It has been 4 years since the April 2015 Nepal earthquake.
Our organization has been involved in support activities in Nepal since May of 2015. Counting our field research trips, we have travelled to Nepal a total of 12 times so far.

This time, we visited Nepal with a team of 5 staff members and 1 volunteer.

 

During our first trip of the year, we visited the two facilities we support through the CheFuKo Foster Project, Rising Lotus Children’s Village and Radha Krishna Community Center, both located in Kathmandu.

① Rising Lotus Children’s Village　　　　② Radha Krishna Community Center

 

 

 

 

 

We also visited Shree Koldaung Devi Secondary School in Thumpakhar Village, Sindhupalchok District. This school was severely damaged by the 2015 earthquake. We have been tracking its reconstruction since our first visin in April of 2017.

③ Koldaung Devi Secondary School

 

 

 

 

Our main activities included:

● Delivering donation funds to CheFuKo Foster Project facilities

● Thermotherapy

● Joint fitness test between children’s facilities

● Recreational activities for children

● Donation of school supplies

● Field research

Just like last year, we administered thermotherapy training sessions to local individuals who were interested in the practice. The 5 individuals who competed the training course joined us as newly certified thermotherapists.

 

   

 

 

 

Thermotherapy training course (Left)             Our 5 newest thermotherapists (Right)

 

<Donation funds>

We donated the funds listed below to the two facilities we support through the CheFuKo Foster Project:

① Radha Krisna Communiy Center      200,000 yen

② Rising Lotus Children’s Village (RLCV)        300,000 yen

 

   

 

 

 

(Left) Delivering funds to Managing Director of RLCV, Mr. Hari (April 26th)
(Right) Delivering funds to representative at Radha Krishna Community Center (April 28th)

Our supporters allow us to continue our yearly contributions to these children’s facilities. We would like to thank you all for your continued support.

 

<Thermotherapy>

While we had previously performed thermotherapy at the children’s facilities RLCV and Radha Krishna Community Center, we also spent two days administering treatment at Koldaung Devi Secondary School. This time, participants included the school’s students and elderly folk, some of whom had walked quite far to reach the school. We were only able to spend a short time treating each individual, but everyone thanked us kindly for our efforts.  Among the children who experienced themotherapy for the first time, some found the treatment relaxing, while others felt ticklish. Overall, we were able to interact with many more children than our previous visit.

As this was our third visit administering thermotherapy, we handed out simple fliers describing simple exercises to ease shoulder pain. We would like to continue to provide information regarding self-care, health, and basic workout routines.

We performed thermotherapy at the following facilities:

① Rising Lotus Children’s Village (RLCV) – 59 people

② Radha Krishna Community Center – 80 people

③ Shree Koldaung Devi Secondary School – 126 people (over 2 days)

Total: 265 people

 

   

 

 

 

Students who recently completed their thermotherapy training (Left)
Thermotherapy at Radha Krishna Community Center (Right)

 

Thermotherapy at Koldaung Devi Secondary School

 

 

 

<Fitness test>

During our support activities in November of 2018, we conducted fitness tests in the following fields: “height”, “weight”, “grip strength”, “flexibility”, “standing long jump”, “sit-ups”, and “side-to-side jumping”. This time we conducted the remaining fitness tests, which included “ball throwing”, “50 meter dash”, and “20 meter shuttle run”.

Since the fitness test was conducted as a joint initiative, this was the first chance for children from the two facilities to meet each other. There were some difficulties at first, as we conducted the tests according to the Japanese methods. However, the local staff members were very cooperative and helped us make the event a success.
Explaining the 20 meter shuttle run was especially difficult. We are very thankful towards our local partners for translating on our behalf. The 32 children seemed to enjoy all of the activities, even the 20 meter shuttle run. Although they were tired, they didn’t give up until the very end.

We have now completed all of our fitness tests.
The general rating system is as follows. A: None, B: None, C: 8%, D: 28%, E: 64%. 。

Neither the boys nor the girls excelled in the fields of “sit-ups (abdominal muscles)”, “side-to-side jumping (agility)”, and “20 meter shuttle run (endurance)”. On the other hand, the boys excelled in the fields of “grip strength” and “flexibility”, while the girls excelled at “ball throwing” and “flexibility”.

In Nepal, physical education sessions are only held once a week. Kids engage in activities such as volleyball and badminton, but do not engage in physical activities that build stamina. This is likely why only 6 girls were able to achieve the highest score in the “20 meter shuttle run”. As our tests were conducted with children who lived in Kathmandu, the results may differ with children who live farther away from their schools.

We hope we can continue to conduct fitness tests to measure these children’s growth.

 

   

 

 

 

Ball tossing (Left)                                         50 meter dash (Right)

 

   

 

 

 

20 meter shuttle run (Left)                            Children taking records (Right)

 

<Recreational activities>

① Sports festival

We also conducted a joint sports festival between the two CheFuKo Foster Project facilities.
While we weren’t able to finish all of our planned activities, the event still served as an opportunity for the children of the two facilities to meet each other.
We began by getting to know each other with the human knot game. Some groups had difficulty untangling themselves, but those who did were very excited when they finished!

 

   

Human knot game

 

The long jump rope seemed difficult for the younger children, but they didn’t give up easily. The older children, meanwhile, steadily improved after practicing.

 

   

Long jump rope

 

We used cheap equipment we could find locally for the last few events: ball carrying, tire rolling, and finally, the relay race.

 

Video of relay race

We were initially concerned that it would be difficult to find equipment, secure a location, and explain the sports events to the children. However, our staff worked together with our local partners to make the event a success. Not everything went perfectly, of course, but the best part was getting to see the children having fun.

We would like to thank everyone, both the volunteers and the children, who showed up for the event!

 

   

 

 

 

Eating lunch (Left)                                        Handing out candy to the children (Right)

 

   

 

 

 

Giving candy medals to the winning team

 

② Dodgeball

Just like last year, we played dodgeball with the students of Koldaung Devi Secondary School.
Many of the students still remembered the rules from last year’s session.
This time, the teachers participated as well. The children seemed to enjoy playing with their favorite teachers!
We were happy to see everyone from the school having fun together.

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Kids throwing dodgeballs at our staff (Left)          The teachers joining the game (Right)

 

<Donation of school supplies>

Thanks to the contributions from our supporters, we were able to donate the following school supplies.

① Rising Lotus Children’s Village 
Donated 30 colored pencil sets and 40 sketchbooks.

   

 

 

 

② Radha Krishna Community Center
Donated 4 colored pencil sets and 1 laptop computer.

 

 

③ Shree Koldaung Devi Secondary School
Donated 288 CheFuKo pencils and 1 laptop computer.

 

   

 

 

 

Our next trip to Nepal is scheduled for November of 2019.

 

In our upcoming post, will share the results of our field research!