National 8 (Spotlight Weekly)

Loss Of A Friend

Nepal lost a good friend in the death of Robin Needham

By A CORRESPONDENT

Many foreigners come and go but some foreigners who work in Nepal really show love and affection to this country. Robin Needham was one of them. As a country director of CARE Nepal, Needham worked during the hardest time in Nepal making impossible things possible.

In his six years stay in Nepal, Robin Needham had shown his strong commitment and faith towards a Himalayan Kingdom passing through a very critical phase of its history.

Needham was one of the victims of the massive tsunamis that swept the coastal areas of Thailand. The strong earthquake off the Coast of Sumatra Island in Indonesia on December 26th 2004, which sent massive tsunami waves across the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean, caused the death of Needham.

It was an irony of fate that a person who headed an organization that worked to help the needy people as well as disaster victims himself became a victim of the world's greatest natural disaster of this century. In the aftermath of enormous human loss, CARE was one of the international organizations that chipped in to provide relief to the millions who suffered from the nature's wrath.

Experienced in working in the conflict zones of Africa, Needham knew how to develop projects in conflict areas. This is the reason the CARE\Nepal's programs were successfully implemented. From community forestry to the health and other basic needs program, CARE\Nepal, under the leadership of Needham, has been able to implement them despite odds.

According to CARE/Nepal press release, Needham and his family were vacationing on the Golden Buddha Beach, in southern Thailand, when the tsunami struck. His wife, Lucy and their four children, Nathaniel, Robert, Sonali and Rupali had been safely evacuated off the island.

Widely experienced in working in conflict prone zones, Needham has pushed many development programs in remote parts of Nepal that are suffering from violence. Shy in meeting with media, Needham always used to express concerns over the people living in conflict areas.

Needham started working with CARE in 1980 in Thailand. In his 24 years of association with CARE, he held several positions in countries like Thailand, Somalia, Kenya, United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Nepal. He was also the Founder Director of CARE UK.

Since 1998, Needham had been with CARE Nepal as the Country Director. Under his charismatic leadership CARE Nepal has reached hundreds of thousands of deprived and poor people of rural area of Nepal through its programs. He devoted his full talents and energy into the crucial development activities in Nepal through CARE’s practical day-to-day work in health, natural resource management, remote area development, empowerment and rights of women and dalits, peace building and emergency relief and community rehabilitation. He was also the Chairperson of the Association of International NGOs (AIN) in Nepal and played an outstanding role to increase coordination among its 52 members in an effort to support development activities in Nepal.

Needham was born on 28 August 1953 in England. He was known as a passionate humanitarian, an outstanding leader, a deeply committed development professional and a great friend of Nepal. He was known to provide relief and support, in a personal capacity, to many disabled and underprivileged children in many rural areas of Nepal. He was also an active supporter of campaigns such as the “Children as Zone of Peace” and strongly advocated in keeping schools safe from the impact of conflict.

"CARE Nepal is profoundly saddened by the tragic death of Mr. Needham. Our deepest sympathy goes to his family, friends, and colleagues in Nepal and throughout the world, as well as the thousands of people who have been affected by this tragic incident," Dr. Balaram Thapa, Assistant Country Director CARE Nepal.