About us
The mission of Sathi-Sansar –World Friend is the sustainable humanitarian work to assist disadvantaged children concerning disabilities and the risk of social exclusion in Nepal. Our fundamental objectives are: global rehabilitation, specialised training for therapists and teachers, social and family integration, community awareness and the prevention of cerebral palsy in Nepal.
Origin
Our work grew from the root of a friendship, a consequence of the humanitarian work in Nepal and the verification of the terrible life conditions the handicapped have in this country.
The constitution of Sathi Sansar was the consequence of an important personal experience, when one of our founding members went to Nepal for the first time several years ago. In one of the centers in Kathmandu where he was working, he discovered a 10-year-old boy nicknamed Khale (“black” in Nepali). Khale didn’t speak; his movements were difficult; he didn’t take part in activities with other children and he had deep scars on his face. Those scars revealed the hidings he received in a dark past we never got to know. He was dirty, bad-nourished and ignored because he wasn’t suitable for being adopted due to his psychical disability.
In view of this situation, the necessary permissions were requested to get the child out of the center, evaluate his disorder with the hope of finding an appropriate children’s refuge with the same features. A medical evaluation determined that Khale is mentally handicapped and suffers from a motor disorder of uncertain origin.
Every time information about a center for special children arrived, there was no doubt of visiting it, even though it meant crossing the country in the middle of a civil war. None of these centers accepted Khale. It was considered that the psychical disabilities were caused by the bad karma, so they were a consequence of a divine punishment. There was no cure for his problems, so there was no center to treat them.
Finally we reached an agreement with a children’s refuge located in Pokhara, a city 200 km in the west of Kathmandu, where Khale would live from that moment on with 30 non-disabled children more. There he adopted the name of Suman Lama.
But the new Suman needed to go ahead; he needed a place where he would be helped to develop his potential abilities to improve his well-being and his autonomy level.
Sathi Sansar was created in this way, as an entity which must give hope to children like Suman and their families, as an organisation which must help these kids to see the light, and support their parents to find comfort and answers, so as to they don’t have to hide.
Since then, Suman took every day for three years a bus which would take him from his new home to the most modern and specialised Cerebral Palsy Center in the country, the Special Education Center, created by Sathi Sansar for him and other children with physical and mental disabilities.
Today Suman must be under specialised medical care because of an illness for which his weak body wasn’t prepared. He has been therefore transferred to a medical center in Kathmandu, under the careful control of Sathi Sansar-Nepal. But his spirit of transcendence and hope remains, day to day, in our work.
Sathi Sansar today
Sathi Sansar-Barcelona is an NGO founded in 2004 as an association which works together with its on-the-ground counterpart, Sathi Sansar-Nepal. Its activities focus on Nepal, where nowadays it is managing the Special Education Center for children suffering from Cerebral Palsy and it is supporting a center for children with risk of social exclusion.
During the first years, the team of Sathi Sansar-Barcelona consisted of the three founding members, with the help of their closest environment. The activity was focused on the project management, the planning, the fundraising, the execution and the justification of the project. In 2008 with a solid structure and consolidated projects and teams; we started to promote and expand our organization in the country. With the aim of increasing our social mass and having a stronger work team, we have expanded our board of directors, created work and commission departments and promoted awareness and the media, among other tasks.
The mid-term goal of Sathi Sansar is to be able to be consolidated as an NGO with steady resources which guarantee the efficient running of the project and expand our activities to the level of disability prevention.
On the other hand, we intend the growth of Sathi Sansar respects the human values of the organization, preserving the feeling of belonging of its members, and the work based on volunteers motivated by a spirit of social action. And this does not imply a lack of professionalism.
The most part of the team of Sathi Sansar Barcelona and the management team of Sathi Sansar Nepal are volunteers.
