By Tony Sharpe | Project Leader
Life is indeed hard for women in Humla. Particularly in the Hindu communities, woman are responsible for much of the hard labour as well as having to raise and support children. Officially banned in law the ancient practice of chaupadi is still widely practiced particularly in the more remote villages. Menstruating women and those in child labour are banned from the home to cowsheds and outhouses because they are considered impure and will bring misfortune such as crop failure, illness and death to the family. It is thought that if they touch men or anything in the house, cook or use public water tanks or wells the community will be punished by the gods.
Slowly these perceptions are changing through education and the Nepal Trust is helping to promote the change through its chain of health clinics and its child education programme. Our Little Doctors programme trains over 60 young students annually in basic health care and young girls now understand that the changes to their bodies is a perfectly natural function that should not be hidden away but helped.
The Trust is also building three Birthing Centres where mothers can give birth in a safe environment. Each centre is linked to an existing Health Clinic so that resources can be used to best effect. The first Centre at Bargaun village is nearing completion and will support a number of surrounding Hindu and Budhhist villages including the largest Hindu village in Humla. The second Centre at Sarkegad is well on the way to completion helped by a Community Assistance Grant. Sarkegad is the economic centre of south Humla and developing rapidly. Our third Centre at Yari will start construction later in the year. Funding is almost in place supported mainly by Rotary International.
Our clinics were very busy during 2013 and over 9000 patients were seen and received treatment. Poor hygiene and dirty water were responsible for a lot of intestinal problems and skin diseases. Smoky homes and damp conditions led to a variety of respitory disorders and conditions like conjunctivitis. Pneumonia and intestinal problems were particularly bad amongst the under 5 year olds and is a major cause of the very high infant mortality rate in this region. Family planning advice and support was given in nearly 4000 cases.
In this report you will see a link to a film on YouTube, 'Journey to the Sky', made by Rotarians from Durango in Colorado. We have said previously that our work is carried out in a very integrated way. We have built many hydro and solar energy schemes over the years to provide clean energy and lighting to homes that previously were lit by polluting oil lamps. This alone has had a beneficial impact on reducing respitory disorders. This film is about a group of Rotarians who travelled to Humla to install solar lamps in a number of homes and villages. They also became involved with one of our Little Doctors courses and saw for themselves how important and valuable this type of health education is.
Thank you for all your support and I hope you can continue to do so or pass on the good news to family and friends.
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