The World in a Box: Looma Meets the Nepalese Challenge

While schools are improving in some areas of Nepal, hard living is a reality for many Nepali rural poor. Education resources, teachers, electricity, and the internet are scarce. Some parents might be able and motivated to send their children in grade 5 and above to the nearest city -- 5- or 10-hours' travel to Kathmandu or Pokhara -- to live with a relative and continue their education in the urban schools. Some children are sent as early as age 6. Schools in urban communities are likely to have readily available and consistent electricity; maybe you will see a room of computers with intermittent internet, and perhaps career education for grades 11 and 12. However, many children stay at home to cut grasses for livestock, plant and harvest crops, cook, and marry young. These students have had little opportunity to explore books, textbooks, or the internet. Now, with Looma's World in a Box, they have a way to see and explore the world beyond their rural communities.