![Migrant worker moving to Village]()
Migrant worker moving to Village
THE SMALL WORLD COVID-19 UPDATE:
Our Primary / Emergency Relief Support Program
The Small World has to date provided over 500 families with relief food, especially families of trekking porters, day construction workers with lost jobs, single moms, young children, and elderly people who lost their jobs and urgently need our support.
Challenges
Here in Nepal, COVID-19 cases are rapidly increasing every day, mainly because thousands of migrant workers are returning home from lost jobs in India; unfortunately, most of them are infected. We expect that the Nepal government will soon declare a medical emergency with more limitation on services and movement.
Right now, though, hunger is a much more serious challenge than coronavirus, and guaranteed to be an issue long after the pandemic is over. After lockdown in the district of Solukhumbu (where our girls receive higher education at our school), over three dozen people have committed suicide; in the rest of Nepal, over 900 people have committed suicide, and yet we have just ten deaths from the virus so far. According to the World Food Program, an estimated 4.8 million people in Nepal were struggling with food security before the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, UNICEF warned that “over 4,000 children may die in Nepal in the next 6 months due to lockdown.”
Secondary and Sustainable Relief Support Program
We have had comprehensive discussions with the communities we provided with food relief support, and they have requested help in farming, a skill with which many of these families have never been involved or had experience.
Meanwhile, more than two months of lockdown have halted transportation with drastic effects; it is estimated that returning to normalcy could take a minimum of a year or even two for the resumption of normal daily construction work, daily labor job opportunities, and trekking jobs for families.
We have also realized that providing food relief support is not a permanent solution, so we have come up with a support program with the project name, “Seed Of Hope.” With this program, we plan to help communities grow their own food by providing seeds, orientation, and basic training by agricultural experts for seasonal farming, cash crops, kitchen gardens, organic compost, and organic pest control.
“Seed of Hope” Beneficiaries
We are initiating this program in the Solu-Dhudkunda Municipality area, which is divided into eleven (11) wards, and forming mothers’ groups. There will be 20-25 women in each group and so far, 350 women have requested our support. Every member will receive seeds and support from agricultural experts; many of our girls from the hostel and their families are also participating.
Our program is actually not a training for individuals - it is in fact a beautiful family program. Every mother or family member who participates in our farming program will take this training and education to their home and share it with everyone there, especially the children.
With schools closed and online education not accessible for these children, at this point, we feel the best education for them is to become involved in growing their own food and learning about the new possibilities that farming presents.
As you know, road track opening and road construction in remote areas has been a highly prioritized effort in the last couple of years, with less focus on agriculture.
Thus, our goal for this program is to not only function on a practical level as described above, but also as a powerful organized movement. In this campaign, our goal is to motivate local communities and local government to focus on creating and bringing much more investment into the agricultural sector.
We at The Small World have 'been there' long before the news cameras arrived, and we’ll be there long after the cameras leave. Through our continued commitment, we have learned a great deal through years of experience and have the acumen and know-how to help our communities become more resilient to future disasters.
The Small World, which is a locally run organization, has the experience and skills to execute relief efforts on the ground quickly, easily and safely for people in urgent need in remote communities. We feel that we have proven our expertise with our success in previous difficult challenges, deeply understand community needs, and are well prepared to make a big difference in this current crisis. Unfortunately, when disaster strikes, recovery efforts led by The Small World and Karma Sherpa, who lives and works in affected communities, are often taken for granted, and thus are largely overlooked and underfunded.
Seeds of Hope on Radio Program.
We are excited to announce that we are partnering this program with local Radio Himal FM and Khumbu FM, which has coverage of the entire area of eastern Nepal. This will be a ten-minute radio program to be broadcast for a month. Every day, we will talk about the Seeds of Hope program and share details about our mission and how we are taking action.
We plan to share the stories of women and mothers' groups who are participating in our program and focus on their stories and feelings in their own words. There will be interviews with local governments, including Mayors and Ward Presidents, to draw attention to much needed support for the agriculture sector during this pandemic.
We also will feature stories from children that will inspire other children to learn about farming and working with their mother on the farm, plus other stories which have never been shared before.
In this Seeds of Hope radio program, we will bring in agriculture experts to share their ideas and knowledge. Many local community members can directly contact these agriculture experts through this radio program and ask questions. Our goal is to reach over three million people in Province No. 1 with this important program!
Budget:
The estimated budget per family is US$30; this includes more than ten seed varieties, the advice of agricultural experts, group formation or activation of existing support groups, media campaigns, and awareness programs. Our goal is to raised $30,000 reach directly one thousand (1000) women and their families, especially their children.
We believe there is a very good chance of success with far reaching impact, especially since our philosophy of providing opportunities to women and mothers is and always has been of prime importance; this is because their connections with family members and community are fundamentally the most active and energetic, and whose impact often reaches into neighboring communities.
Join Our Mission & Help The Small World by Pledging Your Support.
We need your support more than ever and our community need our support more than ever.
Thank you very much.
The Small World
![Receiving women relief support from Small World]()
Receiving women relief support from Small World
![Foods relief support providing]()
Foods relief support providing
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