Burley couple send hope and support to the disabled youngsters of Nepal

A country of huge contrasts, many of its people are desperately poor and struggle to get access to the most basic facilities.

And those with disabilities can often face a double disadvantage of poverty and a cultural attitude that keeps them hidden away.

But for the past 14 years an organisation which a Burley-in-Wharfedale woman helped to set up has been doing everything it can to help give a chance of a good life to disabled youngsters and adults, many of whom have been cut off from mainstream society for years.

The Western Nepal Disability Trust is working hard to make a difference to the lives of people who have so little – and now its founder is asking people in and around Burley to help her bring hope to people with disabilities.

Jane Schofield-Gurung said: “WNDT is a small charity which was registered in 2008, with the aim of supporting disabled children and their families who are living in the Western Region of Nepal.

“We do this at the moment by working through a project called Community Based Rehabilitation Service (CBRS) which is based in Pokhara and works in the surrounding districts.

“CBRS has been working since 1995 and provides service and support for disabled children and their families, and training for other organisations.

“I was involved in the setting up of CBRS, after working in Pokhara as a physiotherapist and getting together with families and individuals who were also motivated to see some development and change.”

Jane first went to work in Nepal in 1987 as a short-term volunteer and she immediately fell in love with the country.

She also met and married her husband, Prem, while she was there. And now, although the couple live here in West Yorkshire with their daughters, Christine, 12 and Sophie, nine, she is still doing everything she can to support the organisation she helped set up.

She said: “When I went to Nepal I had been working in India first. Although I liked it there it didn’t really feel like home. But when I went to Nepal I knew I was going to be there for some time.”

She worked in Nepal for six months as a physiotherapist with a Christian development organisation in a Government hospital. When her tourist visa ran out she returned home and applied for a work visa.

She met Prem after returning to Nepal, and the couple were married in 1992. They go to Nepal on holiday every two years and while she is there Jane catches up first hand with the work the organisation is doing.

She said: “It is a land of great contrasts in that there are certain people who are very wealthy – but the majority are very poor. The scenery is stunning – but as my husband says, ‘you can’t eat the view.’ “You might live in the most beautiful country but if you are not sure where your next meal is coming from that’s no consolation.

“Also you may have a good health centre but people may have to walk a day or several days to get there.”

Despite the often extreme poverty she said people were generally very welcoming but she soon discovered the particular problems faced by people with disabilities.

“While I was working at the hospital in Pokhara through the physio work we had a lot of contact with families of disabled children. We realised there was nothing to meet the needs that they had – not only in terms of physiotherapy and speech therapy but also just the family as a whole.”

She said they came across families who had hidden their disabled children away – but by getting them together with other families in the same position they were able to support each other.

Today the trust works with more than 600 families, offering home visits for physiotherapy, providing equipment and advising on ways to achieve greater independence. Its aims to improve awareness and knowledge about disability, support the inclusion of disabled people and other marginalised groups in family and community life, and is involved in the training and supporting of other local and national organisations.

The group believes it is unique in providing practical services and support and also in working for long-term change.

As well as having a goal of education for all by 2015, the group provides therapy services and equipment to help disabled people fulfil their potential, and they are trying to help people improve their economic situation.

In a society where disabled people have often been hidden away changing attitudes is an important part of their work.

“Part of the project is an awareness programme about disability,” Jane said. “That you can’t catch it from anybody else – and that you can help.”

In a culture where there had not traditionally been a scientific basis to knowledge people have looked for other meanings to disability, she said. And there have been cases where disabilities have become worse because help has not been available.

“When the project started in 1995 we were coming across families of teenage children that had never had any support,” she said.

“It was very rewarding to be able to see that we were getting children that were coming in much earlier.”

She believe the organisation is making a real difference to lives of disabled people.

“I think it has helped the children have opportunities that they would not have had otherwise. It has helped families in caring for those children and has helped other organisations to do the same.

In the case of one brother and sister aged 10 and seven, who are believed to have muscular dystrophy, the project has helped them to stay at school despite the fact that they are losing their physical skills and abilities.

Jane said the life of one disabled woman, Reena, had been transformed by the project, when they met her in her 20s.

When she was asked who her friends were and who she went out with her mother answered for her.

“Her mum just said she doesn’t have any friends – how could someone like that have friends,” she said.

“The family had kept her very isolated and very protected – with the best of intentions.”

Now Reena likes to go swimming with friends, and works as a trainer with a women’s skills project teaching other people to sew.

Examples like Reena’s are important in showing what can be achieved in encouraging attitudes to change.

“Her life is transformed now. She is helping other people and has a peer group of friends now,” Jane said.

The trust was registered as a charity in this country last year, which means it can get gift aid and it will have accountability to help organisers step up fund-raising over here.

One of the trustees is another Burley resident, Pam Selby,who worked as a GP at Otley before leaving to work at Manorlands Hospice.

Pam, who decided to help after going to a meeting organised by Jane, said: “I was inspired by it really, and that’s why I became involved.

“As a GP you see children with disabilities, and even though it is not absolutely perfect here we are an awful lot better off, and what is why I wanted to get involved. I am so conscious of what we have here with the NHS.”

With help and equipment costing so much less – a special chair for a disabled child can cost just £5 – it is possible to have a big impact with a small sum of money. I think by supporting this work you can make a real difference to somebody’s life and their quality of life,” Jane said.

A craft evening has been organised on Saturday, November, 14 to support two local charities which work in Nepal.

The event, from 8pm to 10pm at St Mary’s Parish Centre, Station Road, Burley in Wharfedale, will include paper products, jewellery, scarves, handmade cotton and felt bags, and phone purses.

Asian and Nepalese drinks and snacks will also be available, and the cost will be covered by a small entry fee.

As well as raising money for WNDT the event will also raise fund for My Small Help, a charity which aims to relieve poverty amongst children anywhere in the world, but starting in Nepal.

The group which provide free education to poor children, also aims to create jobs for the underprivileged and raise awareness of fair trade.

For further details, contact the WNDT trustees, at 40 Sun Lane, Burley-in-Wharfedale, LS29 7JB, phone 01943 863945.

The charity is about to launch a website at wndt.org.uk