How BSF is Adapting to COVID-19

The impact of Covid-19 around the world is severe, sad, frustrating and frightening. It’s changing lives in so many ways. This is not just a health crisis but a social calamity too.  Hunger, insecurity, and unemployment are just the beginning of the problems.

Like everywhere else in the world, the kids on our program are having problems, too. Our kids and their families are among the most vulnerable groups socially and financially. These families live off of their daily wages but are now struggling to put food on their tables as the entire economy shuts down. 

Many of the families we serve live in conditions like these

Nepal has been on lockdown for more than a month now. Here, lockdown means very limited movements akin to a curfew. People can only go out for a very short period of time to buy groceries and essential supplies. There are police everywhere in the streets and highways monitoring our movements, and you can get arrested for violating the stay-at-home order. Healthcare workers, journalists, and those delivery relief packages have to apply for a special permit. 

BSF began planning early for this situation. We could hand out some emergency food supplies to the families of our Contact Center and some school kids even before the country was locked down. Since some of the children’s families were quickly running out of food, we have arranged to deliver emergency package again to some of such families twice so far. In the coming weeks, we are preparing to deliver food supplies to some of those kids’ families who are now in desperate need. But getting packages delivered is a logistical nightmare as we are preparing lists for each week and putting the more vulnerable and at-risk families on our priority.  

When the Contact Center is open, our children are served several nutritious, protein-rich meals and snacks per day to keep them healthy

We are also continuing communicating and connecting with all of our kids remotely even if some of them have gone back to their villages. Our primary goal right now is to keep in touch with all our kids as regularly and frequently as possible, help them cope with the current crisis emotionally, track their physical wellbeing, and provide food supplies to those  kids and their families who are in desperate need of assistance.

The family of a child in our Contact Center; our children come from severely underprivileged areas around Kathmandu

Personally I always feel happy and proud to be part of such a team of dedicated individuals where everyone is like family. I would like to thank Mitrata and all of our sponsors and well wishers for their constant support and love. And I want to also thank the BSF board which have always been highly supportive and helpful toward me and my team and all of our hard working kids in the program who are so sincerely committed to acquiring education, skills, and talents necessary for life and career.   

 — Leena Satyal, BSF’s Executive Director

Leena with her two children