WELCOME TO HANDS IN NEPAL
HANDS in Nepal Newsletter 2025
On Wednesday, November 16, Chef Garrett Morris and Jan were guests on Dave Congalton's talk show on KVEC News talk radio station 96.5 FM and 920 AM. Garrett was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal and learned Nepal cooking from his host family. Jan will be talking about our current HANDS educational programs. Hope you brew a cup of your favorite hot beverage and listen to Garrett's amazing story!
HANDS in Nepal Summer Newsletter 2024
Helping Women and Children in Remote, Rural Areas of Nepal
How your donations help us to help those who need a hand up!
Introducing our new sewing program: “One Stitch at a Time”
Did you ever think of how a sewing machine, and sewing education, could help a woman develop vocational skills that could support herself-and her family? For years, we’ve helped women to gain independence through sewing education. Most women in Nepal are often completely dependent on their husbands. Usually pulled from school early in their education for work at home, often married as young teenagers, women in rural areas can find themselves at a loss when their husbands decide to leave or tragically pass away too early. Women are left to support their families or sometimes are outcast. We have found supplying a woman with a sewing machine and training on how to use it gives them an opportunity to earn money through tailoring and sewing projects.
Now we are taking sewing education one step further by creating a new program called One Stitch At A Time. This program aims to go beyond learning how to use a sewing machine to being able to do advanced sewing and create job opportunities for themselves. One Stitch at a Time will provide women with the proper facilities to become self-sufficient. The program gives women a six month program in a sewing school in Pokhara, Nepal, a sewing machine that they keep after their program and an allowance that allows them to buy material and sewing supplies during their program.
We have several women who, after completing the program, are now sewing school uniforms, tailoring, and teaching others sewing skills.
It takes approximately $600 for a 6 month training to help a woman complete the first level of a sewing program. For that amount, HANDS is also able to buy and gift her a treadle sewing machine to use, plus an allowance for cloth and supplies.
To read more about the women we’ve helped, and how you can help them, please click the link below…
Free, Public Education For All? Unfortunately, Not In All Countries!
But With HANDS in Nepal “Home To School” Program, we can help!
Nepal charges tuition and school material fees for all children to attend public school. Many families in Nepal cannot afford to send their children to school due to the costs. Although Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world, their government requires all children to wear a school uniform, bring their own supplies, buy school books and provide their own “tiffin” (daily lunch). For those families living at subsistence levels, they simply cannot afford for their children to attend school. These children usually find jobs, or work at home, where, instead of attending school, they labor in the fields, work in hotels, become “errand boys” or tend livestock. Many of these kids grow up illiterate and the cycle of poverty continues.
Kavita Adhikari, our project manager in Nepal, has a solution! Home to School aims to help children of the lowest caste, and in the most impoverished families in rural villages of Nepal. Kavita has canvassed the area to interview and find children who are currently not in school due to poverty. We have managed to raise the funds to put 43 children in school this year. Our goal is to help these 43 children stay in school as long as we can raise their annual tuition and fees. These children were selected through interviews with Kavita Adhikari and run across all grade levels from primary to upper grades. With continued support from our donors, we can keep the 43 in school, and hopefully add more and more children to our scholarships list.
We have photos and a list of the children we are sponsoring, and will be tracking their progress.
Below is a breakdown of costs for each individual child attending school in Nepal.
Tuition $100
Uniform: $15
Tiffin $45
Stationary (textbooks, pens, ect) $40
In total, it costs roughly $200 a year for one student to attend public school.
If you’d like more information on anything in this newsletter, please email Jan at [email protected]
If you’d like to make a donation to our “little NGO that can”, please click here:
HANDS in Nepal is a 501 (c) 3 not for profit organization that believes all children deserve an education
Helping Women and Children in Remote, Rural Areas of Nepal
How your donations help us to help those who need a hand up!
Introducing our new sewing program: “One Stitch at a Time”
Did you ever think of how a sewing machine, and sewing education, could help a woman develop vocational skills that could support herself-and her family? For years, we’ve helped women to gain independence through sewing education. Most women in Nepal are often completely dependent on their husbands. Usually pulled from school early in their education for work at home, often married as young teenagers, women in rural areas can find themselves at a loss when their husbands decide to leave or tragically pass away too early. Women are left to support their families or sometimes are outcast. We have found supplying a woman with a sewing machine and training on how to use it gives them an opportunity to earn money through tailoring and sewing projects.
Now we are taking sewing education one step further by creating a new program called One Stitch At A Time. This program aims to go beyond learning how to use a sewing machine to being able to do advanced sewing and create job opportunities for themselves. One Stitch at a Time will provide women with the proper facilities to become self-sufficient. The program gives women a six month program in a sewing school in Pokhara, Nepal, a sewing machine that they keep after their program and an allowance that allows them to buy material and sewing supplies during their program.
We have several women who, after completing the program, are now sewing school uniforms, tailoring, and teaching others sewing skills.
It takes approximately $600 for a 6 month training to help a woman complete the first level of a sewing program. For that amount, HANDS is also able to buy and gift her a treadle sewing machine to use, plus an allowance for cloth and supplies.
To read more about the women we’ve helped, and how you can help them, please click the link below…
Free, Public Education For All? Unfortunately, Not In All Countries!
But With HANDS in Nepal “Home To School” Program, we can help!
Nepal charges tuition and school material fees for all children to attend public school. Many families in Nepal cannot afford to send their children to school due to the costs. Although Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world, their government requires all children to wear a school uniform, bring their own supplies, buy school books and provide their own “tiffin” (daily lunch). For those families living at subsistence levels, they simply cannot afford for their children to attend school. These children usually find jobs, or work at home, where, instead of attending school, they labor in the fields, work in hotels, become “errand boys” or tend livestock. Many of these kids grow up illiterate and the cycle of poverty continues.
Kavita Adhikari, our project manager in Nepal, has a solution! Home to School aims to help children of the lowest caste, and in the most impoverished families in rural villages of Nepal. Kavita has canvassed the area to interview and find children who are currently not in school due to poverty. We have managed to raise the funds to put 43 children in school this year. Our goal is to help these 43 children stay in school as long as we can raise their annual tuition and fees. These children were selected through interviews with Kavita Adhikari and run across all grade levels from primary to upper grades. With continued support from our donors, we can keep the 43 in school, and hopefully add more and more children to our scholarships list.
We have photos and a list of the children we are sponsoring, and will be tracking their progress.
Below is a breakdown of costs for each individual child attending school in Nepal.
Tuition $100
Uniform: $15
Tiffin $45
Stationary (textbooks, pens, ect) $40
In total, it costs roughly $200 a year for one student to attend public school.
If you’d like more information on anything in this newsletter, please email Jan at [email protected]
If you’d like to make a donation to our “little NGO that can”, please click here:
HANDS in Nepal is a 501 (c) 3 not for profit organization that believes all children deserve an education
CONTACT US!
Email: Jan Sprague: [email protected]
Kevin O'Shea: [email protected]
Write us at: HANDS in Nepal, PO Box 738, Santa Margarita, Ca. 93453
UPS or FedEx: 22595 I. Street, Santa Margarita, Ca. 93453
Call us at: 805-801-3809 or 805-423-0120
HANDS in Nepal is a registered 501(c)3 NGO.
Our Tax ID # is 27-0777768.
Email: Jan Sprague: [email protected]
Kevin O'Shea: [email protected]
Write us at: HANDS in Nepal, PO Box 738, Santa Margarita, Ca. 93453
UPS or FedEx: 22595 I. Street, Santa Margarita, Ca. 93453
Call us at: 805-801-3809 or 805-423-0120
HANDS in Nepal is a registered 501(c)3 NGO.
Our Tax ID # is 27-0777768.
