Violence plays a prevalent role in the lives of many Nepali children.
I am haunted as I write by the heart-piercing shrieks of a three-year-old child being beaten for not knowing how to write the alphabet.
A student in second grade comes to school limping one day. A student in class three has bruises on her arm in the shape of two large hands. She is sitting next to a boy with a swollen lip. A student in class five has a black eye.
The two-year-old baby that lives at my house, picks up a bamboo stick and viciously beats her doll, imitating her mother.
There are other stories that I will not share online...
Sometimes, I feel helpless seeing children's validation be stolen by the violence they encounter every single day.
I have had to step back and start telling myself, "what you are doing is enough. By teaching, you are giving these children a valuable gift. Your job, in the classroom, is to give the children the tools they need to create their ideal lives."
So, my goal became simple: I wanted to help build a safe, violence-free, classroom environment where students could feel safe, valued, and empowered. It is a goal that we are still working to bring into action.
I decided that I wanted my class five students to make a pledge--a pledge that they would no longer harm any of their fellow classmates--with words, or with physical force. As the oldest students in the school, I wanted them to help set the tone of non-violence for the entire school, because many of the younger students look up to them as role models.
To showcase that we pledge to not harm others, I taught the fifth-grade students how to finger-crochet using woven yak wool that I purchased at the bazaar. During our Creative Arts class, I soon realized that the students really loved finger-crocheting. I decided to give them an assignment. "You are going to make a bracelet, and you are going to give it to one of your classmates; but, every classmate must receive a bracelet, and you cannot keep a bracelet that you make," I said. So, the students all made their bracelets. Then, I had each student give a bracelet to one of their peers. "By accepting this bracelet from your classmate, you pledge that you will not harm any of the students in our school either with words of physical force." After each student received a bracelet, I was happy to see that the students wanted to make more! "Let's make these bracelets for all of the students in the school!" one of the boys said. So, in the coming weeks, the fourth and fifth grade students are going to make bracelets for each student, so that all of us can pledge to use our hands and words for helping instead of hurting.
Check out the pictures below to see the fifth grade students making their "hands and words of helping bracelets." We wear them every day with pride.
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