Displaying items by tag: Nepal

Animal rights activists are urging the Nepali government to halt the mass slaughter of animals during the Gadhimai festival, a tradition held every five years in a village near the Nepal-India border. Despite a 2016 supreme court order to phase out animal sacrifices, thousands of buffaloes, goats, and pigeons were reportedly killed this year. Participants believe that sacrificing animals pleases the goddess Gadhimai, bringing them good fortune and fulfilling wishes. Efforts by organisations like the Humane Society have led to a reduction in the number of animals sacrificed, but activists argue that more needs to be done. Local officials claim that measures are being taken to limit the practice, and some villagers have shown openness to alternatives, such as monetary donations instead of animal offerings. However, many community members resist change, viewing the sacrifices as an integral part of their 200-year-old cultural tradition. Activists continue to work on the ground, focusing on education and awareness to shift attitudes towards ending the practice.

A devastating monsoon downpour in Nepal has led to severe flooding and mudslides, claiming over 200 lives, injuring 127, and leaving 56 missing. Rescue operations successfully saved over four thousand stranded people. However, despite warnings of more heavy rains, the prime minister admitted that he had not anticipated such flooding in Kathmandu. One critic has said that the government ‘miserably failed to not only protect people’s lives but also, according to its admission, to coordinate the resources and manpower to save them’. Even the mayor of Kathmandu struggled to mobilise resources effectively. Critics have called for a more robust disaster management strategy by revitalising the national disaster management authority, allocating resources, and involving experts. Disaster prevention and management must be a top priority, transcending political lines, to protect the nation from future crises.

Massive floods in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh have killed dozens and affected millions. Heavy rains have caused many major rivers to overflow, leading to large-scale devastation. In Nepal, floods have killed more than forty people and damaged key infrastructure. In Assam, India, 66 people have died, and 2.4 million are affected. Bangladesh has reported eight deaths: the overflowing Brahmaputra has inundated a quarter of the districts in the country. Floods and landslides are not uncommon during South Asia's monsoon season, when it receives up to 90% of its annual rainfall; but experts say the issue has worsened in recent years due to climate change. Large-scale rescue operations are under way, with authorities directing thousands to shelters while sending food and supplies to those who are stranded.

A group led by Sunita Chaudhary are repurposing discarded mountain climbing ropes into handcrafted items like jewellery boxes and table mats. These ropes, once vital for climbers but later discarded, are now collected as part of an initiative to clean up mountain waste. Chaudhary, a skilled craftswoman from the Tharu community, transforms these materials using traditional techniques. The Himalayas accumulate vast amounts of waste from mountaineering activities, estimated at nearly 140,000 tons on Mount Everest alone. Government-led campaigns dispose of biodegradable waste securely and recycle non-biodegradable materials. However, recycling mountain climbing ropes proved challenging until Shilshila Acharya, an advocate for sustainable waste management, connected with a local waste-processing business and Chaudhary's team. This initiative aims to integrate local expertise, mountain waste, and the local economy, ensuring that waste collected from mountains like Everest avoids landfills in the future.

Attacks on two churches in Nepal over the weekend were just the latest in a string of recent violence against Christians. The churches are in the province of Lumbini, which borders India. Photos and videos reviewed by International Christian Concern (ICC) showed broken windows and other signs of violence around the properties, including damage to fences and a broken motorbike. Another photo shared on social media showed two men, identified as pastors, being assaulted on the street. Locals smeared the pastors’ faces with a sticky black substance in a cultural sign of hatred and disrespect. The Lumbini attacks are the sixth and seventh such attacks against churches in Nepal in two weeks. ‘It’s spreading like wildfire’, a Nepalese civil society leader has told ICC. ‘Perpetrators, seeing little to no response from the authorities in recent weeks, are encouraged to act more.’

Villagers shamed the family of a girl who took her own life, especially as her mother was a Christian. Local missionaries and other church members were the only ones who came to comfort them, making a deep impression on the mother’s unbelieving son; their love and care opened his heart to the gospel, giving workers a chance to share with him more deeply and lead him to Christ. Local missionaries saw 118 people put their faith in Christ over a six-month period, and they helped train 45 pastors and others for church leadership. Workers need donations for the means to carry out such evangelism and discipleship. They request prayer for provision to fulfill their outreach goal.

Sejun’s parents sent him to an Indian Buddhist monastery when he was 4 years old. For nine years, he studied Buddhist texts eight hours a day in the hope of becoming a monk. When he grew tired of being beaten for not perfectly memorising the texts, he went home to Nepal and enrolled in school. Whilst there, he heard about Jesus and started attending church. He said, ‘I found the Christians to be loving, kind and caring. I saw how if people love Jesus they learn to love and care for others.’ Two years later, he placed his faith in Christ and received a Bible from someone at school. He learned what Scripture teaches about sin and forgiveness. He had learned a similar concept of sin from Buddhist texts, but the idea of forgiveness was new to him. ‘In the Bible, I found that our sins are forgiven by the blood of Christ.’

The following is part of an email: ‘We give thanks to God for the way the five-year community-based rehabilitation (CBR) project is going in a mountainous district of Nepal. In its first year it has already reached hundreds of people with disabilities and their families, helping them access services, including livelihoods and physical rehabilitation, and is slowly helping to change attitudes in the community so they are included with kindness and respect. C is planning a home assignment after two years without a break! Pray that his successor as leader will enjoy the work, want to stay, and adapt quickly to living remotely.’

When a pastor shared the gospel with a Nepali family, they eagerly placed their faith in Christ and began attending church regularly, walking eight miles each way to attend. But when the owner of the land they leased learned of their newfound faith in Christ, he kicked them off the land. As an extremely poor family struggling to survive, they had leased the land both to live on and to farm, giving half their crops to their landlord in payment. In addition to being evicted from the land, they were denied access to the village water tap. Our persecuted brothers and sisters in Nepal face great pressure from their communities to reject Christ or suffer the consequences of continuing harassment and beatings from nationalists who envisage Nepal becoming a ‘pure’ Hindu nation. Also the government has criminalised conversion to Christianity and declared that ‘those who change their religion should be expelled from Nepal.’

Last week you prayed for South Asia’s humanitarian crisis with 9.6 million people affected by monsoon floods (three times more deaths than last year). This week floods took a turn for the worse in Nepal. In China relentless heavy rains have pummelled areas for a month. Yangtze River areas are overwhelmed, causing anxiety along the world's largest hydroelectric power plant, the 2.3-km Three Gorges Dam Already, 40 million people have been uprooted and 400+ rivers have overflowed. The dam, 300 km west of Wuhan, threatens to flood the first city to have been hit by coronavirus. In Texas, Hurricane Hanna has left some areas ‘totally under water’ and knocked out power across a region already reeling from a surge in coronavirus cases. Pray for communities with strained health care systems caused by coronavirus now airlifting patients to larger cities or areas away from floods.