Zonta Club of Kathmandu empowers through education
The Zonta Club of Kathmandu, Nepal, empowered local children and women through education with multiple actions.
Establishing the Durbar High School Library
President Ute Scholz recently visited the library in Durbar High School, which was established with support from the Zonta Club of Kathmandu, Nepal. The library is open to students from two schools within the Durbar High School. The club contributed school books and furniture required for the library.
The Sanskriti International School Z Club and NAMI Golden Z Club, both of which are sponsored by the club, conducted reading and activity sessions in the library to encourage the students to inculcate a reading habit. The club has also organized sessions on being safe from cyberbullying in the school.
Students, teachers, Zontians, student members and guests warmly welcomed Ute during her visit. The students shared how the library has helped them inculcate reading habits and realized the importance of reading to enhance and increase their knowledge. A young girl brought tears to the eyes of all when she mentioned she developed a love for reading and realized the library was a treasure house of knowledge.
This initiative aligns with Goal 1.0 of the Zonta International Strategic Plan. The club aims to develop and deliver programs that promote cross-cultural community building and knowledge-sharing. Additionally, the initiative addresses the issue of unequal educational opportunities for young girls. The club provides access to various educational materials, such as books and learning materials. Furthermore, they involve student clubs in continuous interactive sessions to promote learning and growth.
By providing a nurturing environment to young minds from low-income families, the club showed them that their dreams could become a reality and opened up a new world of learning opportunities. The school principals appreciated the club's support in enhancing the school's learning environment through various activities, such as visits of leading authors, interactive sessions with the club's young members and more.
Adopting a village
Partnering with Zontians in Taiwan, the club adopted a village and school to organize many programs that have benefited the inhabitants, such as:
- Introduce community farming to the women and help them establish a market linkage to empower them economically.
- Organize health camps to screen the residents.
- Conduct sessions on violence against women and health and hygiene.
- Set up a computer laboratory at school by networking with sponsors.
- Enhance the local library with book donations and other educational materials.
- Involve Z clubs and Golden Z clubs to make them aware of the village's reality.
- Build bathrooms at the school.
Start planning a health center.
These initiatives are important to Zonta's mission as they align with the vision and mission of empowering women and girls and building a better world for them. As gender equality and equity cannot be achieved without the involvement of all concerned, whether it be the community, local authorities and the male members, the club is working to bring about a change in the thinking of the patriarchal, firmly bound traditional and cultural mindset.
The club has addressed many of the village's concerns and brought them towards development by establishing strong networking connections and using the knowledge and skills needed to provide all the necessary opportunities to fulfill the various community and village requirements. They have also created a strong bond of trust and faith within the community and local government while increasing Zonta's public awareness.