Nepal: Education AND healthcare a priority!

There are times when our own perception of the work we do in Nepal seems less than a drop in the ocean. The previous posting gives a flavour of the overall problems facing Nepal as a nation, and this is on top of the political and security issues resulting from a 10 year war with the Maoists, the removal of the monarchy and government via a 22 party coalition.
However it is when a “personal” situation arises that we question the focus and value of what we do. A recent email from Krishna Thapa, our sponsored teacher at Bal Kalyan school greatly disturbed us: In Krishna’s own words:
"One day last week, Year 1 pupil Deepa Koirala was carrying her nursery class little brother, Dilen, down a flight of stairs when she fell and broke her arm as well as dislocating her elbow. We immediately took her to the nearby Jana Maitri hospital where a doctor confirmed that an operation would be necessary. We could not meet the cost, and neither could Deepa’s parents. Deepa’s father earns 3000 NRs per month (£25!) from which they must pay their rent and purchase food. Next we wrote a letter to the government funded Bir Hospital in Kathmandu seeking help and thankfully they agreed to perform the operation for free. However the cost of medicines was 6000 NRs which we raised from teachers, students and Dr Madan (Nepal Schools Aid Ops Manager). Since then we have had printed 1000 copies of a letter pad in the name of Bal Kalyan Health Fund which we will sell to create a fund for such future emergencies.”

Makes you think, doesn’t it, especially when you realise that Bal Kalyan school is NOT in some remote Himalayan village but in the centre of Nepal’s capital city!

Nepal: A few things you didn't know

A recently published report, Nepal Labour Force Survey 2008, has highlighted a number of facts about the population that even we didn’t know. Most of the facts we publicise ourselves are concerned with education, literacy and malnutrition, but this survey is somewhat wider. Here are some of the key facts:

• Only 66% of Nepal’s workforce is “working” with 17% employed and 83% self employed
• Across the entire workforce, 74% work in agriculture which is the major contributor to the nation’s GDP but often involving only seasonal work with subsistence wages
• Literacy rate is now 63%, a 14% increase over 10 years
• Firewood is the main fuel for cooking used by 68% of the population
• Only 56% of households have electricity
• Only 45% of the population has tap water with 39% using hand pumps

These figures once again emphasise the low standard of living in Nepal overall with such low proportions of the population having an income, having electricity, being able to read, having piped water.

What’s needed is a “pop star” to go on a trek and become affected by the plight of this forgotten land.!

Joanna Lumley puts Nepal on the map

Joanna Lumley has rightly been lauded for her tireless efforts on behalf of Nepali Gurkhas. She has won a moral victory for those Nepalis who served in the British Army and now have the right to settle in the UK with their dependents, and with a pension commensurate with their “service”.

The star of AbFab is now also being feted in Nepal itself and is visiting Gurung and other communities who provide a high proportion of Gurkha recruits from the regions around and above Pokhara in the Annapurna Himal.

However Ms Lumley has done something else which many of us who work to help Nepal and some of the poorest children in the World have singularly failed to do; she has put Nepal on our TV screens and placed it “on the map”. During her recent visit she has been seen visiting a range of village communities, especially schools with relatively poor children who may have a school building, but not much to go in it. You know the sort of things …… books, pens, pencils …… teachers. Forget the computers, not much point without electricity! On a wider basis Nepal is one of the bottom 15 or so poorest countries in the World. Infant malnutrition is the HIGHEST in the World!!

So, thank you Joanna, we may just get a few more coins in the tin, or donations, or grants to help this impoverished (but deserving) country as a wider spinoff from your Gurkha campaign.

Eclipse of the sun seen from Nepal

People observing the solar eclipse using x-ray films and capturing the spectacle using their cell-phone cameras at Swayambhunath in Kathmandu on Wednesday. The Kathmandu Valley this morning witnessed a partial eclipse, while 14 districts in eastern Nepal saw a total eclipse, which is said to the longest of the century.

Being unaware of the fact that a solar eclipse is a natural phenomenon, many Nepali people perform tough rituals related to their religious beliefs.Click here to read about them.