2016 - December 3 (Saturday)

Himalayan Education And Development (Head Nepal) in collaboration with the Women and Children Office Humla and Sahara Samuha Humla celebrated 25th International Day of Persons with Disabilities in district level in Simikot with various activities.

International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) is an international observance promoted by the United Nations since 1992. This day is observed every year on 3rd December. The day aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities. It also seeks to increase awareness of gains to be derived from the inclusion of persons with disabilities in every aspect of life.

Around 15% of the world’s population, or one billion people, live with disabilities. People are often unaware of the great number of persons living with disabilities around the world and the challenges they face. The United Nations along with the World Health Organization (WHO) has started a mission to enhance the quality of life for people with disabilities through national, regional and global efforts and to raise awareness about the magnitude and consequences.

In Nepal as well a numbers of actions have been taken from the government and non-governmental sector for the wellbeing of the people with disabilities in Nepal. Similarly in Humla district one of the most remote and undeveloped district of Midwestern Nepal, Head Nepal has been leding the disability moment since 2011 with different activities from education service to lifelyhood and capacity building of the people with disabilities. Today on this special day of the year on the 3rd of December, (Mansir 18) with the international theme “Achieving 17 goals for the future we want” we conducted a radio program in order to convey our message to the public and the community members. From 7.30 to 8 AM this a special talk-show was organized in the Radio Karnali FM in Simikot. In the program Women Development Officer, Dev Kumari Khatri and Chhitup Lama the Executive Director of Head Nepal was invited for the talk and the children from Head Vision Home sang a Dohori song including the issues and voices of the people with disabilities in the song. Afterwhile we also conducted a rally in the Simikot Market along with the local authorities and development agencies. In the rally the children from the Head Vision Home and Head Enable Home and Sahara Samuha have been participated. We distributed fruits and sweets to the children with disabilities residing at Head Nepal and Sahara Samuha to encourage and motivate the children for a better career. The rally was started from the compound of District Development Ccommittee (DDC) and ended at the Head Enable Home the newly started residential home for the children with physical disabilities. At the end of the rally Head Nepal organized an official grant festive opening )inauguration of the Head Enable Home (HEH) the program was moderated by Mr. Lokraj Shahi, the teacher of Head Vision Home. The chair-person of the program was Dev Kumari Khatri, Women Development Officer from Women and Children Office Humla. Similarly the chief guest of the ceremony was the chief district officer (CDO) Dr. Krishhna B. Ghimire. The Chief guest Dr. GHimire inaugurated the home by discovering the official banner/sign-board of the Head Enable Home. The(HEH) is the second residential home by Head Nepal specially for the children with physical/mobility disabilities. Located at Simikot. In the residential center altogether 20 children have been accomodeted with school educational facilities. Head Nepal has been running the Head Vision Home for the children with visual impairment since 2012.

At the end we would like to mention that Head Nepal is very much committed in overall development of people with disabilities in Humla. But we alone can’t do this for sure! We need all of your collaborative support and help in this mission. As the main theme of the 25th International Disabilities Days “Achieving 17 goals for the future we want”, If we are successful to achieve the 17 goals of (SDG) then we don’t have doubt that anyone in the planet is left behind the mainstream development. Wishing you all for the successful future and successful achievement of 17 goals of SDG!!

HEAD Nepal Family!

Mr. Shusil Pandit from NSET is taking class about disaster at HEAD Nepal Humla yesterday. This class is really highly impressive for the children.

Mr. Sushil Pandit from NSET Nepal taking class about Disaster Risk Reduction and Management and Fire Control at this organization for the students with disabilities and the staffs. As people with disabilities are always in high risk of any disasters, such lessons/classes are highly important and benificial. We on behalf of the students and colligues from Head Nepal would like to thank Mr. Sushil for accepting our request and sharing his knowledge and expertise with us!

We are pleased to inform that in November 2015 we were able to install two sets of Close Circuit Television (CCTVs) in themultifunctional/computer lap of the Head Vision Home in Simikot. The items are bought in Germany with the support from the friends and some organization in Australia in an initiation of Prof. Bob in April 2015 and donated to Head Nepal. The CCTV is an important technical device that helps students with low-vision in an easy access to text books and other reading materials. The CCTV magnifies the text on the screen and the reader will have better recognition of the reading materials with larger size and convenient colors. This is an another big achievement of the Head Vision Home in this fiscal year. On behalf of all the children and the colleagues from Himalayan Education and Development (HEAD Nepal). We would like to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation to Mrs. MalgorzataMoszczynski And Rev. ArturBotur for organizing “The Bridge of Hearts” a special support program last year during the Easter-break in collaboration with Prof. BoguslawMarek (Bob) from Poland in order to support learning materials/educational devices for the students with visual impairments residing and studying at HEAD Vision Home in SimikotHumla Nepal! We are very pleased to receive the two sets of CCTVS, Close Circuit Television, magnifying reading materials for the low-vision students at our center in Simikot. Both the systems are currently installed in the center and the children with low-vision are being benefited for reading the books/magazines.

We entire HEAD Nepal family including the students with visual impairment would like to thank you so much for your wonderful support in organizing this support program!!! And our big thanks goes to Prof. Bob for coordinating and all the organizations and individuals directly and indirectly involved in this beautiful project!!! Our sincere gratitude goes to Polish parishioners from the Divine Mercy Shrine –Polish Catholic Church, Keysborough, Victoria, Australia as well for sponsoring the items! Similarly our heartfelt thanks goes to Mr Krzysztof Bajkowski, The Editor, BUMERANGPolski and all the team for your kind support for the special program! Finally we thank Mr. Himal, our wonderful volunteer based at Kathmandu who tirelessly and patiently helped us to release the items from the custom office which took a long time. Aalso a big thank to Prof. Bob for helping Himal and us in this matter!We are sure that these CCTVs will make a huge different in the study of the low-vision students in SimikotHumla.

With the financial support from the Stichting Doel voor Ogen in Netherland and kind coordination from Kanthari International we have installed a Solar-Water-Hitter system in the outside sanitary facility/bathroom at the Head Vision Home specially for the children with visual and physical impairment. One more system is still under the process of installation at the Head Enable Home. As Humla lies in the Himalayan district and it is too cold throughout the year this water hitting system is amazingly helpful for the children and the staffs in order to have hot shower and washing/cleaning purpose. We entire Head Family would like to thank the Stichting Doel voor Ogen for the donation and Kanthari International India for wonderful cooperation! The two bathroom/toilets room are built last year with the financial support from Foundation Gives Nepal in Netherland.

On the occasion of Deepawaly 2073 a Deusi Bhaili team in front of Head Nepal building! The team also includes the children at the Head Vision Home and Head Enable Home in Simikot let by the Palpali group and local community. Thanks for the entire group for visiting us and including the kids with different abilities from our homes. This is the perfect social inclusion of disabled community!!!

We know that in Deepawaly/Tihar most of the people often play Deushi Bhaiilo for entertainment/refreshment and also to preserve the tradition. But sometime such programs are organized by local club and Community Based Organization in order to collect fund and support social cause. In Simikot too a Deusi Bhailo team involving A Palpali group, Airport security personnel and some local people organized Deusi Bhailo program on the occasion of the Deepawaly 2073 and the team donated 1 3rd of the total amount out of the collection which is Npr. 19,015 to Head Nepal specially for the children with physical and visual impairment residing and educating at the two different centers in Simikot. We have acknowledged that the team has fulfilled their social responsibility along with the recreation and traditional responsibility. We on behalf of entire Head Nepal family including the children appreciate the donation and would like to thank the Deusi Bhailo Team and all the individuals participated in the Deushi Bhailo program for this generous donation!! We will make sure that the donated amount 19,015 is used to buy warm winter clothes for the children as the winter is approaching a head.

The cash donation was handed over to Mr. Chhitup Lama in the picnic spot organized by the team!!!

In formal interaction among the children with disabilities for better access to hygeine/sanitation and accessible toilets and water tap organized and facilitated by KIDARK and SIDC Humla and their staffs!!!

HEAD Nepal organized a short orientation on report writing and photo editing/adjustment in the document and captioning for the staffs on Tuesday 20th of September. The program was voluntarily facilitated by Mr. Dipendra Rokaya, a journalist by profession and a writer and researcher originally from Rodikot Humla. The informal orientation was assisted and technically helped by Mr. Resham Raj Rokaya, the technical coordinator of Head Nepal. This is a capacity building training for the employers at Head Nepal. A big thanks to Mr Dipendra Rokaya for his great facilitation and time for us!!!

The Himalayan Education And Development (HEAD Nepal) is pleased to initiate the Head Enable Home, a residential educational center for 15-20 children with physical/mobility disability throughout the rural Himalayan region of Humla district. This is our second home after the successful implementation/smooth operation of the Head Vision Home, the first residential educational center for 25 children with visual impairment at Simikot the district headquarter of Humla. The Head Enable Home is currently operated in a rented private building and located just behind the Head Vision Home and has been started from the 1st of September and so far 10 children are already enrolled in the home and 10 more children are under the process of registration.

District level talent show program among the children with disabilities jointly conducted by HEAD Nepal, Sahara Group and District Education Office Humla.

HEAD Nepal in collaboration with Women Children Office Humla under the Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) Program organized one day orientation and interaction program on Disabled Friendly workplace and accessible physical environment in district level in Simikot Humla on Friday July first. About 40 people from different government and non-governmental organizations and people with disabilities were participated in the program. Mr. Chhitup Lama facilitated the entire session with different presentations and tips and techniques to make the workplace and physical environment disabled friendly and accessible. We express our appreciation to all the active participants and the supporters for this program. This interactive orientation program has added a brick in the disability movement in Humla district.

Webbing skill training for the socially and economically disadvantaged women from Humli community. This training is managed and organized by the HEAD Skill Development Center a project by HEAD Nepal with the financial support from the Women and Children Office Humla under the Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) Program. We hope that the training will add more insight of webbing and add more skills to the participants and believe that the women will have more opportunities of income generation!!

The HEAD Skill Development Center a project by HEAD Nepal in partnership with the Small Cottage Industry Development Board Humla has just completed the 15 days Christle Jewelry Making training in Simikot Humla on 29th of April 2016. The training was started from the 14th of April. The main goal of the training is to empower the socially and economically disadvantages women through income generating activities like making different jewels and sell them in the local market. Total 11 women were trained in the training and we whish them all the best in initiating a small-scale business with the skills they learned during the training. We appreciate our sincere gratitude to the Board and the officer Mr. Modhnath Gyawali for partnering with us in this very new project in Humla.

On Monday 25th of April, we HEAD Nepal together with the Foundation Nepal Gives from Netherland with the presence of Mr. Herman and Peter and their wives Trudy and Paula had a wonderful celebration and grant festive reopening of the HEAD Vision Home, a residential educational center for the blind and partially sighted students from the rural villages of Humla district. The home was originally initiated in 2012 however the building was recently extended, modernized, upgrated and made much comfortable for the children specially to have a better/comfortable educational environment with the financial support from the foundation. The festive opening took place in Simikot at the Lama Cultural Forum seminar hall just next to the HEAD Vision Home. All the local Government authorities/officers, NGOs/INGOs representatives, teachers, the children and the parents were present in the ceremony. We take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to all the wonderful people and organizations including the Foundation Gives Nepal and Mr. Herman and Peter for their tireless effort and wonderful support for the HEAD Vision Home and the children with visual impairment in the center!

HEAD Nepal in coordinating with Women and Children Office Humla is happy to inaugurate 3 month basic sewing and cutting (Tailoring) training specially for the people with disabilities and also for socially and economically disadvantaged members of Humli community. The training was inaugurated by Dr. Krishna Bahadur Ghimire, the chief district officer (CDO) and the chief of the inaugurating program. This program was held on 25the of March 2016 at HEAD Nepal's Office. In the mean time we also organized the inception program (Introductory session) about HEAD Mobile School for the children with disabilities throughout the rural villages of lower Humla. We thank all the government officers and NGOs/INGOs representatives and media persons for attending the program and we always value your suggestion/advice/comments and compliments on our works and activities. We wish the participants of sewing and cutting training and big success of Mobile School!!