NATIONAL9 [ (Spotlight Weelky)]

Helping Hand

German Nepalese Help Association (GNHA) marks twentieth year of its continued assistance in the social development of Nepal

By A CORRESPONDENT

Traditionally, German has been one of the largest donor country to Nepal. Apart from official German help, there are several NGOs run with the assistance of German nationals.

GNHA anniversary meeting

The German Nepalese Help Association (GNHA) founded in 1979 by late Margot Busak, a German industrialist, and her like-minded friends of Germany, is one of them.

With the focus on the health, education and environment sector, the association has been extending cooperation to the social development of the country by providing assistance both in cash and in kind.

The GNHA has already spent about 6 to 7 million German mark as its contribution to Nepal from 1979 till 1998. The amount is considerable as the association only collects funds through individual donations.

"We receive donations from German individuals interested in Nepal," says Kamal Rupakheti, the association's representative in Nepal. "Most of our donors are middle-class German people."

At present, the association has 400 members and 1200 donors spread all over Germany. The GNHA has a formal agreement with the Social Welfare Council (SWC) since 1989 to work in Nepal. According to Rupakheti, the association currently spends about half a million German mark every year to run different projects in the country.

From the time it came into existence, the association has till date provided support to 34 projects on public health, 17 projects on education and training, 16 projects on social relief and 18 projects on environment and infrastructures.

The GNHA is also working with multiple project partners and the number of completed projects count more than 90.

Some of the projects run by the association include free dispensary unit in Bir Hospital, ambulance and medical equipment donations to various health centers, drinking water schemes in several villages and support to several schools.

GNHA- run free dispensary at Bir Hospital : Support for needy

In Bir Hospital the association has been running a free dispensary unit which provides life saving drugs to the poor and needy. The unit was taken over by the GNHA in 1992 after its founder Christine Hoffman, a dedicated German Nurse Volunteer returned to Germany after 13 years of serving there.

The association has also provided sophisticated medical equipment to Neurosurgery unit, hemodialysis machine to Nephrology unit, ultrascanning machine to Liver unit, dermatome, anaesthetic machine, operating microscope to Burn unit and surgical instruments to Orthopaedic unit and Emergency unit of Bir Hospital.

As an organization that does not want to be known merely as a donor agency, GNHA has gone to great lengths to be responsible for the successful completion of projects it undertakes to support. "We do not understand us as a mere donor agency or funding body, whose contribution will be literally seen only in how much money was allocated for various purposes," writes Andreas Falk, President of GNHA in the association's annual publication Nepal Notizen. "We provide guidance, monitoring and control and finally we also offer funds where we find it appropriate and wise. But providing funds is by far not the essence of our activity."

Apart from helping in the social development of Nepal, the GNHA also carries out activities to promote Nepal as a tourist destination.

It further works to promote Nepalese products like carpets, medicinal herbs and handicraft in Germany. In Stuttgart, where the headquarter of GNHA is situated, the association organizes annual sales exhibitions of Nepalese products.