WONDERWorks is a small charity based in Kathmandhu, who aim to empower vulnerable women and children in Nepal to lead a life free from violence, exploitation and stigma. They do this by providing skills, knowledge, funds and resources to enable them to earn a dignified living for themselves and their families, as part of their community.
With funding for their Last Hope Project WONDERWorks is able to help women, children and families in Nepal who find themselves in dire straits to turn their lives around. You can’t put a price on dignity and independence and yet it takes relatively little money to get someone back on their feet and in a position to manage on their own.
Examples of how WONDERWorks Last Hope project has helped women and children turn their lives around include:
Bhinda, an earthquake victim, lost her husband and baby girl when their apartment collapsed. She also lost all the family’s belongings and entire stock for her clothing business. Bhinda had to move in with her mother and, without money for school fees, had to take her son out of school. Insufficient funds to feed the bigger family meant her younger sister also had to leave school. WONDERWorks provide Bhinda with £155 worth of 'monsoon shoes' which she then sold before reinvesting and building up her business again. This relatively small amount of money has allowed Bhinda to support her family and the children to continue their education.
Nita, who is partially deaf, was desperately unhappy after finding herself trapped and exploited in Kathmandu where she had hoped to make a better life for herself. She missed village life, where she had tended someone else’s goats in exchange for a small hut to live in, but couldn’t afford the bus fare to return. For £150 WONDERWorks provided Nita with her fare home and bought her two breeding goats, two kids and a hen with several chicks so that she could build up her stock. She is now able to support herself and is happy to be back in the countryside.
Every £150 that we raise (sometimes considerably less and sometimes just a little more) will help one more woman, child or family to move forward in life.
Further information about WONDERWorks can be found on their website
www.wonderworksasia.org
or on their Facebook page
wonderworksasia