Photo: Emergency relief helped feed 411 families from the slums of Kathmandu
The COVID pandemic hit Nepal hard in 2020-21, and although the number of cases has declined in recent months, the rate of new infections is still well beyond what the health care system can manage. The death toll continues to rise, and at least 12,000 Nepalis have died from COVID, far more than the number that died in the tragic 2015 earthquakes. Meanwhile, the pace of vaccinations remains frustratingly slow, with only 25% of the nation fully immunized.
The economic devastation that has accompanied the pandemic has left many Nepalis destitute. Jobs have disappeared as businesses closed or reduced costs by laying off workers. Whatever savings people had have disappeared; hunger plagues countless families; and children have dropped out of school in large numbers. The future looks daunting for countless families.
Still, people carry on with courage and determination, as Nepalis do. Once again, CGCT partnered with Engage Nepal, a charitable foundation to provide emergency relief. Together we helped to feed 411 families from the slums of Manohar in Kathmandu to impoverished rural villages in the eastern Kathmandu Valley. Two months’ worth of meals for over two thousand people provided not only physical but spiritual nourishment.
With your heartfelt response to our May 2021 email outreach, CGCT helped bolster Engage Nepal’s desperate efforts to find oxygen concentrators at a time when patients were gasping for breath. Forty concentrators were delivered to the Nepal Korea Friendship Municipal Hospital in Thimi, saving lives then and still today. We cannot solve every problem but every life we touch matters, and this partnership continues to make a difference in Nepalis’ lives.
Ambassador (ret) Scott H. DeLisi served as Ambassador in Nepal from 2010-2012. Upon retiring, he formed Engage Nepal to support disaster risk reduction and preparedness in Nepal. CGCT is proud to work with Engage Nepal in supporting projects of mutual interest.
After the 2015 earthquake, CGCT worked with local partners in Nepal to get relief to the affected villages as quickly as possible. One particularly effective partner was the Gorkha Foundation which serves those in need in Gorkha district. So naturally we turned to them during the COVID pandemic to see how we could work together. With an effective grass roots network, GF was able to get your donations where they were needed most, providing COVID supplies and food relief to remote villages. Thanks to all the GF volunteers for their dedicated efforts.