UNATTI PROGRAMS AND BUILDING SELF-SUFFICIENCY

EXISTING PROGRAMS

The Unatti Experience
Our largest program takes part each day in the Unatti House. Our girls are studying, doing chores, learning life skills, computer skills and good work ethics from our house mother and other wonderful female role models in our community. They participate in all aspects of running the home, such as cooking, cleaning, shopping. They all live together as a family, celebrating the ancient, rich and colorful Hindu holidays and rituals which are generally family-oriented.

Child to Child
Before a Nepalese journey, we visit schools and give our local children a chance to learn about giving. We ask them to gathers their used clothing from and place a personal photo on each item and write a letter or card if they wish. We hand carry the clothing to Nepal and our girls organize a day to distribute the goods to the poorest and neediest children in Bhaktapur. The Nepali child sees who sent their gifts and the Unatti girls get to enjoy the gift of giving to the children in their community. This exchange is always documented and the photos and video are brought back to show our American children, who they have directly touched, thus creating a bridge from child to child.

COMMUNITY BUILDING PROGRAM

Unatti School For Women
We are creating a free adult program for poverty-stricken women who wish to learn skill training, such as, reading, writing, tailoring and handicrafts. Instead of tuition, participants agree to donate a small percentage of proceeds form handicrafts sold back to the Unatti program.

FUTURE PROGRAMS TO CREATE SELF-SUFFICIENCY

Our new focus at Unatti is to create an orphanage/group home where our girls can learn to care for themselves, both financially and physically, by implementing income-generating programs that will also aid the community.

Agriculture
Modeled after the highly successful “Heifer” program, our girl’s will be tending livestock such as chickens and goats and growing crops to provide themselves with nourishing food as well as selling surpluses to the community.

Handicrafts
We are currently creating a web site to sell handicrafts produced by local Nepali women artisans including ceramics, paper and woven goods. We will train some of our Unatti girls to create handicrafts while others learn to run the business in such areas as sales/marketing, operations, distribution, accounting and potentially retail management. By 2013, we will have three girls graduating college, at which point we will enthusiastically hand over the business to them.

International Youth Volunteers
Our new home will have space for four international volunteers. These people will pay a small fee to spend 1-2 months working our programs, caring for and teaching our girls and broadening their own experiences by living in a world so different from their own.