Please note ...

... that I won't be able to access or update this blog for the next few weeks - sorry! Hopefully manage to blog more often starting end of July.

Prayers for a 'New Nepal'

UMN is partnering with the Nepali Christian Community to encourage churches to act on various social issues, and have input into building a “New Nepal”. Local facilitators are now trained to conduct workshops across the country for church leaders.

Please remember the following points in your prayer for New Nepal:

1. Local workshops with the Christian communities in Pokhara, Butwal, Damauli and Baglung next week to explore the social issues and possible Christian responses on them.

2. Local churches and Christian communities to initiate financial contributions for this movement.

3. Press Conference with local bodies next month to promote servant leadership pledge from the Christian community.

United Mission to Nepal's new logo

short break ...

This blog is taking a short technical break - back in a week or so!

Being with people living positively ... in Doti

I recently had a succesful visit to Doti where I was able to meet women and men ‘living positively’.

Doti District is a hill district in far-west Nepal. The neighboring district of Accham has the highest HIV prevalence rates. Doti has great needs with minimal presence of other working agencies due to lack of basic infrastructure and the nature of the terrain. The challenges include food insufficiency, poor education and lack of access to health care. Caste-based discrimination, negative cultural practices and violence against women are significant problems in Doti.

To support their families, many men, mainly productive youths, migrate to India as seasonal labour. Whilst in some ways seems positive, this also has had some negative impact. Unsafe sexual practices among the men (27% of migrants engage in high risk sexual behaviours in India) have resulted in HIV becoming a significant problem in this district in Nepal. In addition, farming has become neglected. Therefore, addressing issues of migration would try to curb the spread of HIV in Doti district.

In the village communities, virtually all the men had migrated predominantly to India for work and just women and children were left. The men return briefly to assist at harvest time. Children drop out of school to migrate and even those with a good education also leave. The groups of women who are HIV positive has been facing many challenges and often not particularly concerned about the longer term consequences of their HIV infection as their focus remains on the present and survival of each day. However, it is not just those who are HIV positive that find themselves in desperate circumstances since many have no opportunities for income generation. Since most of people are affected by HIV, stigma and discrimination seem to be reduced.

The greater need is to ensure improved sanitation, access to Antiretroviral Therapy (ARVs) and nutrition. The United Mission to Nepal, through its partner, has been working to support people living with HIV to have access to ARVs. Due to the remoteness of the communities, support with transportation to the main hospital for treatment and for CD4 count remains an area of need. I saw very few toilets in the village and UMN has been encouraging communities to install these. It takes time to change people’s attitude towards that but I was glad to see one toilet installed. This could reduce other infections for both children and adults.

A snapshot of life in Nepal

UMN staff have had a whole week to learn from each other and to finalize plans for the coming year. There was sharing of good practice ranging from families infected by Aids; income-generating activities; community effort regarding peace building; rehabilitation for children with disabilities; and strengthening of work with government local agencies regarding communities.

It is encouraging to see the Government collecting statistics of children affected by armed conflict and providing community based reintegration programme. According to the National Human Rights Commission more than 500 children lost their lives, 40,000 displaced and more than 8,000 orphaned or separated from their families in the course of armed conflict since 1996.

In Nepal everyone is looking forward to Holi, a festival for colour. It is a sacred spring festival celebrated by Hindu people. Celebrations include people throwing colored powder and colored water at each other. Bonfires are lit in memory of the miraculous escape of young Prahlad when the demon Holika, sister of Hiranyakashipu, carried him into the fire. Holi is clebrated with family, friends and neighbors.

- Pray that the Government will curb organized crime as the bill is yet to be introduced in the cabinet meeting.
- Pray for my 6-day visit starting this week to far western Nepal for assessment on Migration and HIV in Doti

UMN women celebrated Women’s day with a song ‘we shall overcome some day when we shall work hand in hand!”



Encouraging facts

An impressive majority of people now consider HIV as an issue to be addressed in Nepal. Some faith organisations both Christian and non-Christian  show willingness to educate young people in churches and in communities. Christian volunteers are supporting not only reproductive health education, but also care for people affected by Aids.

A number of leaders from other faiths have expressed their wish to do more if government departments would approach them and recognise their potential contribution.

The training of religious leaders is an area identified by many as a need, a positive way forward and financial assistance is essential to expanding the role of faith-based organisations in HIV prevention and care.

There is an apparent misconception about HIV though with geographical differences. Some of the religious leaders residing in rural and remote areas regard HIV as a divine punishment for sin or consequence of immoral behavior. Those who have been trained have shown a more positive view about Aids as a disease associated with ignorance and poverty and display a positive attitude towards those affected.

I visited Morang District and had a meeting with peer educators from the communities. One young man came to me inspired and he said “I want to do something to members of my community who live in abject poverty!” I felt the weight of those words and I learned that he came from a Muslim community, of course a minority group in Nepal. I encouraged him to share knowledge, skills and provide accurate information to his community especially on health related issues including HIV and that would create a more positive view and attitude in overcoming poverty to some extent. It was interesting to hear the positive side of their experiences and challenges they faced in the community. They took me round to see the condition that the community lives in and I found that poor sanitation was a common problem e.g. blocked water drainage systems and lack of toilets.

-Please pray for the community volunteers and local government institutions as do their plans to address the problems and priority areas.

Photo: These are the peer educators who have been raising awareness on HIV and other health related issues in various parts of Morang District.

A step forward?

The Government of Nepal has brought in a HIV/AIDS National Policy-2011. This policy aims to secure the rights of people living with HIV and Aids, such as access to social security, in order to minimise inequality. The policy will try to provide equal opportunity in health education and other social sectors.

People living with HIV in Nepal face many challenges as most of them are from low caste and can only do very low paying jobs which can not sustain their families. Women whose husbands have passed away bear the extra burden of taking care of children.

Church leaders are mobilising their congregations to support people living with HIV and Aids to improve their living condition for instance construction of shelter for the very needy families in Sunsari District and they have already started supporting two families.

Thank you for praying for Nepal. There is now a new Prime Minister Mr.Jhala Nath Khanal. We hope that all political parties will work in unity to ensure the peace process comes to a logical end and that the new constitution will be finalized. Please pray that the Government will urgently examine pending child rights laws and expedite their endorsement.

Photo (left): Representatives from Christian organisations working on HIV from five districts of Nepal attended a two day follow-up meeting in Sunsari. It was encouraging to hear what the organisations do and their struggle to reduce stigma and discrimination.