January 11, 2017
Nepal
Towels and bags are piled up along the walls of the modest temporary shelter. The stone stove near the door is equipped with only a single pan. In the middle of this mosaic of scarce belongings, an immobile figure lies curled up under a thick blanket: it is Bimala Tamang, the girl who is known for lying on the same spot for months.
“Bimala has been sleeping for more than five months now,” the girl’s mother, Kanchi Tamang, says. “She gets up only to eat and go to the bathroom, and she hasn’t spoken a word in all this time.”
It was five years ago that Bimala, the second of the family’s five children, became ill for the first time. Since then, she has experienced similar states of depression time and again. The suffering has not only silenced the laughter and jokes of the previously active and lively girl, but it has also caused her to drop out from school.
The family’s main source of income is a small plot of maize and millet. Occasionally, Bimala’s father earns some additional money as a daily labourer on construction sites. However, with a salary of a mere 200 Rupees (less than 2 USD) a day, it is barely about enough to support food and education for the children. The family’s financial struggles saw a drastic increase when the earthquake in April 2015 reduced their house to rubble.
“We have nothing,” the mother says, “so I had to sell my ring and borrow money from neighbours to buy medicine for Bimala.” Thanks to the mother’s own initiative as well as some short-term support through other organizations, Bimala recovered and managed to return to school for a short time. However, as soon as the medication supplies were used up, the emptiness in Bimala’s eyes returned.
“We don’t have the money to bring Bimala to Kathmandu again for medical help,” the mother says. “We do not have the means to help her.”
In May 2016, Bimala’s mother attended an event for the promotion of school-attendance that was organized by MANK, one of Caritas Czech Republic’s and Caritas Switzerland´s implementing partners in the programme for the rehabilitation of public schools in Sindhupalchok. During the meeting, she informed Indra Kumari Dulal, Programme Coordinator for MANK, about her daughter’s state.
Determined to do their level best to help Bimala recover and continue her education, MANK arranged a stay for Bimala in the short-term residential care center of Koshish (a national non-governmental, non-profit self-help organization that works for the cause of persons with mental health problems). There, she received adequate psychological examination and treatment by experienced psychologists and care-takers for 5 weeks. Thanks to the patience and expertise of the Koshish staff, Bimala gradually began to react, speak and eventually study again. On 23 August 2016, she was stable enough to be discharged and return to her home in Sindhupalchok.
In the last week of August, Bimala returned to school. Two weeks later, she won a prize for a song performance while participating in an extracurricular activity organized by MANK. Local organization RHEST Nepal agreed to cover Bimala’s medication costs for as long as necessary.
MANK together with Caritas Czech Republic and Caritas Switzerland participates in the reconstruction of earthquake-damaged schools in the district of Sindhupalchok. Project includes also support for schooling.
