Ujjwal Tanglami is an only child being raised by his mother and grandmother who live in abject poverty. His father disappeared right after his birth. His mother and grandmother pick crops to minimally sustain themselves. Early in Ujjwal’s life, when the family did not even have enough to eat, a neighbor promised to take him to a school in Kathmandu; but as so often happens, he ended up at a corrupt orphanage. Ujjwal was rescued from the illegal orphanage along with six other children on Nov 19, 2018. The orphanage had run out of funds and the children were literally being starved. NGN, with the help of the Nepal government, rescued them in time – otherwise, the children would have been at great risk. Ujjwal was reunified with his family in April of 2019 just as the pandemic took hold. Ujjwal’s family was already struggling to meet their most basic needs, but the pandemic caused even more difficulties for this family. NGN provided food and hygiene supplies to the family which would last two months and brought some relief to a very difficult situation.
Manju is from the remote mountainous region of Mugu. She has seven members in her family. They are at an economic disadvantage when compared with the other families in the village. Her father died when she was young, and her mother is raising Manju and her siblings alone and with little help. Manju was brought to Kathmandu by one of her relatives who left her at an orphanage in Kathmandu where she was beaten and abused. NGN, with the help of the Nepal government, rescued her from the orphanage and reintegrated her back with her family. Due to the global pandemic, Manju and her family were struggling to provide enough to eat. NGN provided them with our relief package which included rice, lentils, legumes, salt, eggs, noodles and hygiene and personal protection equipment. This brought some relief to the families already difficult situation, and having this aid certainly helped in preventing them from getting Covid -19.
