Caring for People Affected by HIV & AIDS in Nepal

By Petrus Darlami - AIDSLink Nepal Team Leader

 We as AIDSLink Nepal team, thank you for the continuous support with the study program support. We were able to help one of the single parents to take her child to school. Below is a short message of the child that received a sponsorship to study.

I am writing to express my sincere gratitude to you for your great support that enable me to study. Without your support I would not have been able to study without because my mother is a single woman, and my family economic status is not good.

I am in my last year of studiesworking towards my goal of becoming a B.Sc. Nurse. The financial assistance you provided has of great help to me in paying for my educational expenses, and it allowed me to concentrate more on studying. It has been a great platform for the less privileged females like me to head towards the road of success. The organization is truly working for the right purpose of helping in building the empowerment of the women.

Thank you again for your generosity and support. I promise to work very hard and eventually give something back to others especially in my community, both as a health worker and possibly a sponsor to future students like myself.

Thank you for your great support, I am very much grateful to you.

Your Sincerely Supported Student, Sujita Mahato Golbazar-10, Siraha 

Family Visits in Kathmandu 
Thank you for your valuable support in these difficult times. In spite of the challenges of COVID 19, and in keeping with the restrictions, we have been able to help nearly 300 clients each month.

Visiting families in their homes and drinking cups and cups of tea with them gives us opportunities to talk and listen.  

One lady was sharing about her time in lockdown. She was fearful and worried about what would happen to her daughter if she died. Then she lost her job and had to leave the city. Staying in the village is hard for her and makes her daughter's education harder. Lockdown continued and lasted half a year in the end.

She decided to come back to the city because of her need for ART medicine. As a widowed mother living with her teenage daughter she alone has to provide food, housing, and for her daughter’s education, even though she is often sick. 

When she came to the city, she was unable to find a job. No one was willing to give her work because of COVID19. She felt lonely and desperate. But the AIDSLink staff kept calling and encouraging her throughout this hard time.

They helped with money for her daughter's education. She said,” I appreciated this support so much. After my husband died, I felt like no one cared for me. It is really hard to live in a community when you have HIV and if I tell people I have it I am unable to get a job. The AIDSLink team became one of the pillars of my life.”

Training

We have been able to conduct some in-person training in rural areas, but when we look south to the situation with COVID-19 in India, we are concerned about what will happen in Nepal.

AIDSLink International has started running online Channels of Hope workshops. We are looking at conducting one of these for the Nepal team and other local volunteers.