News Archive
RHEST
Guests at AHF’s recent annual dinner were again treated to the words of the extraordinary Dr. Aruna Uprety, director of RHEST, the Rural Health and Education Services Trust. RHEST helps very poor Nepali girls get an education, a lifeline that saves them from the horrific possibility of forced prostitution. Next year will be RHEST’s 11th year as an AHF partner.
AHF Program Director Eileen Moncoeur recently visited Nepal, and brought back these reflections on the program:
As we walked along a dirt trail in rural Nepal in the heat of the mid-morning, we passed several young girls who were working outside their houses. When I asked them why they weren’t in school, they would duck into a doorway or shyly turn away. It turned my thoughts to the bleak future for many of these girls, sold and enslaved in brothels in India.
Our long walk was taking us to meet with girls who were part of AHF’s RHEST scholarships. We started these ten years ago as a way to rescue girls whose families were so desperately poor they were often forced to sell their girl children. RHEST pays for school fees, uniforms and books for girls, and, relieved of the financial burden, most families will allow their daughters to attend school. We found it worked - the longer girls stayed in school, the more valuable they became to their families, and to themselves, and the less vulnerable they were to being trafficked.
At our first stop, I was stunned when two of the girls said their families refused. Both had illiterate parents who told them that school was a waste; they would be married off soon and would start having children. The girls persisted, and they were beaten for it.
These girls had joined ten others, ages 9 – 14, in the same situation, who now live and study together in a refugee hostel. Nearly all the RHEST girls live at home, but these brave youngsters cannot. One by one, they shared their histories. They couldn’t articulate why school was important, but their desire was palpable. They said they were happy every day they could go to school and learn. Several girls had dreams of returning to their villages as nurses or teachers.
RHEST is growing – 3,500 girls from remote villages in Nepal – and we will have 6,000 within two years. Having the chance to speak with some of them brought me back to the basics of what it means, as a woman, to have an education and to have choices. These girls are changing the face of Nepal, one family at a time. The first of them are now graduating from high school – with a 91% pass rate, in a country that averages 40%. They really do want to learn, and as their education changes their lives, they will change their communities.
If you would like to help make education a possibility for at-risk Nepali girls, Click Here to find out how.
AHF Program Director Eileen Moncoeur recently visited Nepal, and brought back these reflections on the program:
As we walked along a dirt trail in rural Nepal in the heat of the mid-morning, we passed several young girls who were working outside their houses. When I asked them why they weren’t in school, they would duck into a doorway or shyly turn away. It turned my thoughts to the bleak future for many of these girls, sold and enslaved in brothels in India.
Our long walk was taking us to meet with girls who were part of AHF’s RHEST scholarships. We started these ten years ago as a way to rescue girls whose families were so desperately poor they were often forced to sell their girl children. RHEST pays for school fees, uniforms and books for girls, and, relieved of the financial burden, most families will allow their daughters to attend school. We found it worked - the longer girls stayed in school, the more valuable they became to their families, and to themselves, and the less vulnerable they were to being trafficked.
At our first stop, I was stunned when two of the girls said their families refused. Both had illiterate parents who told them that school was a waste; they would be married off soon and would start having children. The girls persisted, and they were beaten for it.
These girls had joined ten others, ages 9 – 14, in the same situation, who now live and study together in a refugee hostel. Nearly all the RHEST girls live at home, but these brave youngsters cannot. One by one, they shared their histories. They couldn’t articulate why school was important, but their desire was palpable. They said they were happy every day they could go to school and learn. Several girls had dreams of returning to their villages as nurses or teachers.
RHEST is growing – 3,500 girls from remote villages in Nepal – and we will have 6,000 within two years. Having the chance to speak with some of them brought me back to the basics of what it means, as a woman, to have an education and to have choices. These girls are changing the face of Nepal, one family at a time. The first of them are now graduating from high school – with a 91% pass rate, in a country that averages 40%. They really do want to learn, and as their education changes their lives, they will change their communities.
If you would like to help make education a possibility for at-risk Nepali girls, Click Here to find out how.