GlobalGiving.org: Rescue Children Suffering From Severe Malnutrition

Out of the Mud Grows the Lotus

Teresa Parker — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:03:19 GMT

Newest NRH in Rajbiraj

Rajbiraj Nutritional Rehabilitation Home

Seven years ago, the Nepal Youth Foundation offered to build a Nutritional Rehabilitation Home (NRH) next to the government's "zonal" hospital in the town of Rajbiraj in southeastern Nepal. From the first NRH built in Kathmandu in 1998, Nepal's Minister of Health supported the project and urged NYF to expand these facilities around the country. A goal of 14 NRH's was set, with the intention of establishing an NRH adjacent to each of the country's zonal hospitals.

In 2004, NYF approached the administrator for the Sagarmatha zonal hospital in Rajbiraj. The hospital itself was in desperate need of upkeep and the conditions for the patients were very poor and unsanitary. One of the most unhealthy aspects of the site was an open pond right on the hospital grounds into which biological waste was dumped. We were certain that the NRH would be a welcome addition as a place to provide long-term care for infants and children suffering malnutrition, a frequent cause of children's hospitalization. However, the administrator refused the offer.

Yet, NYF did not forget their commitment to build an NRH by every hospital. So our staff kept offering. This year, Sagarmatha hospital's new administrator said, "Yes." In less than half a year, the new NRH was built and opened its doors to children and their caregivers.

And, the most wondrous part of the story is the open waste pit was emptied, disinfected and backfilled and is now the very place on which the NRH stands. Yes, "out of the mud grows the lotus."

On behalf of the children we serve, thank you for your support. For more information please visit our website, www.nepalyouthfoundation.org. Follow this link to watch our new 4 minute video:http://bit.ly/uv6is2.

Rajeev Thakur at Admission to Rajbiraj NRH

Rajeev Thakur after 18 days at NRH

Links:

NYF Website

Nutritional Rehabilitation Homes Update

Teresa Parker — Thu, 26 May 2011 00:00:14 GMT

Nutritional Rehabilitation Homes

In 1998, Nepal Youth foundation (NYF) started piloting Nutrition Rehabilitation Home (NRH) initiative in Kathmandu. The successful learning encouraged NYF to expand this program to other regional and zonal hospitals. So far NYF has established 9 NRHs that has been able to support 6724 malnourished children to regain normal health and 5969 parents (caretakers) have been provided with intensive counseling and hands-on training on nutrition, family health and personal hygiene. NYF has been successfully supporting the Nutritional Rehabilitation Homes (NRH) at nine regional and zonal hospitals outside Kathmandu.

Objectives:

To rehabilitate the severely malnourished children
To educate the caretakers on food and nutrition

- The NRHs are located in10 districts of the country. The total capacity of 10 NRHs is 123 beds. With an average of 35 children staying days and a ninety percent occupancy target, these NRHs have a capacity to serve 1154 malnourished children per year.

- NRH Nepalgunj, NRH Biratnagar and NRH-Bhadrapur were taken over by the respective zonal hospitals in June 2009 & 2010. The government of Nepal, Ministry of Health provided the budget for these NRHs and they are functioning smoothly. Now NYF is managing 7 NRHs with 86 beds capacity

- During the nine month period the overall construction work of NRH building in Janakpur was completed. The inauguration of the building was held in 29^th December 2010 and it has started operation.

- President, Executive Director and Nutrition Coordinator of NYF visited Janakpur for the inauguration. NRH building was inaugurated jointly by the President of NYF Ms. Olga D. Murray and the Chairperson of Janakpur Zonal Hospital Development Mr. Kunwar Kanta Jha.

- At the same time they have visited Rajbiraj to observe the progress in construction activities of the new NRH building.

- The construction of NRH-Rajbiraj on the premises of Sagarmatha Zonal Hospital is going on and it will be completed by the end of April.

- The process of finalizing the agreement with Dhaulagiri Zonal Hospital, Baglung is already completed and it will be signed in January 2011.

- During this period Program Director of NYOF visited NRH-Pokhara and provides some instruction to the staffs for the better functioning of the facility.

- Training sessions were organized at NRH-Kathmandu for the staff of NRH-Janakpur. The objective of the training was to show the overall management of establishment of satellite NRH and its smooth operation and to strengthen the confidence of the newly appointed staff for the conduction of the project.

- Ministry of Health, Department of Health Services has declared that every last week of December will be considered as nutrition week. The government agencies for health services, NGOs and INGOs involving in nutritional activities have been celebrating this occasion by conducting different nutritional events in their respective fields. All NRHs celebrated it in coordination with the District Public Health Offices demonstrating locally available nutritious food-stuffs and providing education on nutrition.

- NRH-Kathmandu conducted an outreach Nutrition Awareness Camp in Dukuchhap Village Development Committee of Lalitpur district on October 29^th 2010 to cover the children from Danuwar ethnic group. Including NRH team, 7 volunteers from project's abroad were involved in the camp to help the team. Enrollment of children was very impressive, 332 children attended in the camp and anthropometric measurement were taken. All the mothers participated in the nutrition education session delivered by the dietitian. The health workers tried to educate the mothers through songs to make the education more impressive.

Regular Activities:

Admissions, discharges and follow-ups are the regular procedures of all NRHs. At the time of admission and discharge, anthropometric measurement and photographs of all the children are taken.

During July to December, the following activities were carried out by the seven NRHs.

- A total of 491 children were provided with nutritional care and 424 caretakers were educated on nutrition. Among the admitted children 84% belonged to age-group under 5 years.

- During the period, 494 children were discharged including 287 male and 207 female.

- Among the discharged children, 377 were officially discharged, 59 discharged before time due to the Dashain and Tihar festival, 31 referred to hospital, because they were having more complications and needed to be re-hospitalized.

- During the reported period, 870 follow-ups were recorded from 7 NRHs in which 353 were the first, 291 and 226 were the second and third follow-up, respectively. During follow-up period, most of the children’s health conditions were found to be satisfactory. Few children were still malnourished due to poor economic condition while a few were having chronic diseases as well.

- During this period 4 death cases were recorded from NRH Kathmandu and Surkhet. It was recorded in the follow-up process. It was due to other diseases.

- Counseling services were provided by different NRHs to the guardians whose children are mildly malnourished, and these guardians are not able to stay for the recommended treatment. They receive counseling services by the staff of NRH. The nursing staff and manager counsel the guardian especially mothers to feed the appropriate balanced diet to recover the weight that the child has lost. This activity seemed effective. After attending in the counseling session, maximum number of guardians reported a good improvement observed in their children.

Case History

Akha Pun a 21 month old boy was referred from a private pediatric hospital - IFCH (International Friendship Children's Hospital) on September 8, 2010 in a severe stage of PEM (Protein Energy Malnutrition). He got admitted in IFCH for few days and stabilized there. The causes of admission in the IFCH were vomiting, loose stool, skin infection, fever and lose of weight.

Akha belongs to a middle class family and his parents are well educated. He was the second child of his parents. Even having a good surrounding such as economically and socially, Akha's health condition was deteriorating day by day and he had to visit Kathmandu for the treatment.

The main occupation of the family was agriculture though his father was abroad for the livelihood. His mother Rima is responsible for looking after both of the children. Akha used to get 2 meals and 3 snacks a day which is enough for a little boy like Akha but the ingredients were not properly mixed while preparing the food.

At arrival, he weighted at 6.5 kg and height was 71 cm and as per WHO guideline he was severely malnourished (<-3 standard deviations). He looked very sad and pale. The rehabilitation program was started with formula 75 and he passed through the entire treatment course. He received Vitamin A single dose, folic acid regularly. He started to consume 975 kilo calorie per day and finally able to consume 1545 kilo calorie per day. Mother Rima had the opportunity to participate in the nutrition education session offered by the NRH. She understood the importance of good nutrition for a child's growth and development.

After 34 days at the NRH, Akha had reached his desired weight and was no longer malnourished. During his stay at NRH, his weight was dramatically increased and he reached 8 kg at the date of discharge (October 12), which was a 1.5 kg weight gain in 34 days. His mother, who was caring him in the Centre, also gained 3.7 kg of her weight. Akha seemed very happy and healthy at the time of discharge.

We thank you for supporting this worthwhile project.

Links:

Nepal Youth Foundation

NYF now rescues children with HIV/AIDS!

Olga Murray — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 19:13:16 GMT

Your $75 donation can send them to school

Dear Friends,

The Nepal Youth Foundation has started to rescue children with HIV/AIDS!
The New Life Center in Kathmandu, Nepal provides excellent treatment to children with HIV/AIDS while teaching their parents to live hygienically and cook nutritious meals. This training dramatically reduces the risk of acquiring the illnesses that make HIV develop into AIDS, and lets HIV-infected people lead fulfilling lives. Find out more about this pioneering project!
http://www.nepalyouthfoundation.org/programs/health/newlife.html

NYF's founder Olga Murray describes falling in love with Nepal
She also discusses NYF’s diverse programs for children and the organization's plans for the future, in an interview in the Napa Valley Register.
http://bit.ly/8XzPn6

Read an interview about NYF's life-changing projects!
Read an interview with the Nepal Youth Foundation's Development Director, Gregg Tully, about NYF's work to end child slavery in Nepal, scholarships, and children's homes. Also watch a video in which a blind Nepali girl describes the happiest moment in her life.
http://bit.ly/9Fihbt

NYF earns its fourth consecutive four-star rating
Because of our exceptional fiscal management, the Nepal Youth Foundation received its fourth four-star rating – the highest possible – from Charity Navigator, America's largest evaluator of charities. Only 8% of the charities evaluated receive four consecutive four-star ratings. This indicates our extremely efficient and effective implementation of the funds that you, our donors, contribute.

A hair salon held a fundraiser to rescue enslaved Nepali girls!
Salon Amour in Walnut Creek, California donated 100% of their proceeds for a day to NYF, and raised $5,000 – enough to rescue 50 girls! Find out more about how they did it at http://www.callandresponse.com/blog/?p=753. Can you hold a fundraiser, too? Read about many creative and fun ways you can help NYF rescue needy children:
http://www.nepalyouthfoundation.org/howtohelp/supporters.html

Please donate today to enable the Nepal Youth Foundation to give unimagined opportunities to some of the most destitute children on earth. It only costs $100 to rescue a girl from bonded servitude and let her get an education.

Rescued from malnutrition for just $340

Disabled children are happy to get an education!

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Celebrating 20 Years of Transforming Children’s Lives in Nepal!

Olga Murray — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 23:02:30 GMT

A girl NYOF rescued from a childhood of servitude

Dear Friends,

The Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation (NYOF) uses an integrated approach to address the multitude of challenges facing Nepali children and empowers them to fulfill their dreams. To learn more about how NYOF’s diverse programs provide nutrition for emaciated children, education, loving homes, and much more, visit http://www.NYOF.org .

Olga Murray, who founded the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation (NYOF) 20 years ago, just turned 85. We celebrated this combined anniversary and birthday in San Francisco with around 200 of Olga and NYOF’s friends and supporters.

Watch ABC TV's VIDEO about NYOF’s work in Nepal and Olga's party! The video shows the results of the decades NYOF and Olga have spent helping Nepali Children, including rescuing girls who have been enslaved as bonded servants. http://nyof.org/newsroom/video.html#abc2

NYOF has rescued close to 10,000 girls from slave-like servitude, and more than 3,500 have been saved in the current year alone. NYOF will soon eliminate the tradition of selling Nepali girls into bondage. Read this news article about our accomplishments: http://nyof.org/newsroom/newsmedia.html#irin

"Happy Birthday Olga Mummy!" Watch this adorable VIDEO of the children of J and K House, the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation's excellent homes for children, sending Olga Murray birthday greetings. http://nyof.org/newsroom/video.html#birthday

These children can go to school because of NYOF

Now she is free from slavery and goes to school

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An amazingly effective way to treat malnutrition

Bill Brower — Sun, 16 May 2010 06:49:21 GMT

Sita with a healthy-looking Nischita

Bill Brower is a Field Program Officer with GlobalGiving who is visiting our partners’ projects throughout South and Southeast Asia. On May 10th he visited the NYOF Nutritional Rehabilitation Home in Kathmandu. His “Postcard” from the visit:

The approach to treating severe malnutrition that NYOF and its implementing partners have developed is truly impressive. When they started off in 1998 Som, NYOF’s Executive Director in Kathmandu, says they weren’t aware of a “manual from anywhere in the world” on how to treat these children. All their methods they developed themselves over time. They now have a manual of their own that they use to train staff in the new Nutritional Homes they’ve been starting—with government support—all over Nepal.

Children and their mothers are referred to the facility by local hospitals, unable themselves to provide anything but a bit of emergency care. Outside of fortified milk, the children are fed only foods available anywhere in Nepal. These children, according to Sunita of NYOF’s partner Friends of Needy Children, are not malnourished for lack of food but from ignorance: The mothers are feeding their children only white rice three times a day, or overcooked or fried foods lacking the nutritional value that kids need. So the mothers get trainings while their children recover—in what foods children need, how to prepare them, when to feed their children, how to grow certain foods.

The children are typically discharged at a healthy weight in just 35 days. What’s more impressive is mother and child are sent home with only the training she has received and one bag of flour, and there is a less than 8% relapse rate, according to Sunita. The easy answer might be to provide on-going food assistance, which would be costly and not solve the root cause of the problem. NYOF’s approach seems significantly more sustainable.

One of the mothers, Sita, was bouncing a healthy-looking, eight-month old Nischita on her knee. I asked her what she learned: Sita said she knew now that things like banana and egg yolks did not in fact cause colds in children. She also learned about hygiene and how to prepare nutritional foods, like jowolo. She said she will now feed Nischita five times per day. There are other children in her community who are malnourished and she said she would definitely share what she’s learned with their mothers. She said it would be easy for her since she is a teacher. Shree, another mother, gave a similar response saying she’d learned about optimal feeding times and how to prepare vegetables and a special type of flour.

I think this is a great project. I’m proud that GlobalGiving donors are supporting it. It seems an approach deserving of spreading throughout Nepal and beyond.

The Nutritional Rehabilitation Home in Kathmandu

Nurses preparing medicines for a new arrival

Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children at Our Nutritional Rehabilitation Homes

Olga Murray — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:22:29 GMT

Shiva at Admission to the NRH

The boy in the photos is Shiva Rana (not his real name), and he was born in Kanchenpur, one of the nine districts where NYOF has established a Nutritional Rehabilitation Home (“NRH”). These are small hospitals dedicated to restoring the health of malnourished children. His mother gave birth to Shiva, her fourth child, at their hut in a shantytown settlement. Her health was fragile and her breast milk insufficient, so little Shiva started out life without adequate nourishment. When he grew old enough to consume solid foods, at times the family was so poor that they did not have food to offer him. His mother took him to a local shaman (a common practice in poor rural areas in Nepal where there are no doctors), but Shiva continued to deteriorate.

She finally took him to a hospital nearby, where he was diagnosed as suffering from acute malnutrition. The hospital referred him to the nearest NRH. At our doorstep appeared an exhausted, malnourished mother carrying a tiny 11 month old baby weighing only 10 pounds, his face distorted by constant crying, with no appetite, a dull complexion, and severe diarrhea.

Although all 10 beds at the NRH were occupied by children in similar condition, our staff found space and admitted him because of the severity of his condition, and went into action. As she does for all the children, our dietitian prepared a special diet tailored to his needs as well as a feeding and nursing schedule, and the doctor attended to his medical problems.

While Shiva was being restored to health, his mother was instructed daily in the preparation of nutritious food inexpensively and easily available in her village, and about all aspects of child care – the importance of hygiene, the symptoms of illness, etc. She stayed with Shiva at the NRH and was offered food that was nourishing and plentiful. Voila – after 34 days, a healthy, smiling baby and a happy, well-nourished and educated mother.

Shiva’s mother kept repeating that it was hard to believe that her half-dead baby could be transformed so quickly into a bouncy, vigorous infant simply by proper diet and care, and she vowed that she would continue to follow the practices she learned at the NRH to keep him and her other children healthy. Our field worker has made several visits to their home, and he reports that Shiva is in the pink of health. And all this for an average cost of $340.

We are deeply grateful for your support. Please give as generously as you can, so that we can continue to help kids in Nepal to uncover and develop their full potential. We have a proven track record in making the most of your donations – you can do more good with a dollar in Nepal than almost anywhere else, and we spend a very small percentage of donations on administration (as evidenced by our four-star rating from Charity Navigator). We hope you will help us in our efforts to make a difference in these children’s lives.

Please let us know your thoughts by providing feedback in our comments section! Also, please tell your friends, family and colleagues about NYOF’s accomplishments!

Warm regards, Olga

Shiva, Restored by an NRH

Links:

Learn more about the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation

NYOF gives impoverished children in Nepal many ways to unleash their potential!

Olga Murray — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:43:34 GMT

Learning how to sew as well as how to support herself

NYOF’s Nutritional Rehabilitation Home (NRH) program is still thriving! The Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation (NYOF) operates nine NRHs throughout Nepal, which treat severely malnourished children while training their mothers in child care and nutrition, so the problem does not recur. When these plump, happy, healthy babies return with their moms to their villages, the neighbors come over to find out how this amazing transformation took place! NYOF teaches the mothers to share their newfound knowledge with others, so the impact of this program spreads far beyond the mothers and babies who are treated at the NRHs.

We are preparing to build our tenth NRH in rural southeastern Nepal. With your continued support, everyone in Nepal will soon have reasonable access to these facilities, even those living in the very remote corners of the country.

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We are deeply proud of the successes and accomplishments of the many students in our programs. Take, for example, the girls in rural Nepal who we have liberated from bonded labor at the age of 16 or 17 and who have never been to school. It would be too uncomfortable for them to be in a class with first and second graders, so we place them in an intensive literacy course for nine months and then train them for a job – preferably one which will allow them to start a business of their own.

Early on, we created a sewing program for these older girls. The success of this program is guaranteed because they make school uniforms for the thousands of girls we have liberated and now support in school. (The Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation (NYOF) pays the education expenses of former bonded girls, including two sets of school uniforms a year.) So there is no shortage of work for them. Better still, many of the girls we have trained have left the program and started their own sewing businesses in nearby villages.

We have also trained formerly indentured girls to run small shops, repair bicycles, etc. Many of the girls are remarkably entrepreneurial and have started their own businesses to generate income.

Higher education is not the same stepping stone to job opportunities in Nepal that it is in most Western countries; even people with advanced university degrees have difficulty finding work. Our limited funding is sometimes better spent on providing more children with elementary and high school educations and on efforts targeted at eventual employment and self-sufficiency.

The unemployment rate in Nepal hovers around 50%. Thus, for many youngsters, guidance and training in a specific career path is far more helpful than years of higher education. We offer counseling to explore their strengths and interests, and then support them in training for 20 different careers, such as electrician, lab technician, cook, or midwife. These jobs often pay better than the office jobs many college graduates hold out for.

Our vocational programs actively encourage women to pursue careers that in Nepal are traditionally restricted to men. At a technical training school in Kathmandu, NYOF sponsors the only female in the plumbing course. Once she’s employed as a plumber, she hopes to serve as an example to others that women should not feel that certain careers are off-limits.

A number of our vocational trainees who have found decent paying jobs are attending college on their own nickel. One of these is Bashudev Basnet. His father died when he was very young, and his mother earned a living by operating a small tea stall at the bus park in Kathmandu. We supported the education of Bashudev and his brother. After he finished high school and passed his college entrance exams, he enrolled in our vocational program as a cook and he found employment at a fairly snazzy restaurant on the fanciest street in Kathmandu. He was such a good worker that after only a month on the job he got a raise. He has enrolled in college in the morning and then goes to work on the day and evening shift. Not only that, he is now able to support his mother.

We are deeply grateful to you for standing with us. Please give as generously as you can, so that we can continue to help kids in Nepal to uncover and develop their full potential. We have a proven track record in making the most of your donations – you can do more good with a dollar in Nepal than almost anywhere else, and we spend a very small percentage of donations on administration (as evidenced by our four-star rating from Charity Navigator). We hope you will help us in our efforts to make a difference in these children’s lives.

Please let us know your thoughts by providing feedback in our comments section! Also, please tell your friends, family and colleagues about NYOF’s accomplishments!

Warm regards, Olga

P.S. Watch a video about Ramchandra, a student whose life was transformed by NYOF and who has a truly inspirational outlook, at http://www.nyof.org/newsroom/video.html#ram

Did you ever see a better looking plumber?

Bashudev and his friends in action

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The government of Nepal is supporting NYOF's project for malnourished children!

Olga Murray — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:02:47 GMT

This 15-year-old girl's baby is being saved from malnutrition

Although the government of Nepal is undergoing more tumultuous changes, including a new Prime Minister, NYOF’s programs in Nepal are continuing to transform the lives of impoverished children, and provide them with unimagined opportunities.

NYOF’s Nutritional Rehabilitation Homes are small hospitals where mother and child live while the child is built up to normal weight and health, and the mother is educated about nutrition and other matters relating to the health of her child. The mothers are also trained to pass on the knowledge they have gained to other mothers when they return to their villages. Field workers check up on the children after their discharge to be sure that their mothers are applying the principles they learned at the NRH to maintain the health of their children.

At the request of the Ministry of Health, we are building NRHs all over the country, and have just started construction of our ninth such facility in rural Nepal. The purpose is two-fold. First, we want to restore to health the thousands of children whose mothers cannot afford to bring their children to the city for treatment. The second goal is to establish throughout the country nutrition wards at government zonal hospitals with trained and dedicated staffs and ultimately to transfer responsibility for their financing and operation to the government.

Our plan, developed by our able and dedicated staff in Nepal, is to establish at least 14 NRHs, one on the grounds of the main government hospital in each of Nepal’s administrative zones, to train the employees, and to operate and support the facility for five years. At the end of that period, the hospital itself will take over its operation and financing.

Skeptics told us the government would never accept responsibility. But guess what – it’s happening! The first of these outlying NRHs, in Nepalgunj, reached its five year anniversary last December and the Ministry of Health in Kathmandu is providing funding for the local hospital to take it over. The second comes on line in July and we anticipate the same result. NYOF will continue to have a role in evaluation, monitoring, and continuing education, but the basic support will come from the government of Nepal.

Thank you for supporting some of the most disadvantaged children in Nepal.

Please let us know your thoughts about this project by providing feedback in our comments section!

Children at an NRH reading a book

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More information about NYOF's Nutritional Rehabilitation Homes

Progress and Expansion of the Nutritional Rehabilitation Homes

Olga Murray — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:36:13 GMT

Sumitra at admission to a Nutritional Rehabilitation Home...

The Nutritional Rehabilitation Homes are small hospitals devoted entirely to restoring very malnourished children to health and educating their mothers in nutrition and all other aspects of child care so that the condition does not recur. Since half the children under five years of age in Nepal are malnourished and this is a leading cause of death in this age group, these centers provide a critical service. Because of the help provided by our doctors, nurses, and nutritionists, children who are admitted looking as though they cannot survive much longer, leave the NRH an average of five weeks later as bouncy, plump little kids, brimming with life. We use only food easily and inexpensively available throughout Nepal to work these miracles. After discharge, a field worker visits the children to be sure they are maintaining their weight gain.

We began this project ten years ago with a small facility in Kathmandu above a children’s clinic. Later, we moved to larger quarters, with 23 beds. At the urging of the Nepali government, we have been establishing such centers throughout the country so that children who cannot come to Kathmandu can also get help. At present, there are six NRHs in different parts of Nepal, and we are building three more, some in areas which were not possible to work in during the Maoist insurgency.

Over 3000 children have been restored to blooming good health over the years at the NRHs, and their mothers trained in the principles of child care. The average stay is five weeks, and the average cost is only $300.

Taking the Show on the Road

Last year, we began a pilot project to try to head off malnutrition by taking the tried and tested methods we have developed at the NRHs to remote areas of the country. We established free camps in rural areas, distributing leaflets in advance to the remote, roadless villages in the area, inviting children, their family members, and women of childbearing age to the free camp. Doctors, nurses, and nutritionists were in attendance, all experienced in imparting knowledge about children’s health to usually illiterate mothers. All the children who attended the camps were assessed and the mothers were taught to prepare a nourishing and easily digestible mix of locally available food. Children who were only moderately malnourished would be helped by this formula. Those who suffered from severe malnourishment were referred to the nearest NRH. Two follow-up camps will be held to assess the success of the program.

An interesting aspect of the project is that the mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law of the mothers and prospective mothers were also urged to attend. In Nepal, the tradition is that after marriage, a wife goes to live with her husband’s family. From that day onward, she is subject to the dictates of her in-laws in almost all matters, including child rearing. The ten years of experience at our NRHs has taught us that some mothers who have returned to their villages fully instructed in good child care practices, were unable to apply their knowledge because their in-laws insisted that traditional methods of nourishing children and maintaining their health be followed. Therefore, the in-laws in the family are also encouraged to attend the training sessions.

...and 53 days later

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