We have been waiting for more than a year to say these words - WE HAVE NEW SISTERS!
Today the Unatti family is thrilled to welcome 8 new Unatti sisters into the Unatti Group Home for Girls. There were many times over the course of this year that our plans to welcome them were thwarted by COVID lockdowns, limited transportation, and logistical obstacles. Through the tireless commitment of our Unatti Nepal team, they have finally arrived.
Our eight new sisters are between the ages of 6 and 11, including three sets of biological sisters, and they come from areas of Nepal as far as 14 hours away by bus.
These girls are embarking on an unknown, but hopeful journey. Most are arriving motherless, accustomed to extreme poverty, with some leaving behind an extended family member, if anyone at all.
These beautiful, deserving children have had no opportunities to dream about their future. But not anymore.
Their lives will change. The moment they move into the Unatti Group Home for Girls, a radical shift in the trajectory of their lives will begin. Where they were once forgotten, discarded, mistreated or abandoned, they are now protected, supported and safe. They are on a path to empowerment, self-assuredness, and opportunity.
Sisters, Shristi age 7 and Shivani age 9, arrive at the Unatti Group Home for Girls motherless. Their mother abandoned the girls 5 years ago leaving then in the care of their very loving, yet, blind and uneducated father. His immense love for his daughters has forced him to spend long hours every day navigating the nearby roads on foot, selling incense to local villagers, often returning home having not earned enough Rupees to feed himself or the girls.
Shristi and Shiwani are both bright and friendly and are aware of the economic hard ships of their family. Shiwani is deeply concerned for her father's well being and express a desire to study in a nice school believing that one day she will be able to look after her father even though he is unable to look after her.
On referral from the local Social Welfare District and with a pained heart, this proud man has sent his daughters to live at Unatti for the next 10-12 years because he recognizes he is unable to feed them or educated them or give them opportunities to escape generations of poverty that has defined and enslaved his family.
It is with great humility and compassion that we at Unatti take on the responsibility to provide these sisters and all of our Unatti girls life changing educational opportunities, the chance to dream, and the tools and support to create a new narrative for themselves and for generations to come.
