The Riverbed Communities of Nepal are some of the countries poorest. They earn a living of approximately 42 pence per day breaking stones, and collecting sand to sell to middlemen who have made enough money to buy trucks. This in turn is sold to the construction industry.
The work is hard manual labour, which is often done by children. Education is often seen as secondary to work, leaving the children in a terrible cycle of poverty.
Although the communities are poor, their spirit is strong. These pictures demonstrate the warmth I felt spending time with them in their environment.
This doesn’t excuse the need to improve their living conditions and ensure their children are attending school to better their own lives.
The Mountain Trust is a charity working to improve the lives of these communities using innovative new approaches to education. “Situations will improve if organizations like this help. Otherwise, the market price is hiking up and the price of sand and stone is constant” said Sita Thapa Magar.
They are raising funds to provide wind up radios to the communities allowing them to tune in to educational broadcasts every day. The finest teachers in Nepal record these programs, providing high quality education to these people for the very first time. To see more please watch the documentary Radio Guru
here