Disaster Support for Families in Nepal

GFV-sponsored children, as many children around Nepal, read the storybook Gita & Shyam, The Day the Earth Shook, to their 'Grandparents'. Due to the low literacy rate in Nepal many parents and granparents are unable to read the book themselves, and found it useful because it contains a lot of information that is helpful for them to know about during and after an earthquake.

REPORT - NOVEMBER 2015 through FEBRUARY 2016

Soon after the devastating quakes in Nepal, neighboring India imposed an undeclared economic blockade. Daily essentials such as food and transport fuel, cooking gas, medicines etc. were not allowed to enter Nepal. All activities came to a halt including the reconstruction of destroyed homes and the delivery of daily essentials and medicine to the earthquake victims. During this critical time, it was the INGOs and the NGOs who came to the rescue of the Nepalis during their darkest hour. CHHATRAPATI FREE CLINIC, HIMRIGHTS, and GLOBAL FAMILY VILLAGE-NEPAL were instrumental in providing immediate medical care, food packages, temporary shelter, community support, early childhood and school support to the earthquake victims, supported by Global Family Village through GlobalGiving and other friends.

During the past 3 months the combined organizations have collaborated their efforts for maximum effect. They are proud to report that:

• 16 awareness programs at VDC/ward level on issues of human rights, women’s rights, child rights and protection, health and sanitation, and preventative crisis measures have been established to address the issues of earthquake-affected victims. Included were awareness programs to sensitize women on the budget allocated by the government for women’s issues. The women have committed to follow up with ward office and citizen ward forum. Similarly, women groups of Siddipur and Lubhu were committed to organize the sensitization programs for the adolescents and women in coordination with Ward Citizen Forum.
• The Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) in Lubhu and Siddipur that were established for helping children to cope up with the psychosocial problems faced by the children in post earthquake have been handed over to the community! In these spaces, the children are able to reduce their mental stress by interacting and playing with their friends and peers while their parents are able to take care of other household work, returning to jobs, manage food and water, reconstruction of their damaged houses, re- establishing their livelihoods, assisting their neighbors and community in recovering.
• 21 HIV infected children of Safalta HIV Children's Home in Kirtipur were provided with a month’s supply of nutritional food and personal hygiene supplies.
• 200 earthquake victims in the outskirts of Kathmandu District and 220 more in the remote Jalbire in Sindhupalchowk District received warm blankets.
• 50 new mothers were provided with food packages and blankets,
• 200 bundles of roof sheets were delivered to the poor earthquake victims in Kathmandu and Lalitpur. This includes 16 bundles to Bloom Nepal School, Lubhoo, Lalitpur District, 5 bundles to Kankeshwori Primary School in Kankeswori, Kathmandu.
• 550 families of Bigu are receiving some 1650 bundles of corrugated zinc sheets while this report is being written. The undeclared Indian blockade caused much delay in distribution of the roof sheets in this remote village as transportation of the goods was not possible due to the acute shortage of fuel.
• The fourth edition of the Children's Coloring/ Book (11,000 copies) were re-printed and distributed to children and families. Books were also made available to Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN) which runs Child Helpline 1098 (in Kathmandu, Hetauda, Nepalgunj, Pokhara and Biratnagar).

The earthquakes, extreme weather and then the Indian blockade had made the lives of 23 million Nepalis precarious. GlobalGiving friends responded to this humanitarian crisis whole-heartedly. Thank you all for showing up!

Namaste. With gratitude from Bijaya Mali (Chhatrapati Free Clinic),  Anjana Sakya (HimRights), Kishor Shrestha (Global Family Village-Nepal