News brief for the current situation in Nepal
The infection rate has fallen steadily, from an average of 3,000 daily cases in October to about 300 in January. Last week, Nepal recorded its first day since August without a Covid-related death.
Amid the pandemic, the ruling Communist party has been preoccupied with infighting. Despite a large majority, the prime minister, KP Sharma Oli, dissolved parliament in December and called for early elections in an apparent bid to renege on a power-sharing agreement with a rival – a move his opponents claim is unconstitutional.
But even as the health risks appear to recede, the economic fallout from the virus has been dire. Levels of unemployment and personal debt have soared, particularly for those working in tourism ‘and the informal sector. [Guardian 11th February 2021]
IGWR-Nepal moving into a post-Covid position
We are planning our 2021-22 budget without any provision for developing rural school infrastructure projects. This is a reflection of the reality both globally and in Nepal.
It is unlikely that we will be able to send teams to Nepal untill much later this year at the earliest. However, we continue to provide three homes for children/students and are supporting sixty kids in full-time education.
We will therefore make this the last project up date for this particular project and will continue to report via our other major project which in turn will be expanded to reflect our full activities:
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/after-school-support-to-30-needy-kids-in-nepal/
During the pandemic we’ve all realised how dependant we are (globally) on each other; and we’ve also learnt to ‘work remotely’; so maybe as we break through the pandemic, we will actually be better equipped to make an even bigger difference; and when a new ‘normal’ emerges many more will want to reach out and help those less fortunate than we are.
What can you do to help?
Raja and the team in Nepal have achieved so much, and have kept the children safe and home-schooled during the most challenging times of 2020. As we move beyond Covid into a new-normal we anticipate that even more will be achieved.
We’re planning new vocational training programs for children graduating from high school and once it is safe we will again look at supporting rural schools that require assistance.
GlobalGiving is an ideal platform for these new initaitives to emerge through new targetted projects, so please consider becoming a regualr (monthly) supporter as we make plans for the future of the sixtry children we’re currently looking after.
And, follow us via our web-site or scial media pages so that you can see the very real difference YOU are making in the lives of others.
Links:
Coronavirus still creates a challenging situation in Nepal, and school /travel lockdowns are in place. At the time of writing this report over two thousand new cases a day were being reported in Nepal.
IGWR-Nepal are very much focussed on supporting the sixty plus children in their care and also supporting the families of those children where there is financial hardship due to the Coronavirus situation.
For now there is no opportunity for us to progress with the rural school work of this project, however it is a time perhps for planning future fundraising activities.
Nepal will need our help to recover from the downturn caused by Coronavirus, and helping kids get a good education is the best investment in recovery.
Any immediate fundraising initiatives can be directed to our primary GlogalGiving project;
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/after-school-support-to-30-needy-kids-in-nepal/
And please check out our website for more information, we’re again joining with GlobalGiving to promte the 200% bonus that will be given to any new monthly supporters during the December campaign.
2020 has been a year of unexpected challenges for us all, and we’re looking forward to being able to get back to Nepal to share the whole experience with the dedicated team that look after so many children.
2020 has also been a year that we’ve realised how dependant we are (globally) on each other; and we’ve also learnt to ‘work from home’; so maybe as we break through the pandemic, we will actually be better equipped to make an even bigger difference when a new ‘normal’ emerges.
Our thanks to all who generously offer their support, and may this Christmas be a light to all who live in the shadows.
Links:
The Coronavirus pandemic continues to dominate all aspects of life in Nepal, as this article from “The Diplomat” narrates:
“COVID-19: Nepal in Crisis
The coronavirus crisis has brought to the fore — and exacerbated — a number of the Nepali state’s long-standing weaknesses.
Until late May, Nepal was an outlier in South Asia and the world for its low number and slow rise of confirmed COVID cases. The country went into relatively strict lockdown on March 24 and cases remained under 1,000 up until May 28. However, cases have increased over 10-fold since then as tens of thousands of migrant workers began returning home from India, which eased its internal travel restrictions on June 1”
The work of IGWR-Nepal continues during increasingly difficult times although (as per our previous report) we are unable to make any progress with plans for improvements in rural schools.
Our current efforts are very much focussed on the 60-70 children that IGWR Nepal looks after and we’re managing to provide home-schooling for those children that live in the three IGWR houses in Kathmandu, as well as providing support for those families of children that can no longer work (or attend school) due to the Covid-19 situation.
The situation in Nepal ( and other “Least Developed Countries – LCDs) is certainly much more acute than we are experiencing in Australia ( and other Developed Countries) so there is an even more urgent need for us to assist where we can and share what we have with those who do not have the opportunities we have.
We joined the GlobalGiving(GG) July Bonus Day and were pleased with achieving a $3,500 bonus that added to the generosity of participating donors, however our efforts were directed to our other GG project as that is very much the immediate concern and greatest need.
Although we are all living in uncertain times, we continue to plan and explore possibilities for a post-Covid-19 future, and look toward a different and perhaps more generous future that appreciates more the interrelatedness of humanity based on what we are experiencing at the moment.
So, what next?
1. Please stay in touch via our website and see what we are achieving already, and what new initiatives emerge from the Covid-19 experience.
2. Now is perhaps a good time to introduce friends to the support you are giving for the benefit of children in Nepal; we are learning that the answers to life are all about helping one another.
3. And stay safe, look after yourself, and wherever possible give someone else a hand.
When “I” becomes “We”, even “illness” becomes “wellness”
Thank YOU
Links:
This is a very brief update as we’ve not been able to make any progress due to the current Coronavirus pandemic.
Keith, who is leading this project had to cancel his visit to Nepal (due in April) and likewise, Peter H (IGWR chair) also cancelled; so there has been little opportunity to progress with the planning.
Restrictions in Nepal are catching up with most of the world, so most people are staying home, and travel is restricted to essential trips only.
The two most powerful warriors are patience and time. [Leo Tolstoy]
Hopefully we’ll all make use of this enforced pause to plan ahead and perhaps to make changes to what we do, and how we do it.And although we’re looking forward to moving forward with this project, it might be that this world-pause will give us an even better chance of success in the future.
The world is certainly being presented with an opportunity to re-think, and to realign with values are healthy and life-giving for all.If we learn from C-19, we might finally see that we are all connected, we must therefore care for each other if we want to care for ourselves.
The team of volunteers that together make up IGWR, and the team on the ground in Nepal are already breaking down the boundaries that keep so many in poverty. As we live through the C-19 shared experience I’m optimistic that the world might become more empathetic, and those of us that ‘have’ will share more with those that ‘have not’.
As we wait it out in our “stay-at-home” isolation it is a good time to check-in with the IGWR-Nepal website, and also see what ‘s happening day-by-day via Facebook.
It’s also a good time to plan for future fundraising, and to share YOUR story, for as we share with others why we give, and why we care, so we invite them to look at the same questions for themselves.
Thanks for being part of a wonderful village
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
