Their feet were cold, lips blue, and eyes hung on. Their rib cage threatened to reveal itself underneath their thin, paper skin. Mothers squeezed breasts; fathers ripped open pockets. Nothing.
At the heart of our operations is the aid project involving one of the most marginalized communities of Nepal, the Chepang children of Dhading-Herrang. Due to the lack of diverse employment opportunities and limited prospects in farming, Chepang fathers who are the sole breadwinners for the family, are struggling to find work and earn money.
This situation has dragged the financial condition of the community considerably below the poverty line. With little to no earnings, they mostly sleep with empty stomachs. Amidst poverty, illiteracy, and food insufficiency, keeping Chepang children alive for another 24 hours in Dhading becomes a great challenge.
Understanding their helpless condition, Warming Hearts Nepal started a nutritious meal program at Shree Malika Adharbhut Vidyalaya intending to ensure that each Chepang child receives at least one nutritious meal daily for two weeks.
We started the meal program with an awareness that food insufficiency is one of the main challenges for the Chepang community in Nepal. However, it is not the only challenge. The root challenge for the community lies in their social exclusion.
With significant efforts from us, we can provide them with employment opportunities in agriculture, enroll their children in schools, and even provide them with housing. However, their root problem of social exclusion won’t be solved unless they enter the mainstream market of Nepal and tackle prejudices and discrimination. This can be achieved only by the efforts of the Chepangs themselves.
Nevertheless, what we are capable of doing is helping them build their self-esteem and confidence to let their youth enter the cities and marketplace and generate employment opportunities in the villages of Dhading themselves. Therefore, we intended our meal program to transcend simply providing food. We wanted to bring unity among the Chepang children and empower the community to not only access basic necessities but also to participate actively in the broader social and economic landscape, fostering a sense of belonging and self-sufficiency.
