Coronavirus relief for families in southern Nepal

Coronavirus is not leaving Nepal and people are still suffering as a result of previous lockdowns. Now, the Dashain festival has started and people started gathering in huge groups with no social distancing observed. There are worries that another massive increase in cases will follow shortly after the holidays. As almost no tests are being done, it is very difficult to know the real number of infections or even COVID related deaths.

We have been supporting those that have been affected by the virus or by the subsequent lockdowns, and are also on a standby to provide any emergency support when/if needed. We have also been supporting the children that were not able to attend school due to COVID and closed schools. The exams are taking place so we have been providing tutors where we can and enabling the children to pass their exams and ensuring they do not lose another year. 

Luckily, we have been able to get all our staff members vaccinated but we still have to be very careful. All staff who come back from their annual leave, or our new volunteers, are required to self isolate before they start work to ensure the safety of everyone else around them. 

We are also trying to plan a number of sustainable small scale projects aimed at assisting those communities (particularly those from the lowest castes) that have been mostly affected by the current situation. We are hoping to be able to update you with some of those ideas within our next report!

And a massive, massive thank you again for all the support - it means so much!

With the Indian variant widely spread in Nepal now, majority of communities over there are experiencing hardship, particularly those from more marginalised groups that do not have access to any support. 50% of tests are positive and there are no free hospital beds, no ventilators or oxygen available. The government has now introduced a number of regional lockdowns, most of them very strict. People can't leave their houses and those who live in villages are not even able to get to the hospitals as no transport is allowed.

Some of our colleagues and staff have already lost a number of family members and friends due to the virus. We read stories of people dying on the streets, of many villages in south Nepal where over 90% of households have one or more people with severe corona symptoms - but due to lack of tests and inability to travel to any testing sites or hospitals, nobody can be sure of the real number of infections. 

Most of the communities that we work with are from the lowest Dalit (untouchable) castes and many do not qualify for any relief from any source mainly due to lack of paperwork/citizenship. 

We have now teamed up with another small UK charity, Pipal Tree and a local Nepalese charity, Mithila Wildlife Trust and are together raising money to assist those that are on a verge of starvation and are not able to access any support. Due to our knowledge of local communities we are able to distribute the relief to those who really need it in an efficient and quick way. We have just sent the first £10,000 to Nepal and this is enough to feed over 700 families for 2 weeks. Our aim is to help 4000 families. It is still a small help but we don't want any children to go hungry when their parents are not able to work due to the lockdowns or illness. 

We have started our relief delivery now, please have a look at the short video that we have had made in the past few days. We are hoping that our next report will be much more cheerful. 

As always - thank you so much for all the support, and please share the campaign info with anyone who you think might be interested in learning more about our work. 

Links:

• Short video from the start of the relief distribution