Everyday, while most of the children of Bhaktapur are sitting at desks in school, many of our Happy Kids are roaming the streets in search of plastic and cardboard recyclables to sell to the government, or begging tourists for rice and spare change. For many families in our community, the children are the sole source of income, and without their tireless work, their families would not have food to eat each evening. This is a heavy burden for any person to carry, let alone a child.
It is with this in mind that we designed the Happy Kids Center sponsorship program, EducateHKC, where we treat a child’s education as a full time job.
By becoming a sponsor with EducateHKC you will not only be providing the funds to send a child to a reputable school, you will also free them from a childhood of labor by giving the children a small sum each day to go to school. While working in the streets a child can earn, on average, between 35 and 50 Rupee per day, or $.35- $.50 USD. Through our unique Incentives Program, the child has the opportunity to supplement the family’s loss of income and even earn more while receiving the education they deserve.
EducateHKC not only helps families to sustain themselves, it also places a monetary value on education that will motivate parents to send their children to school consistently. This is essential in a community that has never witnessed the benefits of education first hand, and therefore places little value on formal schooling, especially for girls. We hope that by providing a financial incentive to send girls to school we will also decrease the risk of child marriage as parents are less likely to marry their daughters if they are providing an income. We also hope that by educating some of the poorest children in this city we will ultimately break the cycle of poverty that leads to problematic practices like child labor and child marriage completely.
If you would like to become a sponsor contact Info.HappyKidsCenter@gmail.com for more information.
