Justice

Khim and Dan

Khim Kandel, a fellow Director of Dan’s led a devotion at a recent staff meeting on the term theme of Justice. Khim is the Director of the teacher training branch of KISC, known as EQUIP. EQUIP partner with schools and school districts across Nepal to lead trainings for Local Education Authorities, School leaders, teachers and parents aiming to improve the quality of education across Nepal.

As a part of their work two other things they do is provide tin trunk libraries to rural schools and scholarships so that students who wouldn’t have been able to afford to go to school can now do so. (Follow these links to see more about tin trunk libraries and scholarships). A couple of weeks ago a few of the EQUIP staff including Khim went to some of the schools they work with in Kathmandu Valley to hand out scholarships.

Khim shared the story of three of the mothers that he was talking with as their daughters received scholarships. As they shared their story with Khim two of them were in tears. Khim shared that both these ladies had left abusive, alcoholic husbands and they had endured a life of scraping together every last penny and hiding it from husbands just so they had enough to eat. They told him that there was no way that in other circumstances their daughters would have been able to go to school.

Khim then shared with us his own story, which included a similar situation growing up. And while it is far from the norm it is not an uncommon story, and one which is not unique to Nepal. But the traditional culture of Nepal is that women are the less important gender. They have to do all the work, and they are expected to be subservient to their husband and their husband’s family. Traditionally a wife would walk a pace or two behind their husband and in some parts of Nepal it is still the culture for wife to wash her husband’s feet and drink the water as a sign of respect. This is far from normal today, but it does still go on.

As we focused on Justice this term Khim spoke of justice for the women of Nepal and challenged us all to seek to make a difference and set an example of treating the women of Nepal and our world justly.