Nepal: Orphanage Support
Orphanage Support Updates August 2015
September 28, 2015
Orphanage Support and Support to the Nepal Children’s Organisation
RMF is supporting Nepal Children’s Organisation (NCO) to improve the current conditions of the children at their orphanages, particularly to improve the health, nutrition, sanitation, and hygiene status of the children.
Progress:
- RMF nurses who are based at their centers have completed the following activities during their first month of placement:
- Regular checkup of children living at the orphanages.
- Creating health profile of 142 children. (For the first time, a digitalized health profile of each of the children is being prepared, which will not only contribute in creating a new database but will also support the institution in record keeping, regular monitoring and tailoring programmatic support according to the individual needs of the children).
- Consulting with doctors for regular medicine and further treatment of children.
- Supporting caretakers in their jobs.
- Dr. Ron Polamares, an American psychologist with extensive experience of working with children in traumatic situations gave presentations on resilience and conducted sessions with children and NCO staffs – one of a kind and very first presentation on the topic attended by the staffs and children at NCO. The purpose of the program was to introduce children, housemothers and nurses to resilience skills so as to increase resilience capability and help housemothers and family of NCO to provide better support and care to the children. The following are details of the 2-day session:
Day 1
The venue was Brihaspati Bidhya Sadan, Naxal for the first day program. There were two sessions:
- Children group session
The training kick-started with a presentation on ‘resilience’ – the ability to move forward after tragedy.Seven children, aged 8 to 10 years, participated in the children group session. The following are some of the major points discussed in the session:
- Being friendly
- Believe in yourself
- Being confident
- Feel comfortable and easy
- Staff group session
It was a presentation about helping children cope, building resilience and understanding warning signs of problems. Fifteen staffs participated in the session. The following are some of the important points discussed during the session:
- How to deal with children
- How to motivate children
- When you yourself are happy, then only you can make others happy.
Day 2
The second day program was held at the Child Protection Home, Siphal where there were mainly three sessions:
- Children group session
The training was conducted by giving a presentation about resilience (the ability to move forward after tragedy). Twenty children from the Siphal Home, aged 11 to 13 years, participated.
- Teenage group session
It was also a presentation/ informal discussion about resilience, but tailored differently for adolescents. Thirty children and young adults from the Siphal Home, aged 14 years and above, participated in the session.
- Staffs group session
It was a presentation/ talk session about helping children cope, resilience and warning signs of problems. Eight staffs, housemothers and nurses from the Siphal Home participated in the training.
Overall, the participants of the Resilience Training program expressed that this training was very valuable and was able to increase the confidence of children and staff of NCO. It was a very interactive session with children and teenagers asking many questions. Some of them were very pertinent, also hinting on psychosocial needs of the children, such as:
- Why sometime one wants to die?
- Why we feel lonely and scared?
- What are the factors required to be brilliant?
- Why we are very angry at times with others?
Many important questions were also asked by the staffs and housemothers, such as:
- Why are we so scared and troubled after earthquake?
- How can we identify problems faced by the children?
Dr. Ron wrapped up the session with a very positive message that “If we think positive, positive things will happen.”
Training Sessions:
Background
Established in 1964, Nepal Children’s Organization (NCO), also known as Balmandir (The Children’s Temple) is one of the oldest non-profit organizations in Nepal working for the protection and promotion of childrens’ rights and providing residential care to the children at risk. This includes orphans, differently-abled, abandoned and conflict affected children.
After the devastating earthquake on April 25th, followed by another strong earthquake on May 12th, an estimated 2,023 children have been confirmed dead. Likewise, the number of the injured children has been established at 876 and approximately, 200 children have lost their mothers and 112 have lost their fathers. Nearly 2 million children are said to have been affected by this mega quake and the powerful aftershocks thereafter. (Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, June 2015)
Among those children who lost their parents, many have come under the tutelage of NCO, whose own shelter home was heavily destroyed by the disaster. Currently, through their 10 children’s homes within and outside Kathmandu valley, NCO has been caring for 280 children, including the earthquake-affected.
RMF will be supporting NCO in improving orphanage-based children’s health by providing better quality primary health care, including nutrition, sanitation and hygiene.
Objectives
- Provide psychosocial counseling to deeply affected children
- Construct a room for infants
- Health and sanitation trainings for house mothers and children
- Construct a room for differently-abled children
- Provide better quality primary healthcare
- Provide qualified staff nurses at NCO’s centers
- Enhance knowledge and awareness of health and nutrition