Rehabilitate 1000 Persons W. Disabilities in Nepal

Ensuring access to essential services remains a major challenge in many part of Nepal. For persons with disabilities, these barriers are even greater. In remote communities where PHASE Nepal is in operation, many persons with disabilities have significantly less opportunities compared to those living in urban areas.

Deepa (Pseudonym) and Kreepa (Pseudonym) are 12-year-old twin sisters living with significant visual impairment, from remote, rural village in Bajura district in the west Nepal. They live with their parents whose livelihoods reliant on subsistent farming and animal rearing. Despite low vision, the twins have learned to navigate their village with confidence, often traveling together side by side.

While they have tried to live as independently as possible, there have been major barriers in their life. Their family lacks the financial resources to send the sisters to a specialized school. Such schools are not within their village requiring days of travel which the family living with subsistent farming could not afford. When they attempted to enroll one of the sisters in the local school, some villagers discouraged the family, saying that sending her to school would be a waste of resources.

Deepa stated; “I wanted to study, but people said the letters were too small for me to read. They believed I could not learn like other children. Since there were no other options for me to learn, I eventually stopped going to school.”

PHASE Nepal was able to bring, one of the sisters, Deepa along with her mother to Kathmandu for 10 days indemendent living (IL) sessions specially designed to provide exposure, awareness on rights and learning from peers. During the ILP session, she got an opportunity to visit a special schools that support students with visual impairments. She learned students with visual impairment were  attending learning sessions for letters and new skills important for living independently. was particularly imortant 

This IL sessions and the visit to the school deeply inspired her  and raised confidence that she decided to enroll in the school for learning. 

“I didn’t know people like us could study, however now it's clear I can learn like others. I want to study and work in future.” Deepa shared.

She also persued her mother to bring her sister to Kathmandu and enroll in the same school. 

With the support of the City of Vienna and individual generous donors like you PHASE Nepal supported both the girls to enroll in the special school. Now both of them are learning brail and new life skills. We are continuously following up, tracking progress and assured back support as and when needed.

With all the support PHASE Nepal has been able to support the twi sisters in accessign educaiton and providing need-based support to number of other persons living with disabilities in Nepal.

Your continued support is highly important to help Deepa, Kreepa and many others complete their journey towards their bright future.