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Nepali child presenting project in class. |
Suresh is only 12 but he remembers his first incident of discrimination years ago as a searing and humiliating experience: other villagers in his Kanchanpur district forbade him from using the public water tap. "That was the first time I realized I was being treated differently because of my caste," he says.
A member of Nepal's "untouchable" Dalit caste group, Suresh faced a future of constant humiliation, restricted to the most menial and unpleasant jobs, because protective government legislation is rarely enforced. "That incident left a wound in my heart," he says. "It will only heal after I am able to prove myself to society. For that, I must work hard."
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Nepali child reading. |
Save the Children is giving Suresh that opportunity. The seventh grader is chairman of Save the Children's School Health and Nutrition program, funded with the help of Save the Children's sponsors in Nepal.
"After learning about health, hygiene, and nutrition at school, we go home and pass on our knowledge to our parents and everyone else," says Suresh. He is also a member of Save the Children's school children's club, which holds events that bring all castes together for socializing and community projects.
"Save the Children has helped me realize we are all equal and that discrimination is the result of ignorance," he continues. His friends at the children's club treat him as just another kid, he says, "but their parents who are uneducated still hesitate to let me enter their house. This is because they lack awareness."
Suresh is determined to change that: "I will do all I can to end discrimination in society."
