We first became aware of Manisha's plights when our Kathmandu staff visited one of our projects in the village of Kuntabesi about a 3 hours drive from Kathmandu.
The Asha Foundation with funding from the Body Shop Foundation was helping to improve the living conditions at the Kavre Childrens Home which houses intellectually handicapped children. Manisha although paralysed from the waist down was identified as being highly intelligent and a request was made to have her schooled in Kathmandu. This of course would not be without a great deal of expense, but The Asha Foundation took up the challenge to help Manisha achieve what would normally be impossible - a quality education. Her parents are farmers and the thought of sending their daughter to Kathmandu to boarding school would not have been considered. So how did we manage to fund Manisha's schooling for the next 2 years at least. Well, at the same time our staff were organising for this young lady to be enrolled into school, The Asha Foundation received an email from a young man in Perth Scotland saying he had heard about our work in Nepal through a friend of a friend and he was so impressed he decided to raise funds for us by having his head shaved. Gavin thought he would raise about 200 Pounds, how wrong he was as he actually raised 600 Pounds which is enough to school Manisha until late 2011. This story is so wonderful as it involves a young girl from a rural village in Nepal, a young man from Scotland and a small organisation in Australia - now that is globalisation at its best.
A lovely post script to this heart warming story is Manisha has just
received her exam results, she is in a class of 29 and she came 2nd. Not
bad for a girl who really hasn't had any formal education.
What a brilliant future she has and The Asha Foundation will be with her all the way.
Manisha is now attending SERC school in Kathmandu and is coping with her new school very well and is of course enjoying her lessons and is studying hard. Recommendations from the Director of the SERC school is that Manisha has the capability of attending university when she is older.
To give this young lady every available chance at a fullfilling life, we need sponsors to achieve this. If you would like to help this fantastic young lady please click here
I recently visited Manisha at her school and along with Yuzeena & Anu from our Kathmandu office, we presented her with a new wheelchair. This lovely young lady is doing extremely well at school and the Headmaster is very happy with her progress. Manisha's future is looking so positive and it is only possible because of the kindness of others and the support of the Asha Foundation.
