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In November, Nepali people everywhere celebrated "Tihar", which is also known around the world as "Diwali" or "Deepawali". It is mainly known as the festival of lights, but in Nepal, it is a multi-day celebration that includes a special day for dogs called "Kukur Tihar", which is a day where people worship dogs as part of a Hindu tradition.
The idea of celebrating dogs certainly sounds nice, but in practice, dogs are generally not treated very well and there is a huge problem of stray dogs. It is a dangerous situation not just for the dogs, but also for people (especially young boys and girls) who are in danger of being bit by rabid dogs. Thanks to the support of our GLOW Club in Niharika and through the leadership of Ms. Shobha Acharya, we were able to organize a few programs around the Kukur Tihar holiday. Through these efforts, we were able to spay 20 dogs and cats and we also held a webinar about animal abuse to help educate our girls about the importance of treating all animals with respect and dignity. As one of our GLOW Club mentors, Jasmine put it very nicely:
"These beautiful animals are also residents of mother earth and they have rights to a quality life and deserve love and care."
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Due to some exam postponements this year, some of our girls have to sit in on a make-up test. Given the lockdowns, lack of school, and the other stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic, these girls were feeling a bit anxious about this exam. In order to help them feel prepared, not just academically, but mentally and emotionally, our mentors scheduled a session to provide some tips and suggestions for how they can feel prepared. They also shared some resources to help them study and most importantly let them know that we are there to support them regardless of how the tests go. Thank you to the mentors for always putting the girls first, and we wish all of the girls the best on this exam.
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In our update full of gratitude, there is not much great news to share about the raging pandemic. However, a small silver lining may be that the death rate continues to be fairly small, but that is no consolation for the many families who have already lost loved ones to this terrible disease. The true number of infections and deaths may be much higher than reported, so even that small consolation may not be truly accurate. We fear the true toll of this pandemic may not be known for a long time, and until then the entire country and our communities where we work do their best to get by. It seems like there will be more difficult months ahead, but all of us will be hoping that a vaccine will be available and accessible, especially to those that need it the most.
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In our new tradition of not wanting to end our update on a sour note (with the COVID updates), we will end our November update by talking about how we are expanding one of our most innovative programs (Moms Club). This program has been a lifeline for elders in the community who have used this club as a platform to share their stories, their struggles, their ideas and their hopes for themselves and their families. Thanks to our new staff member, Usha Poudel, she is planning to expand this program to her community. This expansion will take time as we have to navigate the pandemic, but we are excited to see that this community of women continues to grow. More to come on this in our future updates.
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Speaking of expanding our programs, this month we have another positive development to add as we had a great meeting with friends from Nepal Health Corps to discuss the very important topic of Cervical Cancer. It is truly one of the biggest health issues for women in Nepal, so we wanted to raise awareness about this disease and how our foundation and the girls we support can be advocates to make that happen. There will be more to come from this collaboration in the future, especially as January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, and we will look to hold some initial programming at that time.
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