Maskey is a young mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest on May 18 to raise funds to build student-friendly toilets in schools in rural Nepal.[break]
The Student Friendly Toilet Project has Maskey as the brand ambassador and aims to install 100 latrines in local schools, and educate children on gender equality. While on her expedition, she also carried the flag of Carbon Offsetting.
“She climbed Everest to raise fund for the project. But more than that, it’s for raising awareness about health and advocacy for gender equality,” said Shristee Lamsal, Public Relations and Communications Officer at Childreach Nepal.
A pilot project of Student Friendly Toilet Project is going on in Lukla. Susmita went there recently to make people aware about health, hygiene, sanitation, and toilets.
“I had very little time to work as it was snowing a lot and also because of time constraints,” she said.
Elaborating the reason behind joining the project, Maskey shared that it was her duty to give back to the society, and as a climber of the expedition, it was the best option or her.
“As a climber, I didn’t find a better way than climbing the highest peak in the world to support a cause,” she said, adding “As 60 percent of the schools either don’t have toilets or they aren’t student-friendly ones, this project will build toilets and educate people about health and sanitation,” she informed.
This, however, is not her first trip to Everest. In 2008, she led a group of 10 women, aged between 17 and 30, on an expedition to the summit.
According to Childreach Nepal, girls are dropping out of school because of open latrines in schools.
Childreach Nepal hopes to decrease the dropout percentage by 5% in the next five years by providing clean, private latrines for young women in schools.
The next episode of Childreach Nepal is an interaction program with Sushmita Maskey at 3 pm on June 19 at Chilreach Nepal Office, Bakhundole, Lalitpur.
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