Urgent appeal for monsoon help

Please help with our urgent appeal for monsoon relied aid 2017, to provide houses for 10 families whose earthquake-damaged homes have been totally destroyed in the current monsoon. €15,000 will provide housing for the worst affected families in the remote village of Inarwaha, Dhanusha district. NLT’s Lalgadh Leprosy Hospital is well placed to offer immediate support through its network of 101 community Self Help Groups operating in monsoon-hit districts. Click to donate:

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Please keep the frontline work of Lalgadh Leprosy Hospital in your thoughts and prayers.  The hospital is built on a hill and so the building is relatively safe.

The United Nations describes this as the worst monsoon flooding for 15 years in Nepal.

The following is an extract from a recent update by Dr Graeme, the medical director, at Lalgadh Leprosy Hospital & Services Centre, Nepal.

‘Since July, the rains have caused:

  • More than 150 deaths
  • The destruction of 90,000 homes in floods and landslides.
  • The displacement of 461,000 people in 35 districts of the southern Terai region.
  • The deaths of around 70,000 livestock and the devastation of crops worth tens of millions of dollars.

Every year, the waters from both monsoon rain and swollen Himalayan rivers inundate Nepal and its neighbours. Latest United Nations figures put the death toll in Nepal, India and Bangladesh above 1,200. At least 41 million people have been directly affected by flooding and landslides.

There is an urgent need for flood-relief items such as clean water, food rations, tarpaulins, blankets, clothes, water purifiers and mosquito nets. With the spread of water-borne diseases such as cholera, donations will also help treat sick children, pregnant mothers and other severely ill people, as well as providing transport to hospitals and medicine for local clinics.’

Take a look below at what people are facing in Inarwaha.  Is is about 60 km south-east of our Leprosy hospital. Normally it takes 3 hours to reach the village over rough terrain. We have supported a Self Help Group there since 2010.

Please help with our urgent appeal for monsoon relief aid to support these resilient people. Thank you for reading about our work. You can donate here:

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Overcoming stigma in Lalgadh, rural Nepal

The link between social standing and stigma elimination has long been recognised by Nepal Leprosy Trust.  A year-long collaboration between Professor Orla Muldoon (UL), Dr Sarah Jay (UL), Psychology department and Mike Winterburn (Limerick Institute of Technology) will gauge the success of this synergy.  Read more on this research project in our Summer 2017 newsletter  here

Villager filling up survey form for the University of Limerick research study.
Villager filling up survey form for the University of Limerick research study. Photo; Vera © NLT Ireland
Data collection forms in transit to Limerick, Ireland
Data collection forms in transit to Limerick, Ireland. Photo: Vera © NLT Ireland

Our founder Eileen Lodge aged 94.

Our founder Eileen, aged 94 years,  having tea and cake in her home in Kathmandu yesterday (18th June 2017), with Mike Winterburn, chairman of the board of directors of NLT Ireland.
Eileen Lodge, had worked in Nepal with those affected by Leprosy since the early 1950s. Nepal Leprosy Trust (NLT) was established in 1972 in Kathmandu. Many, many people have benefited and continue to benefit greatly as result of this wonderful lady! If you wish to support our mission contact us on info@nlt.ie or click here

Eileen Lodge and Mike Winterburn in Kathmandu June 2017
Eileen Lodge and Mike Winterburn in Kathmandu June 2017 . © NLT Ireland

Thank you for your support

Thank you to all who supported us this week by buying crafts.  These beautiful crafts are made in Nepal by skilled crafts people and are vital for their livelihood and that of their families.  See image below of the craft workers as they complete the felt decorations, sewing on the beading and fine detail. We thank you for purchasing these and other crafts, your support and encouragement is hugely appreciated.

Durga, Sunita, Sarmila in NLT Kathmandu.
Durga, Sunita, Sarmila in NLT Kathmandu. Photo: Vera © NLT Ireland 2014

Support our crafters

These happy chaps arrived from Kathmandu in the late summer ready to settle in new homes. Craft fairs are taking place in Celbridge on 23rd November and again on 26th and 27th November 2017

Craft sales also taking place in Limerick between now and Christmas, will post dates closer to the events.

Santa_Cone _crop_011

These are part of our income generating programmes in Nepal and can support the many families who make them. Sizes 43cm, 34cm, 27cm, in 3 colours, selling at €10, €8 and €6.

batik-cards-small
Above photos: Vera © NLT Ireland

Also batik cards for sale.

HOPE: It’s not just a buzzword

Article and photos by Sarah Winterburn 2016.

hope-is-not-a-buzzword

Late one evening in July, I found myself descending rapidly in an airplane over the Kathmandu valley. The city looked totally unlike any I had seen before. Walking out onto the heated street, the life of the place struck me. People everywhere. No surface seemed untouched. As I travelled south, rural farmland replaced crowded cityscape – rice paddies and dirt tracks.

WELCOME TO NEPAL
How did I end up here? After a lifetime of hearing stories about Nepal from my parents, who spent the first years of their married lives there, I had been given the opportunity to visit. I would be staying at Lalgadh Hospital – the busiest leprosy hospital in the world – set up by Nepal Leprosy Trust (NLT), a Christian organisation inspired by Jesus’ compassion to serve the poor and sick. Their aim is to empower those affected by leprosy and other disadvantaged people.

Loose change.

Loose change, please donate to us.

Especially any unwanted 1c and 2c coins as they can help greatly to support our work. In Nepal the average daily wage is around €1. A small container as pictured can contain about €7 or €8, with a mix of coins. Contact us at info@nlt.ie to discuss further.

€5 can provide a pair of custom made shoes for a patient in our leprosy hospital in Lalgadh, read more here

Unwanted, loose change.
Unwanted, loose change. Photo; Vera © NLT Ireland

Touchable untouchables?

We count it a joy and privilege to serve and envision some of the poorest people on the Earth.

Dalit children
Photo: S Winterburn © NLT Ireland

The Musha children seen above are part of a dalit community of  ‘untouchables’ in the Terai of Nepal, that are marginalised by the wider community because of being born into a low caste.

They have no land, and earn their living working for others, earning perhaps a euro a day, when there is work.

Help us help them, with income generation, education, health, sanitation and water projects. Lets give them hope and a dream for their lives.

See details of our Village Alive project.

Contact: info@nlt.ie

The difference a donor makes

In April 2014 an Irish family generously donated funds for materials to rebuild a permanent 2 room school in Lal Busti village in rural south eastern Nepal. They also paid for new uniforms and school books.

The original school building was made from mud and bamboo and required rebuilding each year after the monsoon (see photo on right). The top image was taken in April 2015 in a new brick building and with new uniforms and books. The villagers built the school themselves under the guidance of the village development committee. And what a transformation: don’t the photos say it all?

La Busti's new school in April 2015.
La Busti’s new school in April 2015. Photo: E Thomas © NLT Ireland
Lal Busti village school in April 2014, prior to rebuilding.
Lal Busti village school in 2014, prior to rebuilding. Photo; Vera © NLT Ireland
Lal Busti village school, April 2015.
Lal Busti village school, April 2015. Photo: E Thomas © NLT Ireland
Lal Busti village school, April 2014.
Lal Busti village school, April 2014. Photos: Vera © NLT Ireland