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 There
is a prevailing cultural fatalism among the people here that
has resulted from years of poverty and oppression. Children
in poverty often lack more than just physical necessities.
Problem solving is often difficult for Nepali adults. Many
Nepalis do not tend to work toward solutions for problems
that they encounter. They tend, rather, to give up, and feel
helpless to change their situation. Furthermore, there is
a lack of creativity in play among children of Nepal. They
have trouble pretending, and they have trouble creating. Many
Nepali children will only draw an exact representation of
a picture from a textbook, but not something from their imagination.
This, of course, is at least partially the result of generations
of poverty. But we want to offer children hope for breaking
this cycle, by giving them hope, and a basic belief that the
world is good at bottom—something that every child learns
to understand by being well taken care of, loved, and free
to explore the mystery and wonder of the world.
Tiny Hands Nepal is committed to putting the conclusions
of developmental science to use to better the lives of the
children of Nepal. And so we collect second-hand children’s
books and toys to distribute among the children of Nepal.
TOYS
Children in Nepal almost never play with toys. And yet research
has shown that playing with toys is one of the most important
ways that children learn about the world. For instance, one
study in the United States showed that the most consistent
predictor of IQ was availability of play materials. There
are many more studies with similar conclusions. The results
of this deficiency are often plain to see. Nepali children
often manifest a lack of problem solving ability that comes
from a tendency to not see the world as whole, interconnected,
orderly, and consistent. We hope that by teaching Nepalis
about the importance of toys, and by distributing them freely
among the children, that we can help to reverse this trend.
BOOKS
 As
late as 1952, it was estimated that only 9.5% of the Nepali
male population, and 0.7% of the female population were literate.
Since that time, there has been an increased rate of literacy,
which has come to Nepal with globalization, and tourism brought
forth under the shadow of the tallest mountain in the world,
Mount Everest. This affected the literacy situation in two
ways. First, the literary and academic development in the
Nepali language never happened. When tourism and globalization
brought news hopes and new needs to Nepal in the form of Western
ideas, they came in the language of the new world, the language
of globalization: English. Second, one of Nepal’s greatest
economic sources is tourism. Many of the tourists, of course,
speak English. Success here is largely dependant either on
academic advancement or on the tourism industry. Therefore,
much of the education here takes place not in Nepali, but
in English. This trend increases in proportion to the quality
of education, and becomes more prevalent the further one progresses
educationally. This means that the books (particularly children’s
books) that often sit on shelves in American homes collecting
dust are of particular relevance to Nepali children.
We believe that stories are one of the most important factors
in building a child’s sense of wonder, out of which
grows the tendency to see each human life as precious and
valuable, and the tendency to always hope, which is the foundation
for all human happiness and achievement. And so we want every
Nepali child to be read to at bedtime (the most sacred act
of the whole of mankind), and to have access to books in which
they learn about the world, and be drawn toward that source
of wonder in stories that we believe to be so important.
But there is a deficiency of more than just play materials
in Nepal. Nepali parents and children’s home caretakers
often have these things available, but withhold them from
the children so that they will not fight, and so that they
will not “get used to having things,” only to
leave home and find out that the real world is not half so
kind. We believe that at bottom, the world is so kind, and
we are trying to prove that to Nepali children. To convince
parents and caretakers of the importance of play materials
and reading, we will distribute a short, clear, Nepali book
on the scientific findings on this subject. We send teachers
to trained in child development, to freely assess, assist,
and encourage the caretakers of the children’s homes
in Kathmandu, and freely distribute children’s books
and toys. We also hope to teach games, art, music, library
skills, internet research skills, provide seminars for children’s
home leaders, and even translate some children’s books
into Nepali, in order to provide as much as we can to fill
Nepali children’s lives with joy and wonder.
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