Snow Yak Foundation has been working to provide education to children in remote area of Upper Dolpo and Mr. Binod Shahi Newa also famously known as “Sir of the Himalayas”. He journeys to Dolpo along with other volunteers for six months of the year to teach students ranging from Grade 1-5 in local schools.

Mr Shahi informed that the laptops will be used for Dolpa students for educational purposes as well as for local youth and women group for motivational resources and classes with access to information available on internet. 

He thanked MAW Foundation for the support and hoped to get similar support in future too.

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Ms. Tulika Agarwal, Executive Director of MAW Foundation handed over the educational material to Mr. Dinesh Maharjan, Principal of the school in presence of Rajan Maharjan from Community School Network (CSN). Mr. Maharjan expressed gratitude for the support, saying that this will help the students who have come from impoverished backgrounds.

Meanwhile, MAW Foundation, Vishwo Rashtriya Secondary School and CSN have signed a tri-party MOU for the construction works at the school. Under this MOU, Foundation will be supporting the school to upgrade and repair school classrooms and bathrooms.

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Deepa Adhikari’s life has changed in the past few months. Adhikari, who used to drive an e-rickshaw on the streets of Itahari to take care of her two children, is now capable of moving boulders, quite literally.

For someone who did not want to stay home, Adhikari is currently in Sano Thimi of Bhaktapur, learning how to operate a backhoe loader. As soon as she learns how to operate the machinery, she will also get an opportunity to become an operator of a JCB backhoe loader for construction projects in different parts of Nepal.

Before this, Adhikari had worked as an assistant driver for the backhoe loader at Itahari. The opportunity came after Itahari sub-metropolitan city acquired a loader.

That is when she heard about scholarships provided by the JCB for women who wanted to learn how to operate its machinery. The programme is taking place at UCEP Nepal Technical School in Sano Timi and has been undertaken by Morang Auto Works and JCB. In total, 10 women have been doing the course.

Different backgrounds, same aspirations

It has been a month that she has been taking both theoretical and practical classes that have made her capable of operating the vehicle.

“Now, I’m planning on applying for a licence and start working. Hopefully, I can inspire and teach more women this skill,” says Adhikari.

Like Adhikari, Dailekh’s Indira Tamang is also doing the same training. Tamang was doing okay with her tailoring shop and had never felt that she needed to learn a new skill. But, local ladies asked her to sign up for the training and now is learning how to operate heavy equipment with nine other women.

Initially, it was quite hard for Tamang as her husband, who drives tippers for a living, did not believe that she could learn how to operate such heavy equipment.

“It was disheartening at first, but I didn’t lose hope. Now, I can show him and others that women can and will operate these machines and make a living out of it,” says Tamang.

When she put up a video of her operating a backhoe loader on Facebook, she received a lot of positive messages which has encouraged quite a bit, she says. All 10 women taking the training are confident that they will soon be a part of the infrastructure development drive that is taking place in the country.

“As soon as I get the licence, I’ll be off to the hills to dig roads,” says Tamang.

 Currently, the women are preparing for their final exams at the institute, after which they will try to get licences to drive backhoe loaders and excavators.

This, for Manju Rai, is huge because a few months ago, she did not even know how to ride a bicycle. Initially, she was quite scared about taking the training, but gradually instructors built-in confidence in her as now she can even operate an excavator.

“I gradually started to get into it,” says Rai. “This training will help me even if I leave Nepal for foreign employment.”

A new experience for instructors

Rasin Maharjan, the senior instructor, says he has been pleasantly surprised at how excited the women are to learn skills like these.

“The success of training like these falls on how much interest candidates show. We were sceptical in the beginning, but these ladies showed us that teaching women how to operate heavy equipment was not hard,” says Maharjan.

MAW’s efforts

The women are being sponsored by the MAW Foundation, which works to develop skills, communities and focuses on road safety.

“Generating skill in women is also one of the goals of the foundation. That is why we announced a scholarship programme to train women, on the occasion of International Women’s Day,” says Tulika Agarwal, the foundation’s Executive Director.

She adds that this is a pilot project and similar projects are in pipeline as the foundation found this to be very effective.

“We want to start a long-term campaign to support women in Nepal,” she says. 

(Published in onlinekhabar.com)

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Born and brought up in Rukum, Khalanga, one of the most rural Nepal, Anjana Sharma had to struggle a lot for a job. Having a troubled marriage earlier in her life, Anjana wanted to build a career for herself. But, she was determined to find a job that would help her be self-reliant, more specifically, to take care of her son who was just eleven years old.

Today, Anjana Sharma, 29, is the only woman instructor at heavy equipment operator training center in Nepalgunj. Thanks to MAW Foundation and MAW Skills Academy who offered her scholarship for the operator’s training.

But, her pathway to today’s position was not that easy. She gender disparity in each step while hunting for a job after completion of training session. People questioned her ability to operate and drive the machine. But, she didn’t stop and went on for searching a job to service providers. Her sheer determination, hard work, and dedication convinced the management of operator’s training centre that she can be the first and only female instructor there. Today, she trains young people and motivates them daily to lead a life with an example. 

Anjana is very committed to her work and mentions that she will contribute her life to learning and teaching of heavy equipment. 

‘The more I practice in the field, the more I remember the theory that I learned in class room,’ she says, ‘This made me even more confident to share the knowledge I gained.’ She wishes to train as many young girls as she can and make them capable to break the stereotype that she faced.

Anjana remembers her days of struggle when she had no money to fulfil the need of her son and her home. Though her earning is not so much to fulfil all her desires, but she believes some day, that day will come which she had always dreamed of.

 ‘There is always room for improvement and I am always hungry for the knowledge. I will make myself such an expert that people will start offering me the better job,’ she adds.

She opines that women need a lot of encouragement and words of motivation to come out of their comfort zone so that they can do bigger and better things on their own. Anjana mentions that being an instructor has helped her regain her confidence and made her more independent and self-dependent. 

In the future, Anjana wants to operate heavy equipment in the hilly areas of Nepal. She wants to be able to operate the machine as much as her male companions can, and even beyond because she believes that skills lies in her hands and head, and not in her gender. She ponders if she can motivate many women like her who lived in scarcity of resources, will then be able to live a life of satisfaction with training like these which will help create a self-sustainable environment. 

Anjana wants to bring her son to live with her in the city who is now living with his grandmother. She wants to give him a good life by the fortune of all the hard work she has done. 

Anjana is a representation of many young women living in the corners of Nepal. With the available resources and access, MAW Skill Acadamy aims to reach out to many Anjanas who are in dire need of skill that will help them enhance their lifestyle and improve their quality of life. 

We wish Ms. Anjana all the very best in her future endeavours! 

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Keeping in mind the safety of traffic police personnel who are working on the field in the threat of COVID-19, MAW Foundation, a part of MAW Group of Companies, has handed over face shields and masks for entire traffic police stationed in the Kathmandu valley.

Ms Tulika Agarwal, Executive Director of MAW Foundation and Retired AIG, Mr Kiran Gautam handed over face shields and surgical masks to Mr. Bhim Prasad Dhakal, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Chief of Metro Politan Traffic Police Division, Singh Durbar, Kathmandu.

‘We are incredibly proud of entire traffic police department who is committed to their duty even in this crisis and thus planned for a small contribution to them,’ Ms Tulika Agarwal said, ‘We hope this support will be useful for traffic police to fight the COVID 19 while fulfilling their duty towards nations.” SSP Bhim Prasad Dhakal thanked Ms Agarwal and MAW Foundation for the support it has made. 

Last week, MAW Foundation also provided a financial support to Sri Aurobindo Yoga Mandir for stationeries and food children living in the ashram. It has been providing education and upbringing of 210 children in 3 branches in Nepal.

MAW Foundation was established with objective of escalating, intensifying and well managing the CSR activities being carried out by MAW group. The aim of MAW Foundation is to uplift our community and bring smiles on many faces. 

MAW Foundation is focusing in three major sectors of social work, Community Development, Skill Development and Road Safety.

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The ashram was going through hardships because of COVID and lockdown which led stoppage of all their income generating activities like hosting guests, sale of pashmina, incense and other products. 

The yog mandir is self-sufficient ashram which grows all food needed for their children in Kathmandu, Nawalparasi and Gulmi. 

Swami Ram Chandra Das thanked Ms. Agarwal and MAW Foundation for the support that we are able to provide.

MAW Foundation also handed over 215 pairs (costs Rs 1,00,885) of shoes to students living there.

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