Nepal
Learn about a mosaic studio in Nepal ….
Philip Holmes, Founder of registered children’s charity The Esther Benjamins Trust (EBT), has spent the last decade working in Nepal.
EBT works only for disadvantaged, vulnerable and stigmatised children and young people in Nepal. The Trust has been at the forefront of grassroots work against child trafficking between Nepal and India. 
A major success over the last few years has been the Trust’s closure of a child trafficking route that had resulted in Nepalese children from rural communities ending up as ‘performers’ in Indian circuses. Lured by the prospect of bright lights and a good job, these children instead found themselves trapped in modern-day slavery, facing abuse and exploitation in de facto prisons that masqueraded as circuses.
EBT rescued 300 trafficking victims from these circuses, put the trafficking agents behind bars and launched legal action against criminal circus owners. Once back in Nepal some returnees were helped to rebuild their lives through mosaic art – a passion of Philip’s that he passed on; this activity was hugely therapeutic for those who had stored up years of trauma. Soon they were producing remarkable art works suitable for sale which provide a badly-needed income, thereby empowering these uneducated girls who would otherwise struggle to find work.
In an ambitious move in 2008, the initiative was extended to help another of the Trust’s beneficiary groups – deaf school leavers. In Nepal deaf people are nicknamed ‘lato’ – ‘stupid’ – and they have little prospect of finding decent work when faced with such stigmatisation. Philip established an integrated mosaic art workshop where able-bodied trafficking survivors worked side-by-side with deaf young people. The success of the workshop exceeded expectations, with the former circus girls learning sign language quickly so that the workshop pulled together as one, with communication barriers that cause such isolation for deaf people overcome. The beautiful mosaics are sold locally and internationally and can be seen on the Trust’s website.
Following an approach by UK mosaic artist David Bowers, 2010 will see mosaic art benefitting another element of the Trust’s work; support to under-resourced rural schools where it is not unusual to find one teacher to 100 children. Drop-out rates from this kind of schooling are very high. These schools need funds to improve their material structure (e.g. furniture, classrooms, books) and to meet running costs (e.g. teaching assistants and scholarships for children from the poorest families).
If an interested school would like to fund raise for the Esther Benjamins Trust please contact Philip Holmes at philip.holmes@ebtrust.org.uk to discuss what needs doing and how to do it! It may be possible for someone from the trust to visit your school and give a presentation on their work. .
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