Mother's Day Reflection

With Mother’s Day approaching this weekend in Australia, we thought it was the perfect time to update our followers on our progress on the ground in Nepal!

It is such an exciting time here at Seven Women, with the construction of our guest house moving along nicely, meaning more women can be educated, up-skilled and employed, in turn, giving them agency over their lives and increased support to their families. But what impact has Seven Women already had?

Construction of our guesthouse in Kathmandu is in full swing!

WHAT IS THE SITUATION ON GROUND?

Unfortunately, Nepal has a high rate of gender based violence, with 48% of women reporting that they have experienced violence at some stage during their lives. In 2017, 140 women were killed as a result of gender based violence, including 75 deaths from domestic violence, with many more instances never being reported due to the cultural stigma surrounding it. This stigma has the awful result of many women staying in situations where they suffer at the hands of family members or friends.

how Has Seven Women helped?

This is where Seven Women steps in. We start by educating and upskilling disadvantaged women in the community in basic numeracy and literacy and then move onto skill sets including tour guiding, kitchen operations, arts and crafts and business management. By providing these women with an education and in-demand skill set, their employment and income stream opportunities are increased, allowing them the freedom of choice and movement to leave situations of abuse and violence.

More than 5,500 women have partaken in Seven Women’s education and employment programs, leading to increased education and employability, which in turn has afforded these women more independence and agency over their lives. Once the women have developed their own stream of income independent of a partner, they are more likely to leave abusive relationships and to feel safe in that decision.

Our programs support initiatives such as the One Stop Crisis Management Centres recently established in Nepal to bring an end to gender based violence and support those women affected by it.

Meet sandhya

Sandhya was one of the original seven women that inspired the creation of our organisation. Sandhya was suffering from low self-esteem due to a physical deformity and dreamt of being able to read and write. Seven Women helped her to realise this dream and she now shares her knowledge with literacy trainers from remote areas, who in turn pass on their knowledge to their own communities. Many women can now thank Sandhya for their literacy skills and are able to assist others in their community too. This is just one of thousands of stories about how empowering one woman improves not just her life, but the lives of those around her.

We are proud of what we have achieve at Seven Women and this year is set to be one of big growth for our organisation. Our guesthouse is going full steam ahead and many groups have been enjoying our ethical tours, allowing them to experience an authentic and immersive side to development that many tourist don’t get to see.

To find out how to immerse yourself in this life changing adventure, check out the link below!