Activities Members

 

Kathmandu, capital of Nepal often named poetically "the city of a thousand temples", is also a town full of overpopulated slums. Lots of families live there in poverty and insalubrity. The most vulnerable are mostly young children and the infant mortality rate is tragically high.

 

The discovery of games with complete freedom at the daycare centre ...

 

Parents, who generally came from the countryside with high hopes of finding a better lifestyle, work in factories in the metropolis. While they are working in brick or carpet factories, small children stay alone as daycare centres and nursery schools are virtually nonexistent in these slums.  

 

Moreover, "the parents are not generally conscious of the importance of the early childhood games in the development of the child" explains Irada Gautam, president of Aawaaj, member association of Bice and partner of its actions in Nepal. "According to them, children are too young to play or be involved in educational activities. They give their children little attention, do not answer their questions, and regularly punish them to educate them". The negligence, rudeness and the discrimination among girls and women have extreme negative effects on the development of children.

 

With Bice, Aawaaj created a project to promote favourable conditions for the physical, intellectual, emotional and social development of children between 2 to 5 years old.

 

Currently, 40 boys and girls and their respective families are benefitting from the project. During the day, children are welcomed in the daycare centre opened in 2007. Stimulated by games and physical activities, children learn to listen, tell stories, sing and discover a collective lifestyle. The facilitators look for a harmonious rhythm of learning and rest and for a healthy diet. A particular attention is given to children having medical problems and medical examinations are organised every month.

 

If the stimulation of children is crucial, the physical, intellectual, emotional and social development of children depends on the love and attention given by the parents. "Stories of two-year-old children often incapable of speaking or walking and found wandering alone in the streets, of children never washed so that they do not catch pneumonia or of mothers who do not breast-feed their child due to beliefs, are frequent" laments Irada Gautam.

 

So, the project encourages the participation of parents to the care of their child. Aawaaj organises meetings with the parents to sensitise them about their roles and responsibilities. All subjects are broached: from the well-being of children to the protection and affection they need to grow. If parents contribute, they participate at the same time in a more general awareness. Indeed, these parents share the information with other parents in the community, gradually encouraging women and especially, men, to put into their children's education, without sexual discrimination.