Letters from Renu and the WFN staff . . .

A diary of social work in Nepal . . . . . October 28, 2006

The Letters from Renu on these pages detail an ongoing saga of abuse. WARNING: these letters have graphic descriptions which may be disturbing. These are stories of real people in terrible trouble. The good news is that there are many individuals who are working to set the world right in Nepal. WFN is one of the groups seeing to it that something is being done to help.

Dear Brian,

The Women’s Foundation of Nepal (WFN) has organized an internal exchange program among the districts. The main purpose of the program and the visit by Renu Sharma of the WFN was to showcase the program of the Women's  Foundation.

For example . . . . there were 16 women from five districts who visited the Jhapa’s and Panchthar’s group’s activities. They shared their  work experiences, learned from other groups, and especially how other groups are solving similar problems in their district. During the visit, the groups focused on the saving and income generation activities, literacy groups, survivors of various types violence toward women, legal support program, etc.

I would like to share with you some of the experiences of one village . . . . .

The trip was very educational, it encouraged the women to do more. The women  were very happy  to see the activities of the different groups.

In our visit the hardest part to experience was the poverty found in the village. The people are very poor. They do not feel that they are human.

For example:    Asfak Alam is a 7 year old boy, he is the son of Aslima Khatun and Alabo Din. He has one sister and one brother. One brother younger than him died eight month ago from pneumonia.  The parents of Asfak are very poor. His father worked in different people’s houses and earned around Nrs.50 per day. His mother could not go to work because of her children though several times she tied the children to a pillar and went to work. Asfak has been sick one and half years. His parents collected some donations and brought him to hospital in jhapa district.

One year ago the doctor told them to take the child to a good hospital, but they had to take him home because they had no money to keep him there,not even enough to feed their other children. The boy has become thin and his stomach has become bigger and bigger. His skin was much stretched, and all his veins were visible. He was very hungry but his family thought if he ate anymore his stomach would burst, so they only feed him liquids. All the neighbors came to see him and express their sorrow but they could not do any thing for him because all of them were very poor.  

When we saw the boy on 29 October we decided to bring him to hospital and we went to meet his father. His father did not want the boy to go to hospital as the father was the only one of the family working, and his money had to be used for food for the rest of the family. If he brings the boy to the hospital he can maybe save him but the other three could die from hunger. We promised him we will buy food for the family, and take care of them until he comes back from the hospital and we will also pay all the expenses for care of the boy. We took him to Gape hospital in Dharan . Doctors from the hospital tried to do their best but because of lack of equipment, they could not perform the necessary treatment and they referred him to Kathmandu Birhospital.

We took him by plane to Kathmandu on the 8th November; He was admitted to hepatitis ward bed No 12.  According to the doctors from Gopa Dharan he had an infection in his liver and his white blood count was nil , and he needed, other treatment.

Asfak is one case, there are several other children dying from hunger each year. These children are living in very hard and desperate conditions.

Women’s Foundation (WFN) formed a group and started a saving and micro finance program but this only assists in a small way.

Your financial assistance to the Women’s Foundation will enable us to assist these children who are in desperate need. Make a donation now.

Your Sincerely

Renu Sharma