First highlight of this 2016 edition, the Forum of associationsmaterialized with an open round table on the theme “After the earthquake, how to restart in Nepal”. Three speakers followed one another, all volunteers in associations intervening for years in this country so endearing and so hard hit in the spring of 2015.
Coming from Paris as founder of theCollectif France-Nepal, Binod Khakurelfirst developed several topical points: the importance of the earthquakes ofApril and May 2015 (more than 9,000 dead, more than 500 missing, hundreds of buildings and roads destroyed, tourism immediately stopped,…); the context of reconstruction, estimated at €7 billion (€4 billion in financial aid from donor countries, new urban planning and construction rules, priority given to schools, etc.); the major role of associations in Nepal, recognized as the best ambassadors of the country (in France: 400 existing or created sent aid in 2015); the projects of his Collective, supported by the ambassador of France, including the idea of an inter-associative platform with communication media, amplifying the current use of local radios or the creation of a magazine.
In turn, Alain Fabre (from Saint Juéry-Tarn), founder of the association Solu Child Orphange, presented the video of his career as a sportsman and mountaineer, mobilized for several years to help an orphanage of 25 children, in Kathmandu, which had to be completely rebuilt in 2015. Its communication actions facilitated the search for the €25,000 needed for the work.
As forAlain Scudellaro, co-founder, in Lamothe-Goas, of the Gers Himalaya association, he shared the information gathered during his mission last April, in the 4 establishments assisted since 2000: in the village of Salyantar, the government school has been destroyed, and work will begin; at the Phutung orphanage, the work financed by the association is regularly checked; in Lélintok, the school built and belonging to Gers Himalaya is usable; in Kathmandu, Suryodya Middle School has been razed and a new school is once again accommodating 350 children in 13 classes. He confirmed the interest of federating the associations operating in Nepal, to pool their resources and share good practices.
During the debate, the audience asked many questions, including about Nepalese political news, with a recent change of Government, the establishment of a 600-member Constituent Assembly, and the prospect of upcoming local elections, then legislative elections, and finally members ofthe Senate. Nepal was still looking for political stability, especially since the issue of global warming was, for a long time, one of the Government’s priorities, which noted the significant melting of the glaciers of the high peaks.
Source: www.lejournaldugers.fr