Dear sponsors and supporters,
Namaste.
One week after the call for donations all families of our sponsored children are already provided with basic food for one month.
It’s overwhelming how you as donors have helped out in this emergency situation!
8515€ are at our disposal today.
As our families are already provisioned for the next 3 months, we could expand our activities with your help. We have decided to participate in a local care program for needy families. Ram has contacted the district mayor’s office of his residential district, Bagmati Province Ward 6. The mayor and the people’s representatives have set up a support programme for starving families in need.
The local officials are aware that the government subsidy of 5 kg of rice for one month is not enough to survive. They have identified families in their district who are absolutely destitute. They have drawn up a list of these families in order to focus help on those who really need help to survive. It is important to those responsible that the aid is centrally monitored and that donations arrive where they are really needed. The state has given instructions that all NGOs must participate in central projects to ensure a better distribution of food.
We decided to participate in this surveilled project in this district because
- Ram can maintain control over spending and distribution,
- Ram knows the local situation very well,
- the help arrives exactly where it is needed, and
- is not distributed indiscriminately a bit to everybody.
Ram, Maya and the board of NHEFoN have already portioned the provisions today, and tomorrow 140 families will be able to pick them up. The food will last for about 4 to 5 weeks for a family of five.
The whole situation in Nepal is rapidly deteriorating. Many people are fleeing illegally and on foot back to their home villages because they are in hope of being better cared for there. However, they will have to move even closer together in the already confined living space there - under poor hygienic conditions. This increases the risk of infection many times over. Officially, the mountain farmers are not even allowed to cultivate their fields. Understandably, hardly anyone adheres to this rule. Nevertheless, in any case, hunger will soon come to the mountain regions.
The real threat from Corona is very unclear. Officially, as of April 20th 2020, 35 people are infected. This extremely low number is certainly due to the lack of testing and the fact that remote villages are not reached. The state health system is making every effort to protect and care for the population, but they lack the means to successfully contain the virus. An end to the restrictions is not in sight.
So it is very good to know that our new village clinic in Bhorle is now open and that also the people in Betang can receive quick help.
We continue to look forward to your donations and will keep you closely informed about the developments.
Best wishes and please stay healthy.
Anne Peter, president Gecotec e.V.
Elisabeth Schwery-Kinzler, president NEPAL Bildung & Gesundheit Schweiz
Ram Kumar Tamang, NHEFoN
Freiburg, Blatten, Kathmandu, April 21, 2020
