of the schools of Dupcheshwori, Aarukharka and Thangdor (Nepal) through the renovation and the enlargement of the canteen and kitchen.
The terrible earthquake that struck Nepal in 2015 inflicted a very deep wound on the whole country: 8,800 victims, including almost 2,300 children, over 875,000 buildings including homes, schools and health facilities, destroyed.
For children and families in the vast mountain areas surrounding the capital of Kathmandu, such as those in the Rasuwa district classified by the government as “severely affected” by the earthquake, the social, economic and emotional distress is still profound given the total destruction that surrounds them.
ASIA intervened immediately after the earthquake to bring relief to the population and remained with a project to rebuild schools and develop agriculture. Now, once the primary need for school infrastructure was met, another important need has emerged: taking care of the condition of child nutrition, both to improve the health ofchildrenand increase the schooling rate, and to encourage the socio-economicdevelopment in these extremely poor areas.
In fact, in Rasuwa the literacy rate is 54% and is much lower than the national average of Nepal which is 81%. Sending children to school here involves a number of concerns for parents: the long stretch of road, even more than an hour’s walk from the most distant villages, crossing rivers and roads often collapsed due to heavy rains, and the impossibility to have lunch at school, discourage school attendance.
After meeting the parents and the teachers of the schools, ASIA decided to accept their requests and to equip the three schools of Dupcheshwori, Aarukharka and Thangdor– rebuilt after the earthquake – with a canteen, a kitchen, all the necessary furnishings, and equipment. In order to guarantee its sustainability and help the local community to start this new activity, the project alsoforeseesa supply of food for the first six months.
The request of the Rasuwa community is supported by alarming data on the condition of infant nutrition in Nepal: 36% of children suffer from growth arrest and 53% from anemia, while 50% do not consume the largest sources of protein. More generally, 41% of Nepalese children suffer from chronic malnutrition, with serious consequences of increasing the risk of infant mortalityand compromising their cognitive functions.
For this reason, the project will also focus on the quality of food, including an expert nutritionistto set up the preparation of balanced meals with a healthy supply of energy and to train school staff and mothers of students on the basic rules of healthy nutrition and health and hygiene education.
How to participate in the #MenSana campaign
With 20 Euro you can provide a child with a healthy meal each day for a month
With 54 Euro you can give a healthy meal a day to a child and the training in nutrition to his/her mother
With 100 euro you can partecipate in rebuilding the canteen and the kitchen
You can learn more on http://www.namaskarfornepal.org/en/
