"All men are born equally free and independent. They have certain inherent natural rights …. Among which are the enjoyment of life and liberty" – John Locke
This year the State of Israel celebrates its 70 years of Independence and 60 Years of the Establishment of MASHAV (Israel's agency for International Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem). MASHAV is assisting Nepal since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1960, through development cooperation, particularly in the capacity building of the human resources and humanitarian activities.
To celebrate this special occasion, the Embassy of Israel in Kathmandu has decided to use the budget allocated for its Independence Day celebration for a special cause, to give the way forward in the lives of children with disabilities by making their mobility accessible and increase independence. The Lions Club of Kathmandu Capital District 325-A2 and Karuna Foundation Nepal have collaborated with the Embassy for this noble cause.
Specially designed for children, 40 'Wheelchairs of Hope' from Israel were distributed to children with disabilities by the Chief Guest Honorable Mr. Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Minister for Foreign Affairs, at a special function organized in Kathmandu today.
Speaking during the program, H.E. Benny Omer, Ambassador of Israel, expressed his satisfaction for the Embassy’s contribution to this humanitarian cause and hoped that these children would benefit from the specially designed, light and comfortable wheelchairs for the freedom of their movement and expressed his commitment for more of such activities in the future.
District Governor of Lions Clubs International, District 325-A2, Lion Sudarshandhar Pradhananga said that the Association of Lions Clubs International was established in 1917 with the motto "We Serve". As of today, more than 1.4 million members from 204 countries are serving the people around the world. He also informed that Lions Clubs are humanitarian organizations working for prevention of diabetes, low vision, and childhood cancer; environment protection, hunger relief distribution, etc.
Meanwhile, Prof. Dr. Bhagawan Koirala, Vice Chairperson of Karuna Foundation Nepal, highlighted on the activities of Karuna Foundation Nepal in the areas of prevention of childhood disabilities and improvement of quality of lives of the children/adults with disabilities and their families. He further mentioned that environmental and attitudinal barriers are the major challenges for the people with disabilities in Nepal and further stressed that the time has come to break all barriers and myths to include this population into the mainstream.
Chief Guest for the ceremony, Foreign Minister Gyawali and other speakers appreciated the Embassy’s noble deed of providing wheelchairs to the children with physical disabilities, which not only make them accessible, it rather opens the avenues of life to grow at full potential and thanked Ambassador Omer for making people's diplomacy functioning.
The Embassy hopes that it is able to contribute to such social causes in the future as well to support needy people and make their life comfortable. The Embassy in 2010 too had used its budget allocated for Independence Day celebration to conduct an Eye Camp by a famous group of Israeli eye doctors from 'Eye from Zion' at Manekharka village in Kavrepalanchwok district. During that camp, 55 people including elderly, youth and children with cataract and other sight related problems had benefitted from the free treatments including cataract operation.
The Organizers believe that such humanitarian activities would further strengthen the bilateral relations between Nepal and Israel, not only at Government level but also at grassroots level and between people to people, which is a very important component in the development of friendship.
More information:
Mobility & Independence
Wheelchair provision is not only about the wheelchair, which is just a product. Rather, it is about enabling people with disabilities to become mobile, remain healthy and participate fully in community life. A wheelchair is the catalyst to increased independence and social integration…(from Guidelines on the provision of Manual Wheelchairs in less resourced settings- World Health Organization 2008).
65,000,000 people need wheelchairs worldwide
It is estimated that about 1% of the total population or 10% of the disabled population need wheelchairs.
About 20 million of those requiring a wheelchair for mobility do not have access to them. Out of which, 25% are CHILDREN around the world, which are mostly from less developed environments. Most of them will not attend schools or have access to formal education
Karuna Foundation Nepal
Karuna Foundation Nepal is a Nepali Non-Governmental Organization established in the year 2015. It aims to prevent avoidable disabilities among children and improve quality of lives of children and adults with disabilities and bring progressive changes in the lives of families at risk, developing evidence based scalable community models. More: www.karunanepal.org
Lions Club Kathmandu Capital District 325-A2
Lions Clubs of Kathmandu Capital was founded in year 1992 and it is one of the most active Lions Clubs in Nepal. Its major area of service are education and scholarship funds, support to disable people, health service and environment. Since last eight year, this club has been helping numbers of differently able people by providing wheelchairs, artificial limbs and other needed accessories and physiotherapy services and training to needy people in cooperation with National Disability Support Fund.