Author: Stella Deetjen

Open your eyes – for the children of Nepal with a mobile eye clinic through the mountains

As part of the health care for the schoolchildren, Back to Life also has the boys and girls examined by an ophthalmologist. With a kind of outpatient, mobile eye clinic, our team travels or walks with the doctor in the remote areas from school to school. There the pupils are examined for their eyesight. The teachers of the respective schools support the campaign. The doctor usually stays for one day per school. Up to the rescue of the eyesightCorneal and lens opacity, strabismus, nearsightedness and farsightedness, conjunctivitis and eyelid inflammation as well as tear duct obstruction are...

Hansa Devi – strong, courageous and undeterred

HOW DOES A YOUNG WOMAN BECOME AN IMPRESSIVE IMAGE? | You could start explaining at 5 a.m. Then when Hansa Devi gets up, puts water on and makes tea for “her” 24 children. When she wakes the children, instructs them to make the beds and sweep, and with some of them prepare breakfast for everyone. You could also start in class. When Hansa teaches and looks after the 24 deaf or severely hearing-impaired children in the school with the attached hostel using sign language she has learned herself. No matter when you start, Hansa is a remarkable young woman. A woman who herself had to overcome a difficult...

Last minute rescue

With the last of her strength, 18-year-old Sandhya Nepali reached our birthplace in Loharbada in Mugu. The 7th month pregnant woman suffered from profuse bleeding. Our midwives immediately recognized the gravity of the situation. They decided that Sandhya had to be taken to hospital immediately because the life of the mother and child was in acute danger. Every minute was important, we couldn’t lose any time. In December there are only a few and irregular flights to and from Mugu, as there are no flights in unfavorable weather conditions or snowfall. Nevertheless, our on-site team managed...

Help for those who don’t get help

22 April 2021
Stella Deetjen
Health Care

Our health camp for 1200 people in Khatyad It only takes seconds and the weather changes. Thick fog blocks any view of the landing strip at Kolti in Mugu. Again and again the pilot aborts the landing and flies over the area again. It’s dangerous, he has to catch the right moment within a few moments, otherwise a catastrophe threatens. Too often these little fan guns have crashed. Only the 8th attempt succeeds. Not far from the runway, our Back to Life team sits together with the doctors from our health camp, which has just ended. Everyone looks at the scenario in silence, nobody wants...

Month after month – becoming a woman shouldn’t be torture

22 April 2021
Stella Deetjen
Health Care

With the taboo subject of menstruation, we are addressing girls directly in schools. We found out that they don’t know anything about their period. Our midwives and health assistants explain to the girls that it is a completely normal biological process and discuss shame, superstition, silence, myths and stigma together. During these conversations one can clearly see the “burden of guilt” that falls from her shoulders. Some girls do not even want to believe that all women in the world, regardless of religion or origin, whether rich or poor, even those in the big mega-cities are affected...

Biogas – active environmental protection that improves life

Improving life with environmental protection. If cooking areas are operated with biogas systems, the surrounding forest is also protected. In addition to many other things, the health of the residents also benefits. Open fires in the houses were part of everyday life in our project areas. Not only do people in the smoky rooms cause lasting damage to their health, terrible accidents also happen and the fire can develop into a dangerous fire. Cooking areas that run on biogas are a perfect alternative for villages with sufficient livestock farming. The technology is basically quite simple:...

The end of the water shortage: 11 new taps for Bhaduwar

A fateful minute and a half for the small Nepalese mountain village in Nuwakot – Bhaduwar was almost wiped out during the 2015 earthquake. Its 538 residents had to watch helplessly as their houses, cattle sheds and the village school became part of a desert of rubble. The water supply to the village was also destroyed at that time. From then on, people had to walk to the river for an hour to get water. Without water, there is a risk of migrationBut the village has no future without water. When cattle breeding or agriculture is not possible on their land due to a lack of water, the villagers...

Well construction

For the health of children – clean drinking water instead of river water In Chitwan in the south of Nepal, Back to Life has been promoting girls from ethnic minorities so that they can attend school since 2010. Our on-site team noticed that many schoolgirls in the village of Piple are repeatedly late for class. Despite regular health programs, the children were often unwashed and wearing dirty clothes. In addition, an above-average number of students developed diarrhea, especially during the monsoon months, the absenteeism rate increased. We followed up and found that the villagers...

From woman to woman: our midwives help directly

Behind these figures there is a lot of help: 15 birth centres, 47 employees, 30 of them midwives, 15 assistants and 2 health officers. All of these women are from Mugu and they are all there for women, children and families in Mugu. Because they run the birthing centers, hold workshops on health care and hygiene, look after pregnant women, giving birth, newborns and women in difficult situations together with their families. Here we let them have their own say. N irmala is our chief midwife and is stationed in the Gamtha birth center MIDWIFE AND ASSISTANCE IN MANY SITUATIONS OF LIFE | “It...

Proper hand washing needs to be practiced – Global Handwashing Day

“Global Handwashing Day” has been celebrated in schools around the world since 2008 to make children aware of the immense importance of daily hygiene. Because only when you wash your hands thoroughly with soap for at least 20 seconds are bacteria effectively combated. This significantly reduces the risk of fatal diarrheal diseases, and early childhood development is less disturbed. Stella attended the school in Thakaltar in Chitwan and, together with our team, showed the children how to wash their hands properly. The students had a lot of fun and were happy to demonstrate what...

Better now than never – adult literacy

“ because I always felt as if I were blind. “ When we expanded our project radius in Mugu to the communities Seri, Kalai and Rara and their neighboring villages from 2011 onwards, we found that most adults – as in many parts of Mugu – were illiterate. 1202 people over 15 years lived in the mentioned villages and their surroundings. 918 of them could neither read nor write. In an area where most of the school-age children did not attend school, our main focus was initially on being able to offer a larger number of children a regular school education. To this end, we...