Rotary Club of Lakewood announcement.

Backpacks and school supplies were provided to 1,000 students in Kathmandu, Nepal by Lakewood Rotary International Service Committee partnering with the Rotary Club of Kathmandu Heights and Rotary District 5020. These are students at risk of not returning to school, becoming dropouts, due to the impact of covid 19 on families who have been unable to work. 

Many people living in the Kathmandu Valley are daily wage workers performing various construction duties and working in the tourism industry. The covid lockdowns/shutdowns and the lack of tourists impacted thousands of people. You may recall our partnership last year with several other Rotary clubs in which we provided 100,000 free meals to these daily wage workers. 

Nepal has reopened and the construction jobs are becoming available, and the tourists are slowly returning. The schools have reopened but these families do not have the funds to purchase the mandatory uniforms and school supplies. The Rotary Club of Kathmandu Heights discovered most of these families were not planning to send their children back to school. The Rotarians immediately developed this program, going door to door, and meeting with the parents to convince them to allow their children to return to school with the Rotarians providing the needed supplies. At times it was difficult and challenging as these daily wage worker families are focused on providing basic food and shelter with no time to consider education. Three teachers regularly visited homes and performed in person and online classes.

Source: The Suburban Times