After the earthquake, Shailee and Maya from Seven Summits Women Team signed an memorandum of understanding with the District Education Office to be responsible for the rebuilding of five schools in Maya’s Village Development Committee of Bhodenumlang – from the bottom of the mountain to the top.
Since then, eight other schools in the area have contacted them seeking their support. They expect that even more will do so. Our focus for now is on Maya’s own district. This area is also the main area from which girls are taken by traffickers – a problem that is more rampant now than before the earthquake. Education is the number one way to ensure girls (and we are talking 12-15 year olds) stay in their villages.
In the short terms we are trying to gather all the resources needed (money, supplies, in-kind support) to rebuild five schools then support the other eight schools outside it, before Monsoon season hits. During monsoon and after it, building will be impossible. Thus there is a rush to do this now, to do it properly so that kids can continue being schooled through monsoon and after. This will also need to include sanitation, teacher shelters and possibly raising money for afternoon meals.
The longer terms goals are more ambitious. They involve employing more teachers, specialty teachers, and special initiatives. The ambition is to create initiatives for the students, parents and the teachers to make education irresistible. These are things such as afternoon meals, school kits, educating people about trafficking, health, cleanliness, adult education classes, specialty classes like sports for all genders, art, music etc.
On top of this, I am also volunteering at the school and teaching some of the students art and English – as they are severely understaffed, and some of the teachers have post traumatic stress disorder which renders it difficult for them to work at capacity.
In short, I am helping on the ground, but even more importantly creating long term plans – and raising the money to make those happen in order to make education irresistible and at high quality.
Right now, I am gathering funds for these schools, and spreading awareness.
For more information of to donate, you can read more here.
I want to reiterate that donating towards education initiatives such as this is the primary way to prevent girls from being trafficked out of the country.
Otherwise if people are unable to give at this time, spreading the word by tweeting or posting about it is also a huge help.
We are very well off in LA. Even being an unemployed actor is a privileged existence (I know, I’ve been there). There’s so much we can do that feels very little. Not eat out for a night and donate the cash saved. Shop at Ralph’s one week instead of Wholefoods. Buy a can of tuna instead of a smoked salmon.
On another note, I am arranging a few fundraising events. The first will be on June 22nd with Joel Edgerton. We are doing a special performance of The Blind Date Project where 100% of ticket sales and bar takings will go to this initiative.
Another event is being planned for September.
Another very important thing others can do is volunteer. They would welcome volunteers here to teach the kids special skills like English, Yoga, martial arts, rock climbing, hair-dressing, tailoring and any other cool special craft. I’d encourage people to think about doing that.
Firstly, before we discuss the devastation – I feel the necessity to express that this place is breathtaking. I am in the poorest community I have ever seen. However, I have no control over the elation happening inside my chest every time I wake up and see the mountains and the people around me.
At the same time, and in the same moment, it is devastating. I didn’t understand just how much – until I got here. Every house in this area is demolished. I have not seen a single building standing. We are living in a wooden hut with a corrugated roof and eating on a dirt floor.
There is very little government presence here. The guys with the army are great and very helpful. But most of the man-power is from the village volunteers.
The government however is not focusing any finance on the rebuilding of schools in this area right now. And this area has the highest rate of trafficking victims in the country. Education of adults and children is the only way to solve this right now.
I don’t want to get political. The facts are these: there is no money for education here, and these kids are HUNGRY to learn. I taught an impromptu English class to the 12 and 13 year olds for an hour, and they refused to leave. We ended up having a 2.5 hour class – we went ten minutes past the end of school time. No one complained. They are eager to discover and focus their attention on absorbing the world.
When kids are this willing to learn, they deserve attention – they deserve the help – they deserve infrastructure and good teachers. And if their government is unable to provide it, then other people can and should.
The other thing I have observed is that this has to be a long-term process. If you want to come and help, I would suggest trying to understand the culture and the people and what they want and how they do things. A lot of times in the west, we might think that helping means teaching people how we do things because how we do them is best. NOT SO. We have a lot to offer, but we have to work together. I noticed that frustration with some volunteers who came for a short period to spend one day at each school and teach them “post trauma coping skills” which they were then supposed to practice after the team had left. I can’t even learn a skill in a day. Let alone someone going through sever shock and trauma… this has to be a longer process.
And my advice for anyone who wants to get involved? Do it. Just do it.
