Umbrella in Gurje

The majority of Umbrella's children come from rural backgrounds but was trafficked into the Kathmandu Valley. It is the primary hope of Umbrella that the children will get a chance to return to their families or their communities of origin. As reunification is not possible for most of our children a decision was made to move the children out of Kathmandu and move to the village of Gurje to reconnect them with their rural roots.

Gurje Village will offer many advantages over Kathmandu. The pollution problem in the capital has grown exponentially over the past five years and although Gurje is only 20 km outside Kathmandu, the difference in life style, air and way of life is miles apart.

The move to Gurje will not only benefit Umbrella children, before moving to the village, Umbrella decided to help develop the entire community, paying particular attention to projects to help the local children. The community was asked directly what did they want for their children, what changes would like to see in the village? This was an easy question for them to answer; education for their children and health care.

Community development is a challenge for many reasons but the biggest challenge faced to date is trying to change the mindset and attitude of the community. While many asked for education for their children, predominantly the women, Gurje is a rural village and also rely on their children's help in the fields and on the farm. It is important that we first teach the parents the value of education and the many benefits and options it will bring to every aspect of their children's lives.

While most of the villagers rely on agriculture as their source of income they are still using primitive farming practices which results in their food production is only sufficient for 6-8 months, resulting in malnourished children and villagers. Grain is often used to make alcohol, exacerbating this situation.

It was for all these reasons that Umbrella was able to choose the projects to get involved in:

Umbrella renovated four local schools
A Food For Education Programme was initiated in five schools.
A health post was built to serve an estimated 30,000 people.
Agricultural methods training camps
Work with women's groups; women empowerment workshops

Due to the hard and tireless work of Jacky Buk, then Country Director Nepal, and Gyan Bhadur Lama, long time friend and advisor of Umbrella, the Indian Government agreed to fund the building of a new school for 500 students. This school will be the school for 250 Umbrella children and 250 local children. The Nepali Government generously donated the beautiful land situated at the top of Gurje Village.

Umbrella intends to assimilate as much as possible with the existing community while retaining the close Umbrella family that I has created in Swoyambhu, Kathmandu.

The cost of living in Gurje will be substantially lower of that in Kathmandu and as school fees and rent will no longer be an expense Umbrella will be in a financial position to invest money into the running of the school and securing the future of the children.