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Every Girl Matters

A member blog post by

Mary Robertson

EMMS International

EMMS International’s Every Girl Matters appeal is ensuring people in Nepal with palliative care needs will receive it at or close to home thanks to match-funding from the UK government until 19 February 2021. Providing access to healthcare relieves young carers of the burden of care so that they can continue in education.

Every girl matters and deserves the opportunity to pursue her own ambitions in life. Access to education is an essential part of that pursuit, but long before the pandemic closed school doors girls, in particular, were being kept out of the classroom.

In rural Nepal, chronic sickness causes unnecessary pain and places a huge burden of care on young girls. Poor access to quality care and essential medicine forces young carers to drop out of school to care for family members. The cost of care and missed education drives families further into poverty.

A year ago, Sunita was in school, protected and cared for by her family. She enjoyed school and studied hard to make the most of it.

Things hadn’t been easy with her mother living with long-term disability. Then her father began to lose the feeling in his legs. He had brought stability to their family, but a cancer diagnosis and subsequent chemotherapy failed to restore his strength.

Sunita’s family had done all they could to protect her education and her future, but now there was no choice. She began to miss school and was unable to sit exams. She was no longer a student but now a full-time carer.

Sunita bore these huge responsibilities alone until she learned of the palliative care team at Green Pastures Hospital, EMMS International’s local partner. Nurse Manju and her team came alongside Sunita and lifted the burden of care from her young shoulders. Her parents were able to receive the specialist care they needed.

With the burden of care lifted, Sunita can once again see hope in the future. Now free to return to school, and with the knowledge that her loved ones are cared for, Sunita has a fresh opportunity to make those hopes a reality.

Over the last year, we have all witnessed how resilient healthcare systems are essential not only for keeping us healthy but for protecting our ability to go to work, to go to school and spend time with our loved ones. An end to the coronavirus pandemic will not automatically restore these opportunities for every community.

EMMS International is delighted to have the amazing opportunity of donations being doubled by the UK government until 19 February 2021. This means that trained healthcare workers will help 20,000 families by supporting their patients and helping restore strength and dignity. And the good news is, they’ll go on to care for countless more and be an example to others displaying the value of carers in society.

Young girl carers will be free to remain in education. They will have opportunities to develop skills and expertise that will help lift them, their families and their communities out of poverty.

To find out more about the appeal visit www.emms.org/everygirl

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