By peter humphris | Chairperson IGWR Inc.
The situation in Nepal is getting worse each day.
Since our last report, the Covid-19 situation in Nepal mirrors what we are seeing day-by-day on the news regarding India. Schools are closed, Kathmandu is in Lockdown, everything is in short supply and many families now have no income.
“More than 580,000 Nepalis have become infected since the pandemic began, and the country has suffered more than 7,700 deaths. That means more than 2% of Nepal's population has tested positive for the coronavirus. By comparison, data from John's Hopkins University show about 1% of Americans have tested positive – in a much better-resourced health system.”
Looking after our 60+ children in these circumstances is proving a challenge for our team in Nepal; our board chairperson (Sunita) has Covid-19 but thankfully is recovering. Raja has also managed to bring our four students studying in India back to Nepal, and ensured testing and isolation is in place to keep them (and others) safe.
So far, we’re doing a great job looking after the children we care for and are going beyond our immediate commitments to answer calls for help from the local community in Kathmandu. The calls for help are increasing daily as the pandemic continues to multiply.
“The World Health Organization tells us that only 0.3% of Covid-19 vaccine supply is going to low-income countries. They are urging countries to consider donating vaccine to poorer nations before vaccinating children, through the Covax global vaccine sharing system. What an act of grace that would be.”
Your support makes a BIG difference.
With your support we are maintaining home schooling and are also assisting families with food and schooling materials as so many in Nepal now have no income and no welfare support.
We’re also planning to bring our two special needs girls out of their current boarding school and bring them into a foster care home situation that will be safer and also enable the foster mum to stay home and provide safe family care for the girls.
Meeting the challenge.
Our focus for the present must be to ensure we get through the challenges of Covid-19, and so we will close this project after the report has been sent out and maintain our reporting via our primary GlobalGiving project:
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/after-school-support-to-30-needy-kids-in-nepal/
As we try and meet the many calls for Covid support we will initiate new projects to address specific needs, however we ask that you stay with us and follow the work that you’ve enabled by checking in to the above project or visiting our website.
“They” will not help, but WE can!
This news report makes clear that our Western Culture is “looking after ‘me’ first”.
“New data shows that Canada, the UK, the EU, the US and Japan have collectively procured 5.3 billion vaccine doses despite having a collective population of just over 1 billion, according to the Global Health Innovation Center at Duke University in the US. Considering most vaccines require two doses for full vaccination, it means the world’s wealthiest countries could “double vaccinate” their entire populations and be left with plenty to spare.”
Each one of us can make a real difference, and it is only each one of us that does make a difference. We can overcome the culture of hoarding and taking more than what we need, by sharing what we already have.
In the year ahead we have a budget commitment of is $171,000 and less than 50% of that comes from regular committed sponsors. Due to Covid restrictions and travel restrictions our capacity for fundraising initiatives is somewhat limited, however there is a rising feeling of compassion in the world and we’re optimistic that this will result in more people wanting to help and make a difference.
Finally, Thank you again, for being part of a wonderful family that is supporting a number of wonderful families.
We need your support now more than ever to get us through these difficult times, and some of our sponsors are also experiencing financial hardships. If you can share you story of giving with friends and encourage them to also be a part of this valuable community that would be awesome.
With Covid-19 restrictions we cannot hold fundraising events, but perhaps we are heading toward a more compassionate world; perhaps the era of “giving” is becoming infectious.
Peace & Love, Peter H
Links:
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