Keeping Our Children Safe as COVID-19 Cases Soar in Nepal
As we are opening up in the USA and getting vaccinated, Nepal is being ravaged by the coronavirus. The US State Department just issued a level 4 warning for travelers to Nepal, and embassy and expat personnel are being voluntarily evacuated. Schools and nonessential businesses have closed again, and Nepal is under a police-enforced lockdown. It is a strict measure where each household can send one person out early in the morning to get food, otherwise they are confined except for emergencies. It is a desperate attempt to curb the rise of the coronavirus. According to Reuters, Nepal has 218 infections per 100,000 people reported in the last 7 days. COVID-19 infections are at the highest daily average reported, now at 8,944 new infections reported each day. There have been 431,191 infections and 4,466 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began. Reliability of the mortality data is always in question as people die without accurate cause of death reports, especially in villages.
One of Mitrata’s graduates, Sudan, began his medical career in the midst of COVID-19
Nepal is ill prepared to handle the severe illness and the death rate is sadly growing. Hospitals are running out of space for patients and oxygen to save lives and they are closing to new patients. Vaccinations have been slow to come to Nepal and to get distributed; most of healthcare workers are still not vaccinated. Mitrata currently has several graduates who are working in the healthcare field and putting their lives at risk to help others. Our BSF staff have continued to give out care packages and to see family members when possible, at great personal risk. Only 2 have been vaccinated. Getting vaccinated is difficult as it is limited in availability and involves all day lines and crowds of people, potentially leading to more exposure to the virus.
Some of our families are doing poorly. They were already struggling before the pandemic, but now as it lingers on, they are having more economic, health and psychological issues. Parents are often daily wage earners not working and many families have only one parent caretaking the children and trying to make ends meet. Parents with health issues are having difficulty paying for their own healthcare. The families do not have health insurance and have to pay upfront for treatment. There is talk of rising costs of treatment too.
BSF distributing school supplies
The last year has taken a toll on the families of our children. Some children have had to use phones to communicate with their schools and get copies of school assignments from BSF staff in order to keep up with class work as many do not have access to internet for online learning. The stress of living in one room with many people, without adequate hygiene makes it difficult to study. The longer this continues there are more learning losses and some children become discouraged, despite our best efforts. We are seeing more children with emotional and behavioral problems, which is highly unusual in the history of Mitrata. In Nepal school systems, there is little tolerance for behavioral issues, so these children are presenting the greatest challenge.
Some of our children have contracted the virus and have had to be quarantined. BSF has had to house children temporarily when schools closed and to find places for children to stay during lockdown. You can imagine how challenging that would be.
Leena Satyal, left, gathers supplies with other BSF staff
Leena Satyal, BSF Director, says of the current situation:
In Nepal, life here is already quite complicated due to the lack of proper management, thorough government policies, effective vaccination drive, facilities for online education, emergency support to the vulnerable, etc. That is why this pandemic has aggravated the already unstable and chaotic lives of countless families.
Fortunately, at BSF, most of our kids and their families have managed to stay safe from Covid-19 till now except for just a handful of them who have contracted the virus and recovering. We too have been following protocols and taking precautionary measures very seriously. We have also been able to provide care packages to our kids and their families whenever necessary. With parents unemployed and not being able to feed their families, our monthly ration supply has been a great lifeline for them amidst this ongoing pandemic.
One of the main concerns we have had apart from our kids not being in school has been their mental health. With so many negative impacts of the Covid era some of our kids even have had trouble in school. Deteriorating concentration, many kids having to drop out of school, and behavior changes have been some of the concerning issues that we have been noticing and attempting to address more recently. For that reason, we always stay connected with all of our kids to ensure proper guidance and that they are not far caring attention of our coordinators and counsellor. Our dedicated staff members try their best to motivate the kids and help them overcome any problems they have regarding school, family, and even personal matters.
As Leena mentioned, we are very fortunate that most of our children have remained healthy and those with the virus seem to recover well and have light cases. Many of our older children have continued with online classwork and our BSF staff have been cared for, as we continue to pay all salaries and expenses as usual. The staff are eager to get back to work again when the lockdown is over, which is anticipated to be several months from now. Our children and BSF staff are resilient and have been taking the virus seriously, exercising all possible precautions. Rest assured that the BSF staff is working hard to care for the children’s needs and our counselors and educational coordinators are doing their best to help the children adjust to the changes and losses. After twenty years of working in Nepal, BSF and Mitrata have weathered the storms of civil war, earthquakes, India blockades and political strife, and we will get through this difficult time as well together.
As we celebrate our great fortune in the US to have access to vaccines and a government support system in times of need, please remember our friends, our children and people of Nepal and send your blessings, prayers and all your positive, healing energy to them. Sending a loving Buddhist prayer of compassion, for everyone in Nepal:
May you be happy content and fulfilled
May you be healed and whole
May you have whatever they need and want
May you be protected from harm and free from fear
May you enjoy inner peace and ease
May you be awakened, liberated and free
May there be peace in this world
And throughout the entire universe.
— Dr. Christine Schutz, Founder and Executive Director
