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Showing posts from June, 2013

Darchula flood - worst in 100 years

" Never had I witnessed a disaster situation and I was there in the midst of the floods where I saw houses being swept away by the fury of the Mahakali River. With no signs of the rain stopping, I was disoriented and confused before a sense of panic set in. " Darchula District was hit hard by four days of incessant rain starting from 15 to 18 June, 2013. The details in this blog are based on the accounts from Gagan Singh Thagunna, Save the Children's Social Mobilization & Communication Officer based in Dhangadi. An eight member team had travelled to Darchula District in far west Nepal by road on 14 th of June to conduct a media advocacy training workshop for the Suhaara project staff. The rain started to pour the next day and it rained all day and into the night. When Gagan woke up at 5:30 in the morning of 16 th June he saw a list of missed calls in his cell phone. He immediately called his supervisor Laxmi Raj Joshi and soon learned about the mess the p

Shades of grey

http://ekantipur.com/saturday/2013/06/07/as-it-is/voices--shades-of-grey/249698.html In China, the one child policy has imposed a huge burden on young married couples as they are left to care for two sets of graying parents The situation in Nepal might not be quite the same, but here too, young and middle-aged couples, very often with children of their own, shoulder the responsibilities of taking care of their parents and parents-in-law. A happy family where grandparents and grandchildren live together, and where parents provide for everything might sound perfect. But things are hardly as simple as that. Caring for the elderly is a subject matter seldom discussed in Nepal. It is almost taboo to speak of indecisions and doubts regarding the issue but we need to open our eyes and face the reality. The past few decades have seen massive changes in the way our society functions, though, and siblings often share responsibility for their ageing parents. Man and woman stand mo

Bicycle – a new vehicle to save new born lives!

Would you cycle for a cause if that cause is orchestrated to save new born lives? I would; not because I work for Save the Children; I care because I am a mother. Did you know that 33,600 children in Nepal die each year before they turn 5? And, did you know that the first 1000 days (the day a child is conceived until the child turns 2.5 years old) is the most critical window period for a child’s survival and its overall growth? (learn about the first 1000 days at www.savethechildren.org ) This July 20 th , Save the Children in partnership with Social Tours is organizing Kora Cycling event with the objective to raise NRs 100,000,0 to build a model birthing centre in Baitadi. Baitadi is the farthest western district of Nepal and is deprived of road access and basic infrastructures. For people living in Shamali VDC, it takes them 2 days on foot to reach the nearest district hospital and 3-4 hours walk to the nearest health post. There is a silver lining - a sub health post is situa