Ankur counselors are providing what therapeutic support they can.
US Operations
Due to California’s state-wide “shelter in place” restrictions, our US headquarters in Sausalito will remain closed for the foreseeable future. Our small staff is working from home to ensure that our crucial funding for life-changing work in Nepal can continue.
Credit card donations via our website are still being processed without delay, as are direct bank transfers (EFTs). If you mail a check to our office, please know that we plan to check the mail twice per week, so there will be a delay in our thank you letter being mailed to you.
If you need to reach us, staff are monitoring individual emails and Info@NepalYouthFoundation.org daily. You can also call us at 415-331-8585 and leave a message, as staff will be periodically be calling in to check voicemail.
In these challenging times, we are most grateful to the loyal and generous members of the NYF community. We thank you for your care, concern, and understanding as we navigate this extraordinary crisis together.
Som Paneru, President
Eric Talbert, U.S. Executive Director
NYF Board of Directors
COVID-19 Affects Nepal, A Message to the NYF Community
During this time of uncertainty, we want to thank you all for your continuing concern for the NYF family and share this update.
Nepal Programs
As of March 17, our programs in Nepal have been restricted to protect the vulnerable young people in our care, and ensure the health and safety of the NYF staff.
Our staff is working remotely where possible, and practicing social distancing, scrupulous hygiene, and other best practices in all interactions.
The children at Olgapuri will remain safe at home, and the Vocational School training has been suspended. This allows the facility to be used for emergency shelter or an isolation ward, if that becomes necessary.
The main Nutritional Rehabilitation Home (NRH) in Kathmandu is closing temporarily, and the New Life Center is not accepting new patients – although the five children without a safe place to go will remain there with caregivers.
Scholarship students will still receive their living expense stipends for the current period, although K-12 schools have closed, with colleges and universities to follow later in the week. Students who live in college dormitories or hostels and can’t return to their village or home will be accommodated at the NRH facility in Kathmandu.
US Operations
Our US headquarters in Sausalito is located in one of the six San Francisco Bay counties under first-in-the-country “shelter in place” restrictions. As of Tuesday, March 17, all non-essential businesses are closed and travel is limited through at least April 7. Our small staff is working from home to ensure that our crucial funding for life-changing work in Nepal can continue.
Credit card donations via our website are still being processed without delay, as are direct bank transfers (EFTs). If you mail a check to our office (3030 Bridgeway, #325, Sausalito, CA 94965), please know that we plan to check the mail once or twice per week, so there will be a delay in our thank you letter being mailed to you.
If you need to reach us, staff are monitoring individual emails and Info@NepalYouthFoundation.org daily. You can also call us at 415-331-8585 and leave a message, as staff will be periodically be calling in to check voicemail.
As challenging as this situation is, across the world our community of supporters are responding with compassion for some of the most impoverished people in the world.
We are so grateful for your continued concern for the vulnerable children and families who depend on NYF. We are committed to being there for those who need us, and your support remains crucial to making that possible.
Thank you all for being part of the NYF Family. We appreciate your patience, understanding, and generosity of spirit as we navigate this extraordinary crisis together.
Som Paneru, President
Kelly Anderson, CEO
NYF Board of Directors
From Our Hearts to Yours
Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us at NYF!
On this special day, we’re so grateful to have such generous friends like you. We hope you enjoy these wonderful pictures of the children at Olgapuri.
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To read more about our 30th Anniversary celebrations and the impact of your support, check out our Winter Newsletter here.
Harvest Festival in Nepal, Celebrating Freedom: 7 Years & Counting!
Harvest Festival, Maghe Sankranti is a special holiday that celebrates the harvest. For the Tharu people in western Nepal, this holiday signifies the beginning of the new year – when friends and family gather to celebrate for an entire week.
But up until 2013, for many desperately poor families in this region, the annual Maghe Sankranti festival was also time for a devastating economic exchange. During this holiday, exploitative “brokers” would travel to western Nepal to haggle with the parents of impoverished low-caste families to buy their young daughters as servants.
With generous support from friends like you, in 2000 NYF launched our work to rescue these girls and bring them home – almost 13,000 have now been reunited with their families.
Thanks to the amazing advocacy of these young women, this horrendous Kamlari indentured servitude has ended. Already technically illegal, the practice was officially abolished in 2013. The former Kamlari girls have reclaimed the harvest festival, Maghe Sankranti, as a special homecoming celebration of their freedom and resilience.
This year, in celebration of this special holiday, two former Kamlari girls Bishnu and Dilkumari were honored by their local government for their contributions in empowering other former Kamlari girls.
We share these powerful and inspiring photos of Magehe Sankranti 2020 to celebrate the amazing transformation in these communities – and to thank you for all of your generous support over the years in restoring the freedom and changing the lives of these former indentured girls.
Happy Thanksgiving from the Children!
In this special video, the children at Olgapuri wish you a happy Thanksgiving! We – and they – are so very grateful for your support. Thank you, and Dhanyabad!
One Day’s Wages Partners with Nepal Youth Foundation for Scholarships
One Day’s Wages and NYF, Doubling Your Gift
Nepal Youth Foundation (NYF) is excited to partner with One Day’s Wages to provide vocational training for young men and women in Nepal – keeping families together and helping to end the cycle of poverty in one of the poorest countries in the world.
This partnership will provide 40 Scholarships at Olgapuri Vocational School for high- demand skills trainings in electrical and plumbing. In addition to providing free training, NYF staff will help students become job-ready (through aptitude assessment and career counseling) and secure employment after graduation.
With over 40% of the population living on less than $3.50 a day in Nepal, economic desperation traps many families in generations of poverty. The majority of students don’t make it past the 10th grade, and the unemployment rate is high even for college graduates. Often young Nepalese end up leaving their families and villages for work as cheap construction or domestic laborers in the Persian Gulf and India. They’re vulnerable to being exploited or worse – of the estimated 500,000 migrating to work abroad in 2015, one out of every 500 died in dangerous working conditions.
Ironically, Nepal is in desperate need for skilled labor, especially in the construction trades after the 2015 earthquakes destroyed much of the country. With the government’s latest national plan emphasizing economic growth through advancements in modern industry and infrastructure, opportunities in the skilled trades are growing.
Vocational Education provides the skills for gainful employment – and sustainably builds the country, while keeping families together.
Give through the One Day’s Wages website and they’ll double your donation!
Your generosity will help to train Nepalese youth for new careers in electrical and plumbing trades—bright, capable young people like Sarita and Arjun.
Sarita T.
When Sarita was just a child, her father left her mother with 8 children to raise on subsistence farming.
Though Sarita studied hard and completed high school, she wanted a good job to help her younger siblings stay in school. With an NYF scholarship, she entered the electrician training program at Olgapuri Vocational School (OVS).
While female electricians are still rare in Nepal, Sarita is enthusiastic about the well-paid jobs available in the field.
Arjun L.
Arjun is from a mountainous region in Nepal where only about 12% of youth complete high school. At 29 years old, Arjun was struggling to provide for seven people.
After a recent graduate of OVS returned to their village, Arjun decided to enroll in the plumbing course.
Arjun is excited about his new career choice, which will enable him to provide for his family.
New Building for Freed Kamlari Girls Symbolizes Freedom & Justice
August marked the celebration of a remarkable milestone for the Freed Kamlari girls: the inauguration of their first and very own, brand-new building. From first abolishing the Kamlari system in 2013 to now celebrating their new headquarters, these girls have come a long way in standing up to injustice.
The Freed Kamlari girls performing at the inauguration ceremony of their newest headquarters.
“I carried many dreams during the long, two-decade journey against slavery. Some were fulfilled, and some are in the process of becoming fulfilled. But, the biggest dream of all – the end of the Kamlari system – has now been fulfilled.”
Man Bahadur Chhetri, Program Coordinator
Members of the Freed Kamlari Development Forum (the organization NYF helped the girls create) gathered to formally inaugurate the four-story building, located in the Dang District of the Terai. This new headquarters finally gives the girls their own space to organize meetings, plan campaigns, and run training programs.
Securing the funds to fulfill this dream was not an easy process. The young women held meetings, submitted proposals, and lobbied the government. It took a lot of hard work and determination – a true testament to what the girls are capable of. With training, coaching, and mentoring from NYF, the girls triumphed and received sufficient grants (mostly from the government) to buy the land and build the office.
The inauguration ceremony was a colorful event that transcended the opening of the building: it was a celebration of all the accomplishments they’ve made. Shanta Chaundry, a former Kamlari and elected member of the local parliament, was the official ribbon cutter of the ceremony. She spoke, focusing on education being the key to their future – something the office will help make happen.
Slideshow of the celebration
NYF was honored to be among the featured guests at the inauguration, where Executive Director Raju Dhamala expressed our continued commitment to the young women. Addressing the girls directly, he said, “We’re providing vocational training to offer new futures for you and your family, and will continue to stand with you.”
“The office is more than just a building,” NYF Program Coordinator Man Bahadir Chhetri, also proudly stated. “It is a resource and training center to produce leaders and productive citizens who fight against social injustices. It is a safe shelter for girls and women to come together and share their stories. I hope that this building becomes a power center which can produce strong female leadership.”
“Thousands of girls are now leading lives of freedom and dignity after being rescued from slavery. Hands that once held dirty dishes now hold books and pen … Girls who were sold into slavery for 3,000 rupees a year are earning more than 1,000 rupees a day.”
Man Bahadur Chhetri, Program Coordinator
Empowering Freed Kamlari/FKDF
Since launching the Indentured Daughters program in 2000, NYF has rescued nearly 13,000 girls and helped to end the practice of Kamlari. More than just bringing the girls home, however, we built an infrastructure to provide peer counseling, vocational training, and support to establish small businesses.
As the Indentured Daughters campaign evolved and grew into NYF’s Empowering Freed Kamlari program, NYF provided comprehensive support for the education and economic empowerment of these young women so they would remain free.
NYF then supported the freed girls in forming their own NGO – the Freed Kamlari Development Forum (FKDF) – and together, NYF and the FKDF played a critical role in pushing the Nepal government to end the practice of bonded labor in 2013.
As NYF continues to transition leadership to the FKDF, we’re proud of their ongoing accomplishments, and grateful for the generous donors who’ve made it all possible.