Growing Nepal’s Leaders
CCF’s vision is to help young women pursue their dreams and inspire other young girls in Nepal. The Joy Attwood Scholarship Fund was developed to assist girls of marginalized producers of the Association for Craft Producers (ACP), interested in pursuing higher education.
Administered by the non-profit ACP in Nepal, three competitive scholarships are granted to the most outstanding scholars with the greatest need.
Many applicants have received the Power of 5 stipend which has helped them stay in school.
The Fund is named in honor of Joy Attwood, Denise Attwood’s (CCF Chair) mother, who mentored many young women around the world.
meet sanjhana
Student Success Story
2016 Joy Attwood recipient, Sanjhana is 20 and has completed the 3-year basic nursing course! Next up are her nursing license exams. Her goal is to earn a spot in the public service sector which is very competitive. Sanjhana plans on working towards a bachelor’s degree after a few years experience in the field.
JOY ATTWOOD SCHOLARSHIP AWARD
FIRST PLACE
Receives $1,000 towards
her first year of college
+
$1,000 additional
for her second year
—following first year test results—
SECOND & THIRD PLACE
Receives $500 towards
the first year of college
+
$500 additional
for her second year
—following first year test results—
2021-22 joy attwood scholarship Recipients
Aishworiya Lama
“Meet Aishworiya Lama!
Sixteen years old, Aishworiya lives in Jorpati and is pursuing Nursing.
“The role model in my life is my father who is very hard working and always inspires me. People of my ethnicity are narrow minded who believe that females cannot lead and handle any given situation. Being born in a Tamang family where discrimination exists on the basis of gender— especially to provide for a good education—my father has always treated me equally, if not more than a son. So it has been a dream for me to prove that women can also lead and make the nation proud. I aim to do so by being a nurse and helping to improve the medical field of our country.”
She has been involved in Green Army – Scout and is a member of Lions Club. Her favorite subjects are Biology & Mathematics. As hobbies she enjoys singing, dancing, sketching and craft making. She said that she loves public speaking so when asked to give a short speech, she gracefully introduced and explained to us about the hospital where her duty hours are scheduled.
“Since the pandemic, I have been taking online classes and it is much easier and less scary for us. Though there are negative aspects like eye problems, addiction towards gadgets and misutilization of the internet, but it is helping us gain knowledge in an alternative way which is the most important thing.”
She believes that her good grades, hard work and an intention to signify successful women is the reason why she deserves this scholarship. “Helping people makes me feel good. So as a nurse I will be able to take care of patients and provide free treatment whenever possible.”
Riza Gonga Prazapati
Riza Gonga Prazapati is currently pursuing A Level from Global College. She is 17 years old. She aims to continue her father’s business and to help in further growing it.
“Due to restrictions and lockdown, currently I have been taking online classes but physical classes would have been more interactive with no problems of internet service. However, our classes are not affected so I feel happy about it. I like mathematics and I plan to do Bachelors in Business Administration with specialization in marketing.”
“The lockdown have few pros despite of all the cons. In the current situation we have been seeing various businesses emerge: many of them found online medium fruitful and are making a living out of it. So, in future I am looking forward to expanding this business and delivering in local areas. My brother is doing IT and is less interested in ceramics so I want to take our ancestral skill forward. During this lockdown I learned to make traditional oil & cotton wick lamps (diyo) and I want to gradually learn to make varieties of ceramics item in my leisure.”
She wants to tackle poverty of her periphery and to help make a prosperous community. Despite being educated, the unemployment rate is very high. So, she wants to build a platform to provide trainings in making ceramic products and preserve the traditional skills. As a hobby she loves to sing and travel. She expressed her dream to travel to Switzerland.
Riza has good grades and wants to contribute and promote the handicraft sector. She says that she will be an asset for the organization which is why she feels she deserves this scholarship.
Shrutina Prajapati
Shrutina Prajapati lives in a family of five with her twin brothers. She is studying in grade 11 in Science faculty and is 17 years old.
She takes her father as her super hero and a role model for her life. “He taught me how to treat others in the proper manner. Despite economic scarcity, he has fulfilled more than our basic needs. He works day and night to feed our family and always keeps our family first. He says ‘Even though we are poor, the way we treat others determines how rich we are’.” This is one of the key lessons my father has given to me.
She believes that she has achievable plans for her future. Since childhood she dreamed to be a doctor and now she aims to be a successful doctor to help needy people who are unable to afford medical treatment. Growing up she has understood the value of money. She explains, when she shared her aim with her mother, she denied it as it is tough to be a doctor and to bear the expenses for a middle class family. So Shrutina wants to ease the burden of her family by receiving scholarship for her higher education in future.
“My greatest strength is my hard work, determination and confidence. I believe we should dream bigger to achieve bigger, so although I am young, I have big ambitions for my future. Along with my strengths, I have my weakness as well. My weakness is mass speaking. It makes me nervous. To overcome my weakness, I participated in speech competition and stood 3rd in my school. Though I still feel nervous, I am working on it.”
Except studies, she likes traveling to different places, sketching, watching movies and meeting with friends. She has also been awarded for drawing competition, handwriting and speech competition. Due to lockdown it was difficult for her to attend online classes as her family did not have access to internet and used to use free wifi available. However now she is sharing the cost with her neighbor so it has finally been easier for her to attend her classes.