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| COVER FEATURE |
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Nepali wins in global drawing |
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“I want to be a teacher to ensure security for children. I want to educate children as it’ll help them march forward,” says the Nepali rural student who is among the 14 winners in a worldwide annual drawing competition organized by the World Food Programme (WFP) to highlight its school meal programs.
Jhuplal Sunwar, 11, a sixth-grade student at Shree Shanti Primary School of Suikot in Salyan, will receive his award from the WFP-Nepal Country Representative Richard Ragan amidst a function to be held in the capital today.
“These children are Nepal’s future. It’s important to invest in them,” Ragan said.
The young finalist arrived in the capital from Suikot on Wednesday with his parents and the principal of his school. Suikot is a two-day walk from Khalanga, the district headquarter of Salyan district in the mid-West Nepal. The nearest airport is Nepalgunj, a day’s ride from Khalanga on dusty road.
“Our youngest son has shown us heaven,” said Tiley Sunwar, the proud father, on landing in Kathmandu. The family is in the capital for the first time and plans to visit major temples and monuments during their short stay here.
“The wounds that I had on my soles while transporting tin roofs on my back with fellow villagers for two days for the school’s roof has healed today,” added Jhuplal’s father. “I don’t understand what Kanchha (Jhuplal) means by ‘I want to be a teacher’ but I hope for his best… he has shown us heaven today.”
Jhuplal is one of the 14 final winners selected from a shortlist of 120 drawings made by primary school children in 24 countries receiving WFP school meals. Following the competition’s theme, “The difference WFP school meals makes to my life”, Nepal submitted five drawings out of 30 received to the judges in Rome.
The school staffs preparing sweet haluwa and the children relishing a good meal are what Jhuplal has composed in his winner’s drawing. “The school serves us haluwa at 1 p.m. during our lunch recess,” Jhuplal said, referring to his personal experience that he put on sketch.
His winning drawing will be featured alongside other finalists in the WFP’s 2010 calendar, to be published later this year.
Commenting on her son’s achievement, Kali Sunwar said, “I’m really proud of my youngest son’s achievement. At home, he’s picking up his drawing skills. He sketches lotus flowers, birds, motors, and planes.”
The youngest of five sons of Kali and Tiley Sunwar, Jhuplal loves attending school and wants to be a teacher when he completes his education. His four elder brothers were all primary school dropouts and have left home to seek a life on their own. The eldest son is 30 years old while Jhuplal’s immediate sib is 21.
“Yes! They studied upto class one or two, but eventually it boils down to finances, you see. We’re poor people and don’t have enough to eat and there was no money for clothes and books,” said Jhuplal’s father.
“They have all deserted now and work as manual laborers,” added the 54-year-old who had hurt his right limb, working at a sugarcane mill in India. He, who was 15 then and seeking income opportunities during the off-farming season, lost his thumb in an industrial accident.
Jhuplal will be awarded US$100, and Ram Kumar Lamichhane, his school principal, with US$200, according to the WFP.
“I’ll invest the prize money on cattle since there’s no other option to reap profits. There’s a lack of opportunities for income generation,” Jhuplal’s father said. He further lamented that the family’s harvest of wheat, maize and millet feeds for only 60 days.
“Last year, the rains destroyed our crops,” Jhuplal’s mother added, “Our luck! It’s either drought or floods.”
In Suikot, 50 kgs of Moto Chamal (rough rice) currently costs Rs. 1,550, escalating the price of a kg of rice to a staggering Rs. 31 in this remote far western village. The Sunwar family has no other alternatives for income generation.
“We eat three meals a day, or not at all,” the parents said. “When we have money, we buy and stock rice, and when we don’t have money, we have to borrow, and then we have debts on our heads.” Jhuplal, unbothered by the conversation, looks up at the plane flying above his head.
The WFP-provided midday meal has become an incentive for those who struggle to put enough food on their plates, and send their children to school. Principal for the past 28 years, Lamichhane feels rewarded for his patience and time invested in educating the children in his once mud-roofed school infrastructure that leaked whenever it rained.
“Jhuplal is a good student. For the past five years, he’s been holding the second position in his class. And with the WFP award, he has further inspired me and strengthened my commitment to do more for these children,” he said.
“Since this is a WFP award, I’ve thought of using this prize money to build a kitchen in the school since we don’t have one,” this educator added. “It’s real trouble for us to prepare the haluwa in scorching heat or while it rains.”
The school meal program, according to the principal, was implemented at the school in 1998, the same year when the WFP implemented its program in Salyan district. Under its program, the WFP provides a free midday meal of fortified haluwa to 182 children of this government-run school established in 2038 BS (1981/82).
The fortified snack has some 13 essential vitamins and minerals that are critical for a child’s mental and physical development, states the WFP. The haluwa is a thick mixture of sugar and ghee with wheat, maize or soya.
Besides the midday meal, the WFP also undertakes a girl’s incentive program which provides two liters of fortified vegetable cooking oil for girls as take-home rations.
In its report, “The Cost of Coping”, the WFP states that the rate of chronic malnourishment in children under five years of age in Nepal is estimated at 48%, with an average rate of 60% in mountain areas, which is the worst level of malnourishment in Asia, and is comparable to the worst countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (44%), Sudan (48%), Uganda (45%), and Somalia (42%).
The WFP is the food aid organization of the United Nations which has been working in Nepal for the last 40 years. With the aim of addressing
high rates of malnutrition, WFP has been providing nutritious meals to schoolchildren to motivate them to attend classes as well as to fortify their health.
“The school meals program feeds the body and mind. Healthy bodies and minds enhance the learning capacity and performance of students, which have an ultimate impact on quality education, and help achieve education for all and the millennium development goals,” said Dr. Ram Swarup Sinha, Secretary at the Ministry of Education (MoE).
The WFP, together with the MoE, provides nutritious midday meals to 182,000 children everyday in more than 1,800 primary schools in 11 districts of Nepal.
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Your comments on this news
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Sofila Vaidya:
Great job! |
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Sopnil Bhattarai:
This is fantastic! You made us proud, Jhuplal. |
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PLEASE DESIST FROM ATTACKING THE WRITER PERSONALLY AND BE RESPECTFUL TO OTHER READERS.
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