During our trip we met 2 organizations in Nepal, Karuna Foundation and Nepali Children.

To start with Karuna. This organization tries to:

• prevent as many physical and mental disabilities in newborns and young children as possible by providing good prenatal and perinatal counselling to pregnant women
• improve the care and rehabilitation of children and adults with physical and mental disabilities so that they can once again participate in the social life of their local community.
• change and strengthen local (care) systems.

They do this with a national team of 85 men/women. Deepak Raj Sapkota is, in addition to the Executive Director, also honorary consul of the Netherlands in Nepal, Always handy. In November they had a multi-day meeting in Pokhara and on November 25th we joined them to hear about their work. We looked back at the results achieved and looked ahead to the objectives. We were also allowed to explain how Yourright Foundation works. There we agreed with Deepak that we would continue to discuss the possibilities for cooperation in Kathmandu.

On November 29th, we had an extensive conversation with Deepak Raj Sapkota at the Karuna Foundation office about Karuna’s vision for the future. It became clear that there is still a long way to go, especially in the field of information and prevention. Where it concerns limitations in the autism spectrum, the knowledge is nil. Where it is now known in the Netherlands how to deal with autism, but also with Down syndrome, this information is lacking in Nepal. Geef me de vijf”, the ‘autism handbook’ by Colette de Bruin, and also translated in English, could certainly contribute here. Monique and Nicole can provide a model for this and in this way make a nice contribution from the Yourright Foundation.

Between these two visits we met Jolanda Bijl (Jolu Arati) and Bodha Adhikari of Nepali Children on November 26th.
The goals of Nepali Children are:
• Ensuring personal development for children through education and awareness projects
• Supporting in a safe and stable living environment so that learning becomes possible
• Guiding weaker families in society by stimulating self-reliance

We have told each other about what our NGOs are doing and certainly see opportunities to work together. The CDK program that was developed by Butterflies NGO and supported by the Khazana Foundation is certainly interesting for them. Here we will see if we can give substance to this.
Here too, the first seeds for Yourright-Foundation have been planted and we are going to see if something beautiful can grow.

All in all, they were inspiring encounters.

Year meeting Karuna in Pokhara
With Deepak at the Karuna office in Kathmandu
Jolanda Bijl en Bodha Adhikari from Nepali Children

This post is also available in: Dutch