KEEPING IN TOUCH

91800 537 767 • 37-39 Ellingworth Parade, Box Hill VIC 3128 • tlmaust@leprosymission.org.au

he no longer has any signs of leprosy. Bikash doesn’t know how his dad got leprosy. His father is the only person in his village to have contracted it. Their home was damaged in the 2015 earthquakes. But with your support, The Leprosy Mission Nepal have helped them rebuild.

Bikash left for Kathmandu to start his senior secondary schooling (Year 11 and 12). He wants to spend the next seven years there. Two in high school. The following five obtaining a law degree. Bikash hopes to support his family and advocate for the justice of marginalised people. Most young people in Bikash’s village don’t have an opportunity to go to university. Without support from the SER project, Bikash wouldn’t have the opportunity to study either. But with your support and a grant from Navitas, Bikash can realise his dreams of giving back to his family and community.

LE AVING his remote village in the Nepali mountains, Bikash made his way to bustling city of Kathmandu. He walked for one day and then took a bus for seven hours. This trek marks the beginning of this young man’s long journey to seek justice for marginalised people.

I would like to say a special thankyou to you for helping me in my education. Now I have a chance to achieve my dream of becoming a lawyer and I will work very hard to achieve this.”

Bikash is from a farming family. His father is a farmer of corn, rice, wheat and millet (depending on the season) and an elder at his local church. He was diagnosed with leprosy a couple of years ago. He came to Anandaban Leprosy Hospital for treatment, and took Multi-Drug Therapy for two years. Thankfully, an early diagnosis and treatment means that

Bikash steps towards the future

International Literacy Day is on Friday, 8 September. To help celebrate the powerful impact that education has on children and the world, you can help a child obtain an education by purchasing a Gift of Love Children's Scholarship for $45. Call 1800 537 767 or visit leprosymission.org.au/childrens-scholarship

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NAVITA S is a leading global education provider, helping thousands of students obtain an education. This year, Navitas has pledged to expand your project in Nepal by providing 150 scholarships every year for the next three years! It's an incredibly generous offer that will transform Nepal for generations. That's not an exaggeration. We all know education is incredibly important. And not only is it a fundamental human right, but the sustainable transformation of the world depends on it! The United Nations have adopted seventeen Sustainable Development Goals—the framework for development goals for 2015-2030—and education is one of them. They have distinguished this goal as essential to reaching the other sixteen. Providing scholarships is one of the recommended ways we can reach this goal together.

There are many benefits to improved global education. Below are five amazing things you're achieving when you support education:

1. You're lifting families out of poverty

Cycles of inequality and deprivation thwart the potential of both individuals and societies. Many children don't get a chance to go to school because their families rely on them for labor. Without access to relevant and employable knowledge and skills, families are unable to escape their poverty. Education can disrupt this tragic cycle. A recent report estimated that secondary education could lift as many as 420 million people out of poverty—reducing those living in poverty worldwide by more than half!

2. You're improving nutrition and health

Education empowers people, especially women and children, to live healthier and more sustainable lives. Education can help women delay and space out pregnancies, and to seek health care and support when they need it. If all mothers completed primary education, maternal deaths would be reduced by two-thirds worldwide. Education is such a strong indicator of health that a child whose mother can read is 50% more likely to live past the age of five, 50% more likely to be immunised, and twice as likely to attend school.

5 amazing things you're achieving when you support education

3. You're promoting gender equality

Women and girls have considerably more difficulty accessing education than men and boys. Because education is so important, this disadvantage impacts womens' abilities to access vocational skills and have their voice heard within their family, community, industry and government.

4. You're building sustainable futures

Education can equip people with the knowledge and skills to contribute to the peace and the development of their countries. It helps foster tolerance between people and contributes to more peaceful societies. It's essential in challenging and changing destructive values and behaviours. Education helps stop the stigma of leprosy and can even help prevent violent extremism.

5. You're protecting children from child-marriage, child-labour, and child-soldiery

Children out of school are especially vulnerable to exploitation. Crises like conflict or natural disasters inflame this risk. For children who have experienced the trauma of war and displacement, education can be a total life-saver. They can connect with new friends, formal support systems and a purpose.

We should be grateful for the power of education and the many dramatic accomplishments we've achieved together. Enrolment in primary education amongst developing countries has already reached 91%! But there are still significant gaps and our progress has not been equitable.

With 57 million children not attending school, a disproportionate number live in countries affected by instability, conflict, disasters and extreme poverty. Children who face barriers to education, like speaking a minority language, living in a remote location, being displaced by a disaster, or being affected by leprosy or disability, are often forgotten. There's much we must do to overcome this.

Last year your support provided 185 scholarships to children in Nepal. Thank you! You've helped equip the next generation of workers and leaders in Nepal. With the support of Navitas, your project will almost double in capacity—reaching more than 330 children with opportunities to get an education. Thank you!

To help celebrate the powerful impact that education has on the world, you can help a child obtain an education by purchasing a Gift of Love Children's Scholarship for $45. Call 1800 537 767 or visit leprosymission.org.au/childrens-scholarship

SE VERE FL A SH FLOODS and landslides have swept across the southern plains of Nepal. Triggered by monsoonal rainfall this month, the disaster has killed more than 90 people. Many others are still missing. The Nepali government estimates that 60,000 homes are under water. Among those affected are members of cooperatives that you help support through the PACED CHAMP project. 400 Cooperative members in Rautahat and 300 members in Chitwan have lost their houses.

Emergency services and local volunteers have already started the relief process. Their efforts are being hindered by the continuing rainfall. Until the rain stops accessing remote areas will be extremely difficult. Pray that this rain relents so that basic items might reach these vulnerable people.

The Leprosy Mission team are working with government officials and emergency services to make sure that people affected by leprosy and disability are not left behind. Marginalised people are often forgotten

People affected by leprosy left homeless by recent flash floods and landslides

and excluded in immediate responses and relief efforts. Because The Leprosy Mission is already operating projects in the affected regions of Rautahat, Ramechhap and Chitwan, it’s well-placed to carry out a relief program. Your project can protect these vulnerable people and advocate for their needs.

The team in Nepal estimates that 700 relief packages will be required to assist those currently participating in The Leprosy Mission projects. Each Relief Package costs approximately AU$160. They will provide a vulnerable community with safe shelter and enough medicine and food to survive the immediate aftermath. In the first phase of relief, Relief Packages will include emergency food items, tarpaulins, utensils and medical items and services.

Australian supporters are coming together to help raise $40,000 to provide 250 Relief Packages for Nepali families displaced by the floods.

You can help provide relief packages to people affected by flash floods and landslides by giving a gift. Call 1800 537 767 or visit leprosymission.org.au/nepal-floods