BSF Team Aiding Kids and Families in Staying Safe and Healthy During the Pandemic
As I am writing this blog, vaccination for Novel Corona Virus (Covid-19) is being rolled out throughout the world giving us hope of beating this pandemic eventually. Whether the vaccination is going to be effective or not could be a whole different discussion topic for some other time, but as of now we as humanity are full of hopes and looking forward to being protected.
The past year has been like no other year in our living memory. As of today, millions of people have already lost their lives to the virus and thousands of cases are reported every minute worldwide. Many have lost their jobs and we all are living in an uncertainty of varying degrees. Mental health problems are on the rise which is extremely concerning.
Nepal was gradually transitioning from the UN’s group of Least Developed Countries (LDC) to Developing Countries (DC), but the pandemic has undoubtedly hindered the transition process. The already fragile economy of the country has been hit in the worst possible way. Tourism which is one of the main industries and sources of national income and employment to thousands is at its lowest at the moment. If the pandemic lingers and foreign employment becomes increasingly scarce and mobility of migrant workers become restrictive then remittance, which is one of the main pillars of our economy might eventually weaken inviting dire economic consequences for the country. In least developed countries like Nepal, the pandemic has undoubtedly led to wider economic inequality affecting the lower-income households the most.
Our children who are in the program come from families with very low income and constant economic hardship. They also faced their share of difficulties with the onset of the pandemic. Schools as well as hostels were closed and the whole country was locked down for months. In such circumstances half of our children had no choice but to return to their villages while the other half stayed in the city with their families. After a while things were however fine for the ones in the villages, but those living in the capital Kathmandu had to face a severe financial crisis as the breadwinners in their families were out of work. That’s when we stepped in and helped the households meet their ends.
Our team organized preparatory emergency meetings and formulated a plan on how to keep our children safe from Corona Virus and how to supply them with rations and other essentials. With the help of Mitrata-Nepal Foundation for Children (MNFC) USA, we could provide them with necessary food supplies and also hand sanitizers, face masks and soap for safety and better personal hygiene. Thanks to the online stores and their home delivery services, we could purchase necessary goods and get them delivered to the families even during the lockdown. When the lockdown eased, our staff continued making door to door deliveries of rations and other essential stuff and even with homework. We even started gathering and organizing weekly updates on every child and regularly put together a list of families who were potentially at higher risk and in need of rations and other emergency support.
We have 116 children in the program and around 50 to 60 of them were in Kathmandu. We stayed in close contact with all the children so that we knew what they needed and how they were doing.
During this time PCR tests were done for all our children and staff living in our transitional home facilities.
After a year in pandemic, the world is still living in the fear of this virus. We read in the news about discovery of new variants of Corona Virus in different parts of the world. New infections continue to be on the rise, the pandemic affecting countries and communities waves after waves. While many countries are still tightening the restrictions in order to prevent the virus from spreading further, of late the scenario in Nepal is strangely quite different. People have become significantly lax and they seem to be kind of ignoring some of the basic safety measures. Not only schools and colleges but, restaurants, markets, malls and even nightclubs are open for business. And the strangest thing is people are actually going to these crowded places ignoring the potential health risks. In this madness we can only request our children to maintain social distancing, wear face masks all the time, maintain proper hand hygiene, avoid going to crowded places and the need to keep oneself and others safe during the current situation.
- Aleesh Baniya, Sr. Program Coordinator, BSF