Youth Art

I am currently running two concurrent art workshops for an organization that works with child rights and welfare here in Nepal (Child Welfare Nepal). I do this in my off time from the office, usually on weekends. It is some of the best fun that I have here in Hetauda.

One program within the organization serves girls who have been rescued from circus work in India. They have been kidnapped, usually with promises of lucrative jobs and income back to their families from rural villages. Lies, of course. In reality, they are forced to work as laborers, entertainers, and sometimes prostitutes. When them come to this house/program they are between the ages of 16 and 18 and can't read or write, as they have never had the chance to be in school. The program at the home is 7 months long, teaches basic written Nepali, and trains them to be seamstresses so that they have a skill and way to earn money when they return to their villages.

Another program through the organization provides a place to live and access to schooling for girls who otherwise might otherwise be on the streets, susceptible to child labor, or wouldn't have access to school. 13 girls live and work together in a group home with a beautiful garden in a village called Sawrasoti about an hour tuk tuk ride and walk away from where I live.

They get up at 4:30 AM every day for morning meditation, clean, work on the land, and go to school together. My friends Jose, originally from Spain, and his Nepali wife, Anu, live with the girls in this simple home and help run the program along with a small Nepali staff.

I am doing a 'zine project with both groups (see below). The photo above was taken by one of the girls in Sawrasoti - the village home. The assignment I gave them was to take a photo that they felt represented as aspect of their life as a girl in Nepal.

More of their artwork to come in later posts!

'Zine: an abbreviation of the word fanzine, or magazine. It is a non-commercial self-published item, usually of minority interest, reproduced by photocopying (Wikepedia).