Since we last spoke, life has been full of the busy routines that all of you with kids and jobs will share too. A significant change has been the arrival of Stephen and Laura Coulter from Belfast, also with PCI. We have been enjoying their company and accents immensely! Life in Nepal is very much […]
We are currently in the middle of the main holiday period in Nepal, which coincides with the most auspicious and important Hindu festival of Dashain. It is a time when most Nepalis return to their home villages and towns to be with their family and celebrate the Dashain festival. Kathmandu feels pretty empty at the […]
Meeting with our local based partners, discussing and seeing their work at first hand is a most rewarding and humbling experience. The day began with an early start and after an hours drive along bumpy roads, there was a call for a working breakfast to discuss the partners we were due to meet and outline the day’s activities. There are 100s […]
There is a Tibetan proverb, which simply states that a child without education is like a bird without a wing. UMN has four technical work areas, one of which is Education. The start of UMN was under medical missionary work but it rapidly expanded into other areas of needs, which included education. There are different strands to our education […]
April was a busy month as I visited three UMN cluster offices – there were various meetings and training sessions with UMN local partners as well as meeting with people directly impacted by our work. In Sunsari, which is a district on Nepal’s terai region bordering India, I met Nawa Jiwan Samaj Sewa (New Life Society Service), who are a […]
It has been particularly busy over the last month as I have been out of Kathmandu visiting three different cluster offices and local partners in Sunsari, Rupandehi and Dhading. In Dhading, I met up with a local Christian Partner, HIMS, who have a vision for increasing their involvement in the community through social work. Prior […]
Sabina, one of our colleagues in UMN, recently invited us to an important event to celebrate a landmark in her son’s life – his coming of age.The family is part of the Newar community who are the indigenous people of the Kathmandu Valley. The Newar community are both Hindus and Buddhists. Their rites of passage […]
Sixty years ago, a group of mission agencies met in Nagpur, India and hammered out a truly unique agreement – an organisation that would be a coalition, working in unity across denominational lines. This was the beginning of the United Mission to Nepal. Over 300 people gathered at the UMN Headquarters on Wednesday 5th March to commemorate the 60th anniversary […]
Inrawati is Munilal’s second wife. They married after the death of his first wife and all together have six children – two daughters from the first marriage and two daughters and two sons from the second. It was very costly to get the two eldest daughters married and the family fell into debt. In desperation, […]
This week we have a story about a young girl and family situation which is fairly typical in Nepal. Eighteen-year-old Asmita BK married a boy from Thakre when she was just 16. Although the law in Nepal states that girls should be 18 and boys 21 when they get married, underage marriage is still common. […]