Thirst for Knowledge

A doctor, a dancer, a teacher, a banker. There’s nothing these girls can’t achieve.

We’re in Lahan, south-eastern Nepal, 100 miles east of the capital Kathmandu. This is a typical secondary school, where girls and boys aged 5 to 18 learn together.

They may sit in the same classrooms and share similar ambitions, but until recently, their experiences were vastly different.

Theirs was a classroom divided by water and by toilets.

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A Nepali girl in a blue kurta pajama uniform runs, her long ponytail catching the wind as her school friends look on.

_{Puja, 12, centre, plays with her friends (left to right) Anisha and Mina outside school, April 2021. WaterAid/ Sailendra Kharel}

Thanks to you, and the young people who bravely shared their experiences, things are already changing.

With the support you gave – a massive £5,592,201.76, including £2 million of match funding from the UK government – we're already flipping the odds for girls at this school in Lahan and beyond.

There are 475 pupils here, more than half of whom are girls. Yet until recently, these girls shared just one functioning school toilet between them. Without running water for cleaning, it got very dirty and became all but unusable. The consequences were far-reaching – pitching girls to the back of the class and making it harder for them to achieve their potential.

But since then, your support has helped to:

Install a new school water system, including a deep borehole, a water pump fitted with biosand filters, and handwashing and drinking stations.
Build and repair toilets, including separate cubicles for girls and boys and disposal facilities for sanitary pads.
Organise school and community awareness sessions about clean water, good hygiene, and a girl’s right to education.

Now 20, Sandhya has finished her final exams and left school – but she’s taking more than a full education with her. Since taking part in workshops breaking down local taboos around periods, she’s also developed a new confidence that she’ll bring to the rest of her life and those around her:

"Personally, the best thing about this project is bringing positive change in our mind. Previously, nobody talked about menstruation. There was a kind of awkward silence deeply rooted in the school, which is completely broken now, and I am so glad about it."

^{Sandhya, a student in Lahan, lines up a shot during a WaterAid video production workshop, Nepal, Jan 2022. WaterAid/Mani Karmacharya}

^{Sandhya, a student in Lahan, lines up a shot during a WaterAid video production workshop, Nepal, Jan 2022. WaterAid/Mani Karmacharya}

Before, we had to go to other people’s houses asking for drinking water, and they would often tell us they didn’t have any. We had to drink dirty water from a well, which made us sick. Now, we have clean water at school, and we no longer miss classes."
Sandhya, former student in Lahan, Nepal

Sandhya, 20, in her garden, after returning from her final exam at college, May, 2024. WaterAid/ Ram Saran Tamang

Sandhya, 20, in her garden, after returning from her final exam at college, May, 2024. WaterAid/ Ram Saran Tamang

Highschool pupils in Nepal plan out scripts and stories during a WaterAid-facilitated video production workshop.

_{From left to right: students Anjali, 15, Arbind, 16, Kailash, 17, Pushpa, 15, Ashok, 16, Rupak, 16, their support officer Niju, Anju, 15, Sumit, 16, and Sandhya, 17, work on their story boards during a video-production workshop, January 2022. WaterAid/ Mani Karmacharya}

Unlocking girls' potential in Nepal's Bardiya district

With the match funding you released from the UK government, we and our local partners have extended our work to the Bardiya district in Nepal to:

construct water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities in 30 schools
promote children’s rights through child clubs
run income-boosting activities such as making liquid soap and sanitary pads.

It’s no surprise that a marked disparity in drop-out rates for girls in Bardiya – 15.5% compared to 2.1% for boys, between grades 6 and 10 – coincides with the time when menstruation starts. Clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene practices will help girls in Bardiya stay the course at school and secure better futures for themselves.

Our Thirst for Knowledge appeal is now closed, but you can still meet the young people from Lahan who so eloquently shared their stories with us, and helped spur these upcoming changes.

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Meet the girls in Nepal whose Thirst for Knowledge powers huge potential.

I am Puja

I study in grade 7 in Lahan. My favourite subject is maths.

There is water at the school, but it contains iron and it stinks. I have fallen ill by drinking the water at school.

People use the toilet at school, but don’t bother to flush or clean when there is no water. Some of them go out as well, but I go to the toilet no matter how dirty it is.

_{Mina, 14, another student at Puja’s school, covers her mouth against the smell inside as she exits the one functional girls' toilet, while her friend Urmila, 17, waits outside, April 2021. WaterAid/ Sailendra Kharel}

_{Mina, 14, another student at Puja’s school, covers her mouth against the smell inside as she exits the one functional girls' toilet, while her friend Urmila, 17, waits outside, April 2021. WaterAid/ Sailendra Kharel}

No water, no lessons, no choice
When girls menstruate at school, it affects their studies as they return home. It’s not good to leave the class, but they are compelled to do so since there are no pads, toilets and not even drinking water in our school.

They are absent for one or two days and then they come to school again. They come to school wearing pads but they can’t change it. It is not good, but they have no option. I feel bad when my friends have to miss classes and they can’t perform well in exams.

We need water to do everything
There should be proper management of pads, toilet and drinking water. If these were well managed, menstruating girls wouldn’t have to miss their classes. Life is not possible without water, since we need water to do everything like drink, cook, clean, wash.

We go to school to study and gain knowledge which will help us become somebody we wish and spread knowledge to others.

A young Nepali girl wearing a floral top smiles at the camera.

_{WaterAid/ Mani Karmacharya}

A young Nepali girl wearing a floral top smiles at the camera as she loops a hair over her right ear.

_{WaterAid/ Mani Karmacharya}

A young Nepali girl wearing a floral top smiles faintly as she loops a hair over her right ear.

_{WaterAid/ Mani Karmacharya}

A young Nepali girl in a floral top smiles at the camera.

_{WaterAid/ Mani Karmacharya}

Globally, 37% of schools don't have decent toilets. This forces millions of girls to stay home during their periods – and miss out on the knowledge they need to thrive.

_{WaterAid/Mani Karmacharya}

I am Sandhya

I am a 10th grade student in Lahan. I like to create videos and dance.

On my first day of school, I wondered as to what sort of school it would be. There was no provision of drinking water and no toilet, and even the teaching was not good in those days.

I want my school to have a clean toilet.

The water at school is poor. There is no facility for purification. We have to wait for a while to let the mixed contamination sediment.

I wish I should not have to drink such water, but I haven’t complained to the teacher. Nobody is ready to complain about it. So how can I go alone and complain? I drink the well water which comes from the electric motor. I haven’t fallen ill yet – but I don’t know about others.

TikTok queen
During lockdown, I created TikTok videos. I made at least 30 TikTok videos daily. I think it has been around three years since I started creating TikTok videos. My friends … have even told me that I am about to become TikTok Queen.

I would like to continue dancing, but my professional aim is to become a nurse, focusing on my studies. If time allows then I will continue both simultaneously. TikTok is a way to pass time when my patients are not available.

A teenaged Nepali girl holds a school exercise book while smiling into the distance.

_{WaterAid/ Mani Karmacharya}

A laughing, teenaged Nepali girl covers half her face with a school exercise book.

_{WaterAid/ Mani Karmacharya}

A teenaged Nepali girl holds a school exercise book while laughing widely.

_{WaterAid/ Mani Karmacharya}

A laughing teenaged Nepali girl covers her whole face with her exercise book.

_{WaterAid/ Mani Karmacharya}

In Nepal, more than one in three teenaged girls leave education after primary school. The inequality between girls and boys lasts for generations.

_{WaterAid/ Mani Karmacharya}

I am Arbind
I am Kailash

My name is Arbind, I study in class 9.

My name is Kailash. Arbind is my best friend.

I like Kailash’s quiet and peaceful nature.

Arbind is helpful and gets along with everyone.

Girls and boys should be treated equally

Boys and girls are treated differently in our society. Girls have to work at home, but boys are always roaming and playing. It is not right.

Girls should study as well as doing household chores. I haven’t done these kinds of chores. My sister, mother and sister-in-law do these works. These tasks are not just for them though.

If I had been a girl, I don’t know what would have happened but I think I would have to do like what my sisters do... if we switched souls, I would not be able to stay like that. We need to change things. We can change it by creating awareness among people regarding gender equality, living in harmony and equality.

Two young teenaged Nepali boys wearing blue school uniform shirts smile towards the camera.

_{Arbind (left) and Kailash. WaterAid/ Mani Karmacharya}

Two young teenaged Nepali boys wearing blue school uniform shirts put an arm around one another as they laugh towards the camera.

_{Arbind (left) and Kailash. WaterAid/ Mani Karmacharya}

With clean water and decent toilets, Sandhya, Puja and tens of thousands of girls like them in Nepal can concentrate on what's really important:

their ambitions.

How do we know?

A group of teenaged girls and boys in Nepal share a laugh outside their school.

_{Students (left to right) Arbind, Kailash, Anju, Pushpa, Kanchan, Sandhya, Mina and Dipendra share a laugh in the shade of a tree outside school, September 2021. WaterAid/ Mani Karmacharya}

Because we’ve seen it happen before.

In 2018, together with our partner Nepal Water for Health and supported by UK Aid, WaterAid brought these essentials to thousands of school girls.

Nepali schoolgirls wash their hands at an outdoor tap.

_{(Left to right) Gyan, Kiran, Shubechchha and Kabita wash their hands at a tap installed by WaterAid and partners at their school in Udayapur, Nepal, March 2019. (Made possible with UK aid from the British people.) WaterAid/ Mani Karmacharya}

A Nepali schoolgirl washes her hands at an outdoor tap.

_{WaterAid/ Mani Karmacharya}

Before...

The school premises were very dirty. The toilet was not clean. During menstruation, either girls did not come to school, or, if menstruation happened during school time, they used to go back home, making other excuses such as headache, stomach ache or something like that.
Kabita

... And after

But now the situation has completely changed. The sanitary pads are available in the school and we can easily ask Sarmila miss for the pads. It is very good these days, as we don’t have to leave the school during menstruation. This has helped us to concentrate on our studies.
Kabita in 2019 after WaterAid and local partners installed taps and toilets for thousands of schoolchildren in Udayapur, eastern Nepal. This work was made possible with UK aid from the British people.

Girls and young women in Nepal are more than the challenges they face. They’re strong, smart and courageous enough to change their lives forever. With clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene, they can get the education they need to transform their futures.

Teenaged school girls walk through a field of tall grass in Nepal.

^{WaterAid / Mani Karmacharya}

Although our Thirst for Knowledge appeal is closed, you can still support our other projects around the world by donating here.

Donate today

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Unlocking girls' potential in Nepal's Bardiya district