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| PUSHPA BASNET WITH KIDS |
We fill very proud to say that another women nominated for
CNN HERO,and she is Pushpa Basnet, before Puspa Maiti Nepal’s Chairman Anuradha
Koirala made an history by winning this award
this time Puspa Basnet is nominated
as top ten contender in this year’s CNN HERO title. Top 10 candidates will
receive 50 thousand dollars each while CNN HERO title winner will receive
2,50,000 dollars more.
You can vote for your favorite from here. According to CNN From
1 email account you can vote 10x a day with your e-mail address – and also through Facebook! 10 times form same candidate or you can vote for
different top 10 candidates you also can vote from your FACEBOOK and Twitter account.
Voting lines are open till November 28, and title will be declare in 2nd
of December 2012. Who will receive maximum numbers of votes he/she will win.
Pushpa was from well to do business family and she was a student of Social work in
college as a part of her studies she visited a women’s prison and was appalled
by the dire conditions. She also was shocked to discover children living behind
the bars due to the guilt of their parents. During her visit in prison one cute
little innocent baby girl pulls her shawl and given a
big innocent smile to her tying to ask
what is my guilty, this incident
shattered Pushpa from bottom of her heart because of their parents those
innocent kids in the age when others enjoys playing in the protective shadow of their parents and prepare for their bright
future by going to schools they let behind to prison for those guilty what their
parents had made. Pushpa said "I felt she was calling me," Basnet
said. "I went back home and told my parents about it. They told me it was
a normal thing and that in a couple of days I'd forget it. But I couldn't
forget."
Pushpa Basnet was shocked to learn that many children in
Nepal have to live in prisons with their parents. In 2005, she started a
children's center that has provided support, such as housing, education and
medical care, to more than 140 children of incarcerated parents.
Basnet decided to start a day care to get incarcerated
children out from behind the prison walls. While her parents were against the
idea at first -- she had no job or way to sustain it financially -- eventually
they helped support her. But prison officials, government workers and even some
of the imprisoned mothers she approached doubted that someone her age could
handle such a project.
"When I started, nobody believed in me," Basnet
said. "People thought I was crazy. They laughed at me."
But Basnet was undaunted. She got friends to donate money,
and she rented a building in Kathmandu to house her new organization, the Early
Childhood Development Center. She furnished it largely by convincing her
parents that they needed a new refrigerator or kitchen table; when her parents'
replacement would arrive, she'd whisk the old one to her center.
Just two months after she first visited the prison, Basnet
began to care for five children. She picked them up at the prison every weekday
morning, brought them to her center and then returned them in the afternoon.
Basnet's program was the first of its kind in Kathmandu; when she started, some
of the children in her care had never been outside a prison.
Two years later, Basnet established the Butterfly Home, a
children's home where she herself has lived for the past five years. While she
now has a few staff members who help her, Basnet is still very hands on.
All the children are at the Butterfly Home with the consent
of the imprisoned parent. When Basnet hears about an imprisoned child, she'll
visit the prison -- even in remote areas of the country -- and tell the parent
what she can provide. If the parent agrees, Basnet brings the child back.
She is still eager, however, for the children to maintain
relationships with their parents. During school holidays, she sends the younger
children to the prisons to visit, and she brings them food, clothing and fresh
water during their stay. Ultimately, Basnet wants the families to reunite
outside prison, and 60 of her children have been able to do just that.
My life would have been dark without (Pushpa). I would've
probably always had a sad life.
Laxmi, 14 years ol Parents like Kum Maya Tamang are grateful for Basnet's
efforts. Tamang has spent the last seven years in a women's prison in
Kathmandu. When she was convicted on drug charges, she had no other options for
child care, so she brought her two daughters to jail with her. When she heard
about Basnet's program, she decided to let them go live with her.
"If Pushpa wasn't around, (they) could have never gotten
an education ... (they) would have probably had to live on the streets,"
she said. "I feel she treats (them) the way I would."
Tamang's oldest daughter, Laxmi, said she can't imagine life
without Basnet.
"My life would have been dark without her," said
Laxmi, 14. "I would've probably always had a sad life. But now I won't,
because of Pushpa."
In 2009, Basnet started a program to teach the parents how to
make handicrafts, which she sells to raise money for the children's care. Both
mothers and fathers participate. It not only gives them skills that might help
them support themselves when they're released, but it also helps them feel
connected to their children.
"Often, they think that they're useless because they're
in prison," Basnet said. "I want to make them feel that they are
contributing back to us."
Making ends meet is always a struggle, though. The children
help by making greeting cards that Basnet sells as part of her handicraft business.
In the past, she has sold her own jewelry and possessions to keep the center
going.
Her biggest concern is trying to find ways to do more to give
the children a better future. She recently set up a bank account to save for
their higher educations, and one day she hopes to buy or build a house so
they'll always have a place to call home. Their happiness is always foremost in
her thoughts.
"This is what I want to do with my life," she said.
"It makes me feel (good) when I see that they are happy, but it makes me
want to work harder. ... I want to fulfill all their dreams."
Article Source :CNN.com
Top Ten Contender of CNN HERO 2012
Pushpa Basnet
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Wanda Butts
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Connie Siskowski
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Mary Cortani
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Leo McCarthy
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Thulani Madondo
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Razia Jan
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Catalina Escobar
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