Count Your Blessings: Good News from Nepal

I have always liked the phrase “count your blessings.” Although it is difficult to maintain that feeling all the time it has certainly helped me to remain grateful and to move along however difficult the circumstances sometimes may be. 

With all the chaos and confusion around the world that have come hard on the heels of the pandemic, it has become more and more difficult for ordinary people to keep a positive perspective in life. That is especially true for the young people and students who understandably seem to get concerned about their future. But their energy, spirit, and vigor along with their remarkable adaptability keeps them going forward even against the strongest winds and the most daunting obstacles.

Leena Satyal, BSF Executive Director

We at BSF feel quite fortunate, even during these uncertain times. The pandemic has certainly forced upon us a social and physical distance, but we have nonetheless emerged more emotionally connected with our kids. Even our bonds with Mitrata sponsors, donors, staff, and volunteers has become stronger.  The constant efforts, devotion, love, and creative energy of Mitrata has kept us going, and I also feel tremendously inspired to learn about what Mitrata could achieve in 2021, despite it being a socially, economically, and even politically challenging year in the US.

2021 turned out to be a remarkable year for BSF too. We always wanted a bigger space for the Contact Center, our early childhood program, and after relentlessly searching for more than 2 years we have found it finally. The Contact Center now has a big playground, much spacious classrooms and good water supply, enough to maintain a clean and hygienic environment, and on top of that we even have running hot water, which can be a lifesaver in winter.

Outdoor space at the new Contact Center

Now that we have rented a big building for the Contact Center, we are also utilizing a part of the building for housing some of our older children in transition. They volunteer at the Contact Center during their free time from their college and studies. This is in fact a great benefit to both our older kids who get to practice leadership roles, and hence learn and grow, and the younger kids of the Contact Center who enjoy learning with them and look up to them as role models.

Contact Center was closed for a long time during the pandemic. And our kids were not able to enjoy their usual regular meals at the Center. Although we rerouted the food ration to children’s homes and families directly during the pandemic we couldn’t entirely be sure that the kids were eating timely and properly because of the constant hardship at home and the adults often having to leave home early morning and staying out mostly in search of work and income. When everything started to open physically our kids also were able to come to the Contact Center. Considering the unstable family backgrounds that they come from, we have to make sure they have a safe, secure, structured, and above all, caring learning environment. We look forward to resuming normal holiday and welcome celebrations this year as well.

The good news is that almost 60% of the population in Nepal are fully vaccinated which makes it easy for things to open up once again and for the government to ease the restrictive social measures to curb the spread. It is exciting news that most of our kids above 12 years have been also vaccinated. What’s more, our older kids and all of our staff have even received their booster doses, too.

Kids all over Nepal are attending schools physically fully from last month since the government decided to reopen all the educational institutions for physical learning. Lack of proper guidance at home, poor internet connectivity, decaying pro-social skills, exercise, etc were some of the major downside of online learning.  It is quite important for especially the kids of growing age to have a structured and social school environment.

BSF has even moved our head offices to a new location. The pandemic necessitated more rooms so that our staff could work while maintaining social distancing. We have a small front lawn and garden on our new premises, too.

New BSF office building

We are eagerly waiting for the upcoming fall sponsor trip to Kathmandu when we can welcome everyone to our new Contact Center and enjoy our get together and meet-up with the children that is something long overdue. This will be a sweet and long-overdue reunion!

— Leena Satyal, BSF Executive Director

Our fall sponsor trip will run from October 29, 2022, to November 13, 2022. If you are interested in attending the trip, please contact Dr. Christine Schutz at drcmschutz@gmail.com.