Nepal 2010
Long Distance Adoptions
In support of ILO convention and the Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World
Under increasingly difficult conditions the Association continues to support the education and healthcare of approximately 1000 children in Nepal through the long distance adoptions program. Once again over the course of the year the Association has also extended help to elderly people with no other means of support as well as to young monks living and studying in local monasteries.
In April of 2010, 56 children sponsored through Help in Action sat the exams for the School Leaving Certificate. These young adults were amongst the first children to be accepted into the Help in Action sponsorship program in Nepal and considering the social, political, economic and personal conditions through which they have managed to complete their education – they are 56 children who have succeeded against all odds! We would like to congratulate them for their hard work. At the end of the school session 2010/11, a further 70 students will sit the exam commonly know in Nepal as the “iron gateway to a better future”.
If we look at just a few of the children taken care of by the Association over the years we can see how their lives have been changed and just how important your support is.
Higher Education
Approximately 75 children are continuing in further education thanks to the generosity of their sponsors. Popular subjects include teaching degrees, commerce, hotel management, social work, engineering and nursing.
Kamal Lama is finishing his commerce course in college and hopes to attend university next year.
Durga Thapalia is in her second year of a dental technician course.
Emergency Fund
Over the years the emergency fund has provided help to hundreds of families. The fund pays for life-saving operations and provides financial aid to families facing serious difficulties.
The emergency fund also helps to buy materials for Gangchen Samling School and continuously helps to provide materials for the important social and healthcare activities of the Himalayan Healing Centre. The emergency fund also plays an important role in keeping the children whose sponsors can no longer support them in school.
Mukesh came back from his village to visit us 4 years after his life-saving heart operation. He is now healthy and enjoying school in his village.
Ambika, the mother of Puja, Karmala and Sunita, works on building sites carrying bricks and when there is no work to be found she begs food to support her daughters. Thanks to the emergency fund her children attend a local school and are always at the top of their classes.
Gangchen Samling School
Thanks to two volunteer art teachers (from Italy and France) the children of Gangchen Samling School have been stretching their imaginations! The younger children completed art projects based on the topic of the elements whilst the older children were introduced to an array of arts and crafts.
As in previous years the children prepared a cultural performance to celebrate the lunar new-year. This year a particularly interesting performance was carried out to explain to the spectators the meaning of the main festivals of the Hindu culture and religion.
13 pupils from Gangchen Samling School sat the class 8 Government board exams this year.
Himalayan Healing Centre Clinic
Nel 2009 il numero complessivo dei pazienti visitati dai medici della Clinica Himalayan Healing Centre è arrivato quasi a 9000. Il servizio più richiesto è stato ginecologia e ostetricia con 2360 pazienti, seguito da medicina generale con 2154 pazienti. Anche le cure dentistiche sono state molto richieste e sono state curate 1730 persone. Purtroppo è aumentato il numero di bambini che necessitano di ai denti a causa del cambiamento della loro dieta che ora include anche dolci e bevande, diventati più facili da trovare in quest’area. Per poter garantire regolari controlli ai bambini della zona e nel tentativo di informare i genitori sulla carie e sulla prevenzione, l’Associazione sta provvedendo all’acquisto di nuove attrezzature e sta aumentando il materiale a disposizione dell’ambulatorio dentistico.
La clinica offre anche su richiesta rimedi naturali a base di erbe e terapie tradizionali himalayane ed è anche una base per la vaccinazione dei bambini piccoli e neonati.
5 x 1000 and Emergency Fund 2010
Of the 70 students finishing school this year 24 of them need to thank the generous donations that people have made to the emergency fund. Without this fund they would have missed the chance to finish their education and the years of study and the financial investment made for their education by sponsors would be completely lost. Although at this time we are unable to continue supporting these children if they wish to continue in further education – they now have the basic qualification which well help them to find work in the education system, tourist industry, government office and so on.
Financial aid has also been given from the emergency fund to 34 children living in a local orphanage. These children, who lived in desperate conditions, have been assured of food, medical care, clothes and most importantly a roof over their heads. Individual sponsors have met the education fees of these children.
Donations from the 5×1000 initiative of the Italian Government and emergency fund have allowed for vast improvements for the Himalayan Healing Centre Clinic and for Gangchen Samling School.
The Healing Centre Clinic has been able to buy a new generator (an important necessity as the load-shedding schedule implemented by the Nepal Government means the Clinic is often without a power supply during working hours). New equipment, such as a microscope for the TB program, have been provided and worn out equipment especially in the dental studio has been replaced. The dental clinic – with a special emphasis on the treatment of children – has also been supplied with enough materials to last for the coming year. A stock of disinfectant, cotton, masks, syringes and basic pharmaceuticals, indispensible in the running of the clinic – have also been bought.
Gangchen Samling School has also benefitted from the donations received this year. A new and more powerful water filter has been fitted to ensure that the children have unlimited access to clean water, a new photocopy machine has been installed to cut the cost of using outside services, audio-visual equipment has been purchased to offer the students, who are from some of the poorest families of the area, access to new methods of learning.
