Rotary scholarships helping Nepali students

THE Rotary Club of Ocean Grove has received good news about the students it is sponsoring in Nepal through the Seven Women initiative.

Club member Kath Venters said Seven Women founder Stephanie Woollard’s presentation to the club via Zoom in March had been inspirational, with the Rotary Club later deciding to provide scholarships for eight students to attend school.

The support from Rotary Club of Ocean Grove was among 75 scholarships provided at Shree Nepal Rastriya Secondary School, located in the city of Simara in the Bara District of Nepal.

Late last month, club members received a report about the presentation of the scholarships by the Seven Women Nepal team during a visit to the school in mid-July.

The scholarships were distributed to students from Grade 1 to Grade 12, with each student receiving admission fees, schoolbooks, and stationery.

The eight students being sponsored by the Rotary Club of Ocean Grove are:

* Khushi Sree Bastab – Grade 2

* Archana Chaudhary – Grade 4

* Arjun Majhi – Grade 1

* Biki Majhi – Grade 2

* Kiran Sahani – Grade 2

* Archana Chaudhary – Grade 3

* Amrita Kuswah – Grade 9, and

* Khushi Sah – Grade 5.

“Students were very thankful and happy for being able to study just because of this scholarship because they were not in the state of paying off their school bills by themselves,” the report stated.

“The newly elected Ward Chairman expressed his gratitude to the Seven Women Nepal for our support and he showed his interest to help the rest of the students through government level in possible ways.

“Most of the students were from very poor background, many had single parents or orphaned.

“Seeing the scholarship distributed, many other new students who were not in the list also approached for the help for themselves. The team shall assess the situation and take background reports of these students and see how support can be extended.”Ms Woollard began Seven Women in 2006 at the age 22 after meeting seven disabled women working in a tin shed in Kathmandu.

Since then, more than 5,000 women and children have been educated, trained and employed by Seven Women, and the organisation has launched an Australian arm for fundraising and a sales channel for its Nepal activities.

For more information on Seven Women, head to sevenwomen.org