1.  Basic data

(Address)

(Town)

(Country)

572/45 Ram Mandir Marga, Battis Putali, ,

Kathmandu

Nepal

(Email)

(Telephone)

prisonchildren90@gmail.com

977 9851086616

2.  Brief information

1.       PAM children had final exam and all the children passed and promoted. Three children passed 11^th grade but three children who took exam of 12th grade failed in one subject each.

2.       PAM is providing each child with mask and sanitizer. They are also made aware of Corona pandemic as well as Dengue and how to protect one.

3.       PAM’s long and pending problem is water supply. It is beyond PAM’s control. However, infrastructure for supply is ready. PAM may have to start thinking of some other alternatives rather than trusting promises from the politicians.

4.       16 families and individuals celebrated their birthdays with PAM children. No foreign visitors visited this trimester.

5.       Four children went to Lebanon to play judo and one Nisha defeated Honkong player, three went to Thailand and Nisha Shrestha defeated India but did not get any medal.  9-13 children will play national games in Nepal from various organizations because PAM cannot play in it.

6.       25 children from communities and all the Pam children are playing judo regularly, and using gym, library, internet facilities.

3.  Narrativereport

PAM started by  the Late Ms. Bishnu Kumari  Waiba “Parijat” in 1991 to safeguard human rights of prisoners and their children went through quite an upheaval and almost got closed in 2004. 2001  -2004 was bad years for PAM having no leaders or managers and almost no funding. So Women Acting Together for Change (WATCH) was asked to support or help it. WATCH took over the management and gradually started to improve it. WATCH had to rescue 14 children by paying various unpaid loans of Rs. One million or so. The Nestling Home was not finished. The contractor’s payment was not made. Children were out of control and had no discipline. They had also learnt bad habits. WATCH had to get initial support from friends and families. Then GLS Foundation came to rescue and started supporting the PAM which is still continuing. The Nestling Home owned 3 and one half of ropani of land which was barren. There was one well for water which dried up very soon. Good students had been taken by other homes which were started by PAM’s previous staff. They started similar named organization like PA Nepal, Parijat Home, etc. to take the donors also with them. WATCH is slowly empowering and training PAM Board to take over the PAM. It has plan to handover by next five years to PAM’s own Board. It has some achievements like disciplined children. Preparation of Judo Champions of Nepal. Prison children are being recruited by the police and armed police. Lots of fruit trees and vegetable growing, good relationships with school and communities. Some others need to be improved water supply, landscaping, good, responsible and functioning Board, trained staff, etc. Judo training, gym exercise, physical exercise, small public library are operational, however, during the lockdown children from outside were not allowed in. There is high demand from prisoners’ children to join PAM but it has a limited facilities and resources.

There are 34 (15 girls and 19 boys) prisoners’ children four of whom are staff’s children but they also are prisoners’ children because husbands of both the staff are in jail. 29 prisoners’ children, three staff’s children and three staffs are staying at the Nestling Home. One of the children ( Devaki Shrestha) is elevated as an intern (asst. judo trainer) staff. Three of the boys have moved out of PAM being 18 years above or completing 12^th grade. PAM staffs are stable now. The new staff that is trained in hospitality who had worked in a hotel as a house keeping has been doing good. And the agriculture staff Anjali is has been continuing. Agriculture staff and assistant is busy developing demonstration farm with technology and roof top gardening. Executive Director is being trained in management and counselor is providing counseling and keeping financial record.

PAM children are coping with emerging corona and widespread Dengue around. All children have taken Corona vaccines.

A.      Goal and Objectives

The goal of this phase of program is to consolidate achievements, minimize or mitigate visible weaknesses and let PAM function smoothly, transparently, with good governance and in participatory and accountable way.

The above goal will be achieved with the following objectives fulfilled:

A.      Continue supporting 30-35 prisoners’ children for quality education, healthy living, and with holistic development.

B.      Develop independent system of management by having qualified and trained staff, and selecting/electing committed Board with responsibilities and accountability.

C.      Develop PAM as a community hub or as a service centre for the communities and make income by supplying agriculture related services..

Activities:

To achieve the objective “a” the following activities are done:

A1. PAM is managing the Nestling Home for the Well Being of the 34+ Prisoners’ Children with spacious, ventilated and safe rooms and bedding. The beddings need to be repalced gradually because they are oldrer than 16 years and there is not enough bedding.  Clean attached bathrooms and toilets are there but because of water problem and shortage it could not function as desired with 24 hours running water. Nutritious food including super flour in the mornings with tea, regular meat (once or twice a week) and eggs (twice a week)  green vegetables, legumes, etc. are served regularly. Children have snacks and tea in the afternoon as well as in the school.  16 families from outside came to celebrate birthdays with children or be with the children. They usually come with some food, biscuits, tooth brush, etc.  Every Saturday children get to have their choice of snacks.

The kitchen, dining and small stoe at the roof-top are OK. It was hoped that the rooms thus evacuated will be used for other purposes. Right now in one room gym is set up and another is used for the library. The previous library is used for chicken raising. Because neighbours were not happy with our chickens in the roof-top.

PAM’s agriculture land has now some fruit trees: avocado, pomegranate, lemon, grapes, aadu, etc.  which have started giving fruits. Some green vegetables and beans are grown and served in the kitchen. Cabbage, Cauliflower, tomato are being grown. 300 chickens was raised. Almost one third of them are sold. Others are giving eggs. PAM children are eating chicken meats and eggs regularly. Eggs are also sold outside.  

A2. Arrange Physical, Social and Mental Development Activities for holistic development of the children

Regular use of gym, morning exercises; evening judo training, etc. are done for physical well-being. 35 community children are invited for regular judo, gym, and using library. PAM allumnae and Board member Manita Shrestha is a wild card to participate in the Olympic 2024. She may soon go away for training if no politicking takes place again.  PAM children are  able to take part in community activities now. 16 families or organizations have come to celebrte birthdays or to be with PAM children. They have brought foods, fruits, biscuits, etc. Providing agricultural services are initiated now.  For demonstrtaion and production plastic tuneel and plastic mulching are used. Some ssedlings are grown to use in PAM and also distribute to communities. Roof top gardening is also initiated. Liquid manure is also started. Nine community members were trained in agricultural activities.  Regular publication of wall magazines, regular library use, computer and internet users are available for mental development. The Counselor and House Mother are providing timely copunseling to the children. Every Friday children and the staff have joint meetings run by the children where they make decisions about needs, plan activities for the week, etc.

B1. It was planned to initiate process of changes in the charter to suite the present situation and organize General Assembly with new membership to bring in committed and responsible Board Members with specific responsibilities assigned to each one of them. There was also plan to provide the Board training on the board responsibilities and management. Changes in charter has not been possible but the new Board members are selected. They are meeting regylarly every monh. Except in emergencies or bad health more eight members are regularly taking part in the meeting. Board members are trained in their rights and responsibilities. Some of the are taking seriously, so there is hope that the board will be active. There was also plan to provide cascade training to the staff on children’s rights, home management, cooking, cleanliness and hygiene, and agricultural skills. This trimester home management, hygiene and agricultural skills training were done.  PAM’s policy is prepared but it needs to be approved by the Board.

C1.  The area was originally an agricultural area. The original people (Tamangs) do some agricultural activities but in a very small scale because they do not have that much land left with them. After city planning there are houses all over with a little land available for agriculture. So there is need for developing organic agricultural activities which are possible in the roof top, flower pots or small patches of land. PAM had developed demonstrate plots for roof top gardening, plastic mulching, plastic tunnel farming, liquid manure making, etc. Some of these in are in its premises and nine community members were provided training. The main needs expressed by by those who interacted were supply og gurranteed seeds, seedlings, mushrooms, one-month old chickens and quail, etc. Right now besides the children, three people are involved in agricultiral activities. 300 chickens raised are almost consumed or sold with the eggs also. We will see if local people will demand one months old chicks.

PAM has mostly regular activities. Every day the staff meets and decides on who does what. Every week on Friday, the staff and children have the meetings and they review the previous week’s activities and make decisions about the coming week. As needed the management meets and reviews the progress and decides what to do in the coming months but they are mostly regular activities.

The activities are discussed above.

Target groups for the project is prisoners’ children either languishing at the prison cell with their parents or becoming street children because of lack of support from the family members or neighbors. No child is added or has left PAM this trimester. Usually PAM gets request from prisons or the District Child Welfare Centers for supporting the prisoners’ children. There is very tough competition to have children in the orphanages. They just want the children but there is no vision on what kind of children they want to produce. At least, PAM has that vision. So it is keeping its limit. Right now there are 34 prisoners’ children including four children of two staff whose husbands are also in prison. One of the staff’s husbands is in prison in India and one of the staff’s husband is in prison in Nepal..

1.       All three children who passed Secondary Education Exam have joined 11^th grade. And three children who were in the 11^th grade also passed their exams and joined the 12^th grade. Those three who appeared in 12^th grade exam each failed in one subject.

2.       The agricultural activities are done a little more systematically with participation of the children. There are more vegetables in the field. Fruit trees like Avocado, grapes, pomegranate have started giving fruits. Dragon fruit is growing well and may start fruiting after two years.

3.       Library is run regularly and children have started using it. Thus, reading habit is formed

4.       Children are practicing judo, gym, exercises, etc. They are continuing their education and supporting agricultural activities.

5.       Three of PAM children who have joined Nepal Police as Judo players and one of them is selected as a wild card to be selected by the 2024 Olympic to participate.

6.       Four children went to play Judo in Lebanon and defeated Hongkong player, three children went Thailand and defeated India but did not get any medal. 9-13 children may get to play national game in Nepal.

In case the problem was solved during the same period, please indicate the solution as well – if not indicate problem-solving strategies. Add changes you would like make in the implementation process of the project regarding long-term sustainability.

1.       Being in the Municipality, PAM has to face various problems on the land use. PAM is considering building a judo hall and some structures so that it can rent them and get some income. While building the Judo hall it has to leave 10 ft or three meters all around.  With newly acquired land it is possible to build the Judo Hall but there are problems for building structures to rent. Also, there are lots of stores built around, which are not rented. However, the PAM committee formed for this purpose decided that they could be rented out.  In the design of Judo Hall there is possibility to use the second floor as gym, library or other offices.

2.       Water supply is a perennial problem at PAM. One supply source provides two hours a week, which is being used for drinking water. Water from well is not suitable for cooking or drinking or irrigation so it is closed. 20000 liter underground water tank is ready but no water supply. This trimester water is bought from the tanker and used for washing and toilets. Because of water problem, agriculture work could not be done properly. Drip irrigation is bought for use. PAM will explore if underground water can be drilled because one neighbor has drilled underground water adjacent to PAM’s wall.

3.       Schools are fully open and operational. All children are admitted and studying. The old children have taken second and some has taken booster dose vaccines. New children are also given vaccines. Now Dengue is spreading like pandemic and nothing is being done three levels of government.

4.       PAM has to allow the children to get the jobs outside because of which PAM is losing best players to Nepal Police or Armed Police so it has detrimental effect on Judo games and PAM’s achievements in Judo.

5.       Usually PAM children had common cold during the season changes. This year a few had mild cold. They are kept in isolation and provided medicine, ginger-turmeric boiled water and hot water vapor with sancho. There is Dengue pandemic in Kathmandu however PAM children are still safe.

6.       Rescuing children from prison or associated families are also very cumbersome. After having three levels of government, we have take permissions from all of them. On top, there is children’s welfare committee and jail administration they all want us to take permission but when children are being not taken care they don’t do anything. Because of all these hindrances one has to spend more than Rs. 25000 for spending time and transportation cost.

4.  Story from the target group

It is the story related with trying to rescue prisoners’ children. We received information in Dang jail there are 14 children needing support. Jailor wanted permission from central jail administration which it was not mandatory before. Children were in jail but with some relatives or on their own. Relatives were using them as free labor. Three children were on their own. 14 years old girl was taking care of two young children. She was in a quite dangerous and precarious situation. They were ready for being rescued, But when we tied take permission from chief of municipality he said it was his own responsibilities so he will take care. So we could not rescue any of them when their mothers in jail wanted us to rescue. We are following up on those children, municipality has done anything. One girl from Arghakhanchi was on her own. Her father was accused of abusing her because of which he was in jail in Palpa in another district. It seems that his relatives have put him in jail for fake case. Her mother went away with some other. She was taken care by the relative for some time. Later she was sent to another place where she had to work as janitor. Later she even ran away to Butwal and worked in a hotel in a very vulnerable situation. When she did not get her wages them she went back to village and started the same work. Right she needs  lot of counseling. This is the situation of prisoners’ children and there are many who are in jail but being misutilized by many many.

What does it show?

Who are the people (full names, ages, occupation)

Do we have their agreement to publish the picture?

Where and when was the picture taken?

Who took the picture?

Rooftop gardening. Photo taken by Devaki Shrestha

Community women taking agricultural training, attending the class

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