1. What is Karuna Girls College?

The Karuna Girls College focuses exclusively on education beyond elementary school for teenage girls and vocational training for disadvantaged women. It’s a unique step to change the cultural norms in Lumbini.

Nepal. Girls in Lumbini are often pressured into forced marriages as young as 10 years old. They face a life starting with teenage pregnancy, no education, poverty and forced labor only to perpetuate this cycle. Lumbini is less than one hour by car from the India border and a well known route for human trafficking. UNICEF has identified the Lumbini area in Nepal as one of the most critical zones for girls’ discrimination and child marriage problems. National education statistics report that only 33% of students in Nepal are girls, but this figure is even lower in Lumbini where the average female literacy rate is one of the lowest in the world at 18%. In poor families educating girls is seen as wasted time. Lack of girls’ education contributes to several other problems such as: lack of basic health; severe malnutrition; family hygiene; ignored medical care and high infant / mother mortality rates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hw8p-63gmg

Karuna means compassion and is part of the spiritual path of Buddhism and Jainism. It is called compassion

because it shelters and embraces the distressed. - The Buddha.

2. How did you get involved with the College?

Through mutual friends I met a young Buddhist monk named Metteyya. He was visiting Calgary and Banff with his Canadian spiritual mother Bodhi. He told me his story growing up in Lumbini (son of a social worker ). As a University student he started teaching under a tree. It started as a summer camp initiative. Within 10 years the initiative grew into two elementary schools of over 800 children. Metteyya explained the plight of the older girls disappearing or not expected to continue on past elementary school. As a Buddhist monk his family is his community and he was changing the cultural repression towards women one nun at a time. He was then building a small nunnery on his father’s land and was providing shelter and education for young girls. He also shared his vision of building a community swimming pool, building an all-girls-school next to the nunnery, providing a bus to safely transport these girls, providing women’s vocational training, nursing training, and eventually a hospital.

3. What do you do to help the College?

I first arrived in Lumbini Nepal in the fall of 2011. Metteyya was building two classrooms for girls at his Peace Groove Nunnery. They were mixing cement on the ground, using a rudimentary hoe and large metal plates to mix and carry the cement. They were using a hack saw to cut rebar and a weighted string to level walls. Before leaving; a week later, we had purchased a cement mixer, generator, chop saw and cement vibrator. With the help of many others; we’ve partnered with Medical Mercy to provide a tax deductable avenue to fund the Karuna Girls College next to the nunnery.

4. What are the College's future plans?

We completed construction of the first floor and classes are now into full operation. The Karuna Girls School opened June 8th. 2013. Their school year starts in the spring and currently Karuna has 25 full time students in grade eleven and twelve. Next year the school will be offering grades 9 and 10. Grade 10 is a critical grade in Nepal with national exams. We plan to grow the school to 250 girls in the next few years and potentially 400 girls. We’re planning college courses including nursing, accounting, and tourism. We’re launching a fund raising campaign to build additional classrooms $10,000. Cdn. ea. ; sponsor teachers $3,000. Per year; sponsor students $300. Per year; and purchase bicycles $100. Cdn.

5. Why are you so passionate about this project?

I have found a shared cause unlike any other to improve our world. I have a trusting relationship with a young visionary monk who is making it all happen. With the help of many others, Metteyya is facilitating a change of culture in his home area. He is turning the generational tide against female repression, improving female education and their quality of life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msth2J_xm2g

6. What has been your favorite memory with the College?

My favorite memory is the bright eyes and broad smiles from these young girls. They’ve been given opportunity to learn and safely express themselves.

7. What is the biggest thing you've learned working with the College?

I’ve learned a different culture, a different religion and most of all; I’ve learned how fortunate we all are with our quality of life in Canada. 8. How has being a part of this changed your life?

It’s given me a strong new purpose.

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2013/06/11/girl-rising-suma.cnn.html