January 5, 2017
Nepal
“Some of my own friends dropped out from school for marriage,” Indra Kumari Dulal, Programme Coordinator for MANK (partner organization of Caritas Czech Republic) says. “But my father gave me the chance to study. When I got married at the age of 20, he even made my husband promise that he would support my further studies after marriage.”
Indra’s father himself was only able to attend school for six months per school year – the other six months he had to work in the field. Despite these challenges, he completed grade 10, passed the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) – which is considered the iron gate to higher education in Nepal –, and became a primary school teacher. “My mother married at the age of 15 and never got a chance to study,” Indra says. “But although she herself is illiterate, she is proud of her children’s ecuation.”
To ease the family’s financial burden during her study time, Indra worked as a part-time teacher in her final year of secondary school and throughout her University studies. “It was quite easy to find work as a private teacher at the time,” she says, “that is how I ended up as a teacher, although what I really wanted is to work as a social worker.”
Her wish to be engaged for the well-being of her community further increased when she lost her only child in the earthquake of 25 April 2015. Following this most tragic incident of her life, Indra joined MANK to support the School Rehabilitation Programme implemented with Caritas Switzerland. “The memory of my daughter motivates me,” she says. “It makes me want to help other children.”
“I like my job,” Indra says, “it allows me to learn about society by getting to know different situations of different people in different places.” In addition to opening up new perspectives for her, she believes that her work can make a real change: “I wanted to do this job to help make sure that each and every child gets educated,” she explains. “Because if the society gets educated, everything will be directed in the right way. Through education, we can inform people about the risks of early marriage and employment abroad. And even if we cannot always solve all the different problems, we can at least listen and try to refer the people to someone who can help.”
Asked about the impact of her work, she says: “Behavior change takes time, but we are making an important contribution.”
MANK together with Caritas Czech Republic and Caritas Switzerland participates in the reconstruction of earthquake-damaged schools in the district of Sindhupalchok. Project includes also support for schooling.
