Who we are
EPHC, (Education, Protection and Help for Children), runs a kindergarten in Kathmandu for the children of workers who cannot afford childcare. Jamarko was involved in providing land and a school building.
EPHC also runs a sponsorship scheme that supports children whose parents cannot afford to send them to school. They are sponsored from age 7 to age 19, when they leave school. The scheme has been running successfully for over 20 years. Before the pandemic, sponsors were recruited from tourists through a Nepalese trekking company linked with Jamarko and EPHC. Both Jamarko and EPHC also set up other projects, such as an Emergency Medical Fund, Adult Literacy classes and a Women’s project to provide work and training for unsupported mothers. The Women's Project is now self-supporting. The Emergency Medical Fund provides small grants to cover urgent medical costs, like antibiotics and hospital visits, that the EPHC students and their families cannot afford themselves. The Adult Literacy Programme offers parents who have missed out on school, a life changing opportunity to learn to read, write and do simple arithmetic.
Sadly the sudden death of a key international contact, followed soon after by the pandemic and the
loss of tourism, resulted in the loss of
the source of new sponsors and a temporary breakdown in communication. Fearing that this would mean the loss of the sponsorship
scheme, and consequently the education of the Nepalese children, a small group
of existing sponsors started to rebuild through the set up of the UK charity, Friends of
Jamarko and EPHC. Currently there are
105 children on the scheme who are supported by a small group of sponsors plus
donations. With our help, EPHC are also trying to rebuild their
Emergency Medical Fund and, with the help of one UK donor, have recently restarted
the Adult Literacy Classes.
The day-to-day administration of the sponsorship and Adult Literacy programmes and the Emergency Medical Fund is the responsibility of staff at EPHC. They also mentor the young people on the sponsorship scheme and provide a friendly space for an informal homework club. However, funding for these projects still comes largely from individual sponsors and donations from outside Nepal. Currently we only have sponsors for half the children, therefore more sponsors and/or donations are urgently needed to keep all the children in school and to keep the Emergency Medical Fund going. This is where we - and you - come in.
The UK charity Friends of Jamarko and EPHC acts as the link
between supporters in the UK and Europe, and EPHC, collecting funds for the sponsorship
scheme, the Emergency Medical Fund and the Adult Literacy Programme.
Our longer-term aim is to find new and more sustainable ways to support the education of children in Nepal, but first we want to attract more supporters so that the children already on the sponsorship scheme can continue and younger children can have the chance to join it.
Can you help us to help them?
The sponsorship programme currently costs £120 a year for
the first 10 years, age 7 to 17, to School Level Certificate (GCSE level) and £150 a year
for the additional 2 years needed to complete Higher Secondary Level (‘A’ level
equivalent). During these final two
years, EPHC children are encouraged to find a part time job to save for
university level study. Some of the
first alumni of the sponsorship scheme are now supporting themselves at
University and College. One has a scholarship
to study nursing in Australia and others are working. We are very
proud of their achievements. None of
this would have happened without the education they received through the
sponsorship programme.
To donate, our bank details are as follows:
Account Name: Friends of Jamarko and EPHC
Sort Code: 60 83 01
Acct no: 20466653
To fund out more please email jamarkouk@gmail.com
Comments
Post a Comment