On Tuesday April 14th, we launched #SOAPANDHOPE a campaign to raise funds to support our partner NGOs in their efforts to prevent a catastrophic spread of the deadly Coronavirus in Nepal.
We achieved our initial target of £2,000 within 48 hours and combined that with £2,000 from TGT’s reserves to send £4,000 to Nepal on Thursday 16th. In addition to this funding, we also secured a donation of 7,200 bars of soap from Unilever as part of their global COVID-19 handwashing campaign.
If you have already supported, thank you. If not, there is still time, the crowdfunder will remain open until Tuesday April 28th.
In this article we summarise the activity that has taken place so far.
EcoHimal Nepal
We have sent £3,000 to EcoHimal, they have also collected 3,600 bars of soap from a Unilever depot near Kathmandu.
EcoHimal are our largest NGO partner, we are working with them to enable climate change adaptation in three different districts in Nepal: Kavrepalanchok, Solukhumbu and the very remote Sankhuwashabha.
Essential supplies are loaded onto a jeep in Kathmandu for delivery to Solukhumbu
Working closely with Local Government and project officers on the ground EcoHimal have purchased and distributed a variety of supplies to our project locations:
2,592 bars of soap have been sent to Thulung Dhudhakoshi and Mahakulung (Solukhumbu) these will be used by families served by Deusa Agro Forestry Resource Centre;
1008 bars of soap have been sent to Mandan Deupur in Kavrepalanchok; these will be distributed to families served by Mandan Deupur Agro Forestry Resource Centre;
166 KGs of summer vegetable seeds have been bought and sent to Thulung Dhudhakoshi;
Mahakulung has received the following items:
5 PPE packs;
3 fever scanning thermal guns;
5 litres of glycerine;
30 N95 masks;
500 pairs of disposal gloves;
20 bottle of hand sanitizer (500ml each); and
300 triple layer protection face masks
150,000 Nepal Rupees (approx. £980) has been sent to Sankhuwashabha to support in transporting emergency food supplies;
Plans are also being made to send food items to Waku, our project location in Mapya Dhudhakoshi (a more remote part of Solukhumbu).
HICODEF (Nawalparasi)
£1,000 has been sent to our NGO partner HICODEF who are based in Kawasoti, Nawalparasi, south central Nepal. They have also collected 3,600 free bars of soap from Unilever’s depot in Chitwan.
3,600 bars of Lux soap arrive at HICODEF’s offices in Kawasoti ready for distribution to the rural villages.
We have worked with HICODEF for over five years to enable climate change adaptation in the Himalayan foothills just north of Kawasoti.
TGT is currently enabling HICODEF’s Layer Farming for Adaptation project in Nawalparasi East. There are eight municipalities in this district. HICODEF has consulted closely with Local Government officials to decide on how to spend the £1,000.
Lockdown means that people aren’t able to work or earn money, few families have adequate savings, hunger is therefore the immediate and gravest danger.
HICODEF has purchased 100 bags of rice. This will bolster the supplies Local Government is providing. The 25KG bags will be distributed equally across the eight municipalities, with a focus on the most deprived households.
The 3,600 bars of soap supplied by Unilever will also be distributed equally across the eight municipalities.
Local Government will organise and manage the distribution of soap and rice, with remote support by HICODEF’s officers and managers in the community.
Our Crowdfunder, #SOAPANDHOPE will be live until Tuesday April 28th. The response has been fantastic so far, we are near to hitting our stretch target and hope to go beyond that to hopefully raise a total of £4,000. That will enable us to spend a further £2,000 on efforts to prevent a Coronvirus catastrophe in Nepal. Please support if you can.