Author: Stella Deetjen

Fate decides

by Stella Deetjen “We actually had no hope that he would survive. He was as small as a mouse when he was born. And so thin. But the situation got really bad when his mother died on the 15th day after giving birth, ”reports Jhupri Rawal, the baby’s grandmother, to our team in Mugu. LIFE AND DEATH l Clearly he was born far too early, probably around the 7th month. Around the mountain village there is (still) no birthplace where the mother-to-be could have turned. Sapura gave birth to her child without help, but she did not die from it. The 22-year-old had been seriously ill for...

Living with an umbilical hernia – Dinesh is saved

Grandfather pulled up Dinesh’s shirt and began to feel carefully. His fingers slowly slid over the little boy’s chest to the belly. When he finally discovered the neat seam of the successful operation and understood that his grandson was now able to lead a completely normal life, he began to cry with joy and relief. Dinesh vor der Behandlung setREVStartSize({c: 'rev_slider_6_1',rl:[1240,1024,778,480],el:[700,568,760,520],gw:[1000,1000,778,480],gh:[700,568,760,520],type:'hero',justify:'',layout:'fullwidth',mh:"0"});if...

The long way to happiness

HAND IN HAND FOR A BETTER LIFE by Stella Deetjen 2019/2020 The screams of the desperate mother tore the silence of the freezing winter night in the Mugu mountains. In no time the neighbors ran together and gathered in front of the Karkis house. What was it that happened? The family’s recently born baby, a young boy and the pride of his parents, screamed with all his might until he suddenly fell silent. When the father stepped outside the door, trembling, the village learned of the tragic accident that had just occurred. Dangerous povertyThe families in Mugu have no heating, in the...

Saruli – unconditional will to live

Her corona odyssey from India back to Nepal When the children dance and sing in school, 11-year-old Saruli from Mugu was there with great joy when she was not collecting wood or protecting her parents’ small field from the wild monkeys. Unfortunately, she was often more busy with her duties than she could find time for school – a classic problem for girls in the poor mountain regions of Nepal. In any case, dancing was great fun for Saruli. So she dressed up in her mother’s sari at home on a winter evening in December 2011 and danced. But Saruli came too close to the open...

Goodbye, Mugu – the new life of Khushi

Children’s laughter echoes through the small room. Amma is heating a large pot filled to the brim with oil over an open fire. Her youngest daughter Khushi, still a toddler of one and a half years who only recently learned to walk, rages around her mother with her siblings. The flames of the open fireplace in the middle of the room cast only a weak light on the sooty walls. The house consists solely of this room, here the family cooks, eats, sits together and sleeps at night. Amma sifts the coarsely ground flour. The oil is finally boiling. The mother kneads the dough. It works quickly,...

Cut off from the rest of the world – no salvation

Winter in the high mountains, 2014: Because of the persistent bad weather in Mugu, a young woman paid a very high price.WITHOUT ADVICE AND HELP DUE PREGNANCY Jaukala originally comes from Shreekot, a village that was outside of our project area in Mugu at that time. The young woman had come to the small district capital of Gamghadi a few months earlier to find work. Since her husband is blind and rarely has a job, she earns a living. Despite the progressive pregnancy, she worked day in and day out in the market and carried heavy loads from morning to evening. She never had a medical check-up,...

Proximity creates security – our baby massage courses

The Baby massage Many positive properties are attributed to it: In the cool season it should warm, the blood circulation is stimulated, the muscle formation is also promoted. At the same time, it helps build closeness and strengthens the connection between mother and child. Many mothers observe that the babies sleep better afterwards. The mothers of Nepal use mustard oil from their own production for the baby massage. Proven against diseases such as arthritis or fungal infections, it stimulates blood circulation and moisturizes the skin. Mustard cultivation is widespread in the Mugu Mountains...

So that you get bigger and stronger – our nutritional advice

Balanced nutrition for babies and toddlers is important to us. Due to poverty and hard physical labor, many mothers do not have enough breast milk for their babies. They then resort to rice or wheat and use water to make a gruel out of it. That quickly leads to a consequential one Malnutrition. With our Nutritional advice We educate the mothers and show them the values of the local grains and legumes. We explain to them what the little body needs in order to grow up healthy. It is possible to have a nutritious one Baby food Made from cheap local ingredients from the mountain region –...

Family planning is not magic

Our midwives ask women about contraception. The reactions are almost always the same: at first the women cannot believe that it is up to them whether they want to get pregnant or not. Most women in the rural poor are illiterate and lack access to modern media. They are unfamiliar with contraceptives. Together with the midwives, our health assistant conducts cross-gender awareness-raising campaigns on contraception in the villages. In order for something to really change, the men must also be reached. At the same time, the population is informed about sexually transmitted diseases and HIV and...

Why a birth house in the mountains is vital

From Wolfgang Langenkamp, who donated the Jima birth house in Mugu and who made the adventurous and arduous journey to Mugu himself twice, at the start of construction and for the inauguration. Why I am donating this birthplace I In 2011 I met the aid organization Back to Life, which has been active in Mugu since 2009, and was immediately interested in their projects in Nepal. The description of the living situation of the 55,000 inhabitants in the Mugu region shook me deeply. At that time, Mugu had no road network, i.e. no access to the outside world, and the high mountain villages could...

Saving lives – twice as much!

Nirmala, our midwife in the house where Gamtha was born, speaks urgently to the mother-to-be. “Sharmila, you are too weak for this exhausting twin birth. The babies are not lying well, there could be complications. It will be safer for you and also for the babies if you have yourself taken to the hospital in Gamgadhi. Get on your way immediately! “ It’s March 7th and Sharmila, her husband Ram, and a small group of neighbors are leaving. The way to the small regional capital is long and arduous. Therefore, several men go with you in case Sharmila has to be carried. The only hospital...

6x TWINS

Twin births are always special. For the midwives, this means providing close-knit antenatal care in order to recognize any complications early enough and to support the women through a safe birth. It came as a shock to 35-year-old Dudsila when the midwife at our birth center in Seri informed her that she was expecting twins. “I panicked! I have already had 5 children in the cowshed. I couldn’t imagine how I would survive a twin birth. But the midwives gave me the best possible support – from the regular check-up appointments to the birth, I was safe and secure. I am infinitely grateful...

The 1500. Back to Life baby is here!

Born on the Nepalese Mother’s Day 2020 in our birthplace Nakharji. From our teammate. A VERY SPECIAL BIRTH | The entire Back to Life team is particularly happy about this birth, and not just because of the round number. The happy mother Samrita Rokaya is one of our 26 midwives in Mugu! She has been stationed in the Jiuka Birthplace for a year. But since she comes from Nakharji herself, she gave birth to a son in the birth house under the care of her colleagues. It is their second child, their little daughter is already 20 months old. FOR WOMEN | Samrita comes from a middle class family...

Rainy season

A natural phenomenon with two faces The term monsoon is derived from the Arabic word ‘Mausam’ for season, which is what it means in the language. This term was first used in English in British India and neighboring countries to denote the large seasonal winds that bring heavy rains to the region. A boon for agriculture The three-month monsoon season in Nepal is the main rainy season of the year between mid-June and the end of September, which is also the summer time. During the monsoons it rains almost every day, often accompanied by powerful thunderstorms. The monsoons are...

Nuwakot after the earthquake. We never give up hope

On April 25, 2015, the earth shook in Nepal. There was a severe aftershock on May 12th. Back to Life was there as quickly as possible to provide help where it was worst. Nuwakot became the new project area and is still today. 90 seconds can completely change a life. Like that of the people in Nuwakot, the region in Nepal hardest hit by the earthquake. Thousands of people died, millions were instantly homeless, everything was chaos and in some cases it is still today. Back to Life got involved immediately and achieved a lot to this day. (Editor’s note: see report on the 2015 earthquake) Schools...

Dhamili in Chitwan. A village that no longer surrenders to “fate”

… in conversation with Kamal Chepang, teacher in Chitwan Do you have to accept poverty as fate or even God-given? Is 90 Percent Illiteracy Acceptable? Unfortunately, when we shake our heads naturally, people in Nepal often think differently. But not in Dhamili, one of the villages in which we from Back to Life are active. Mr. Kamal Chepang is a teacher at the local school and answered a few questions at the end of 2019 that aptly reflect the current situation. What was the educational situation like 10 years ago and what has changed since then? ...

In conversation with Harikrishna Upadhyaya, teacher in Mugu

Harikrishna Upadhyaya, Asst. Head Teacher, Lokpriya Secondary School, Gamtha Khatyad, Mugu People who are personally involved have a keen eye. Therefore, at the end of 2019, we interviewed Mr. Harikrishna Upadhyaya, who works as a teacher in Khatyad in the Mugu region and lives in the village himself. If you look back 10 years, what was the educational situation like in Khatyad? We are talking about a completely different state of affairs. Education was not a priority for the communities. The infrastructure was inadequate, there were few or no learning materials – so learning cannot...

Mugu – Standstill in the snow

In Mugu, our project area in the high mountains of Nepal, everything changes from one moment to the next when it snows. The footpaths between the mountain villages ice up, become slippery and extremely dangerous, especially for those who carry heavy loads. In the event of prolonged snowfall, the local markets quickly run out of supplies. Many lose their earnings. Life is going to be hard for the mountain farmers because they can no longer let their cattle graze and have to carefully organize the hay supplies in order to make ends meet. If the onset of winter is long, the animals and often...

A look back and ahead. Loharbada in the Mugu Mountains.

When program director Dikendra Dhakal looks around Loharbada today, he can hardly believe it. “When we first arrived here 10 years ago, not only was the standard of living extremely low, but hygienic conditions were actually non-existent.” The people did their “business” on the doorstep, mushy animal excrement covered the paths, and it smelled like hell. Swarms of house flies sat everywhere: on the children’s faces, on the food. People rarely washed themselves or their clothes, and sewage was simply poured into the alley. The open cooking fire was smoking in and...

Sheep farming in Mugu

A tradition that needs to be revived Our project region Mugu consists of two regions named after the indigenous people: the upper Jadan and the lower Khasan. The Jad are Tibetan lamas, the people of the southern Khas region, who came from northwest India. Both brought important knowledge with them: the Khas had agricultural experience and had metal weapons, the Jadan people were sheep farmers. The combination of both formed a good basis for securing livelihoods in the region. “ WE CANNOT IMAGINE LIFE WITHOUT SHEEP. WE ARE INEXPECTIVELY LINKED TO YOU. “ THE SHEEP AS THE BASIS...