Breaking the circle of poverty

The Chepang-hostel in Nepal provides disadvantaged minority-children with education.

The Chepang, which are one of the smallest indigenous groups in Nepal, and clearly are the most unprivileged. To create an academic environment and thus a better future for the Chepang children, Mr. KP Kiran founded the Chepang hostel. The Hahn Air Foundation started supporting this honorable project in 2022.

Currently, 135 children are attending primary and secondary school. Besides, the project offers academic education programmes for the following professions: midwife, engineer, veterinarian, agriculture scientist and medical specialist. The young people who have already finished their studies or are attending the courses are the first Chepang to successfully break the cycle of poverty.

The hostel´s computer room is also used by teachers from the nearby school. They are mainly working with LOOMA, an interactive learning software that covers common school subjects at all levels. Ridam Gurung from Menschen im Dialog e.V. is kindly offering technical and pedagogical support on site as well as by phone.

Since the computer room is very popular, the hostel staff wants to expand it to 10-15 working stations. Also, it is planned to prepare the teachers accordingly to facilitate the practical application of LOOMA as a more interactive way of teaching.

KP Kiran, the hostel’s founder, is not only General Manager, but also acts as a sort of substitute parent for his protégés. Sandip and Birmala are supporting him by organizing the day-to-day tasks, and by taking good care of both the girls and the boys. The older ones are responsible for taking over some household chores, such as cooking, cleaning and gardening.

“The hostel looks very clean and organized. It is amazing how peaceful and quiet it is here. Discipline and integration into the community is – in my opinion – the cornerstone”, Anke Korves is stating.

Although the social and educational part of the project is going smoothly, the hostel faces increasing problems with ensuring the food supply. They unfortunately lack local sponsors, and in addition, the prize for rice has risen enormously. Although it is encouraging that more land is being used for agriculture, this is far from sufficient.