Thursday 21st of May 2009
Maya was brought to the Human touch by a freind who had seen her at a very poor local hostel. Maya had come from a mountain village where she had been the victim of an abusive father. Her mother had run away from the village in fear of her husband. The father had abused Maya and had thrown her in a fire.
She was found by neighbours who took her to a medical aid station. Her burns were wrapped up and she was left to heal as best she could. Her arm welded itself against her body as can been seen in one of the pictures. We were fortunate to be able to find a surgeon in Kathmandu who would operate to separate her arm from her body. We then organised for her to undergo six months physio therapy after the separated wounds had healed. Once Maya had learned how to use the upper muscles of her arm we were able to organise a phrostetic limb for her. She now is a confident young lady who has come to terms with her disability. Maya is now at school in Kathmandu and will be able to complete her education and have a chance in life.
Wednesday 20th of May 2009
The burns unit deos not have an anethietist currently and any operation or treatment is always difficult and extremely painful. It was discovered recently that burns patients did not have the special cream that is smothered onto very bad burns that stops bandages sticking to the wounds. When the bandages were taken off the patients the pain from the tearing of the wound was severe. In kathamndu, patients or their families have to provide everything needed for treatments and operations. The patients are so poor they just cannot afford to have their burns treated. This situation was brought to the attention of one of FIG’s staff and it was decided that FIG would buy a years supply of the antiseptic cream that allows the bandages to be removed gently. The cost of a years supply for this very simple remedy was £500, there are some pictures of the type of patient and the unit attached.
Wednesday 20th of May 2009
Every six months we have a small scheme to help with the general health and hygine of the schools that we try to help.
In the villages of Nepal, food hygine is not a priority and as a result almost every child suffers badly from various types of intestinal worms. The worms cause the children to suffer all sort of medical problems, which causes their imune systems to be debilitated and therefore their abilty to fight deseases reduced significantly. The “Human Touch” has been giving worm tablets to about 500 children from the schools that we support every six months. This has had a profound effect on school attendance and the general health of the school children. At the same time we give each child a Vitamin “A” tablet to compensate in some way for their poor nutrition.
During this time we also give each child a new toothbrush. The teachers at the schools have “BEST TEETH” competitions for each class to ensure that the message of heathy teeth and gums is working. The pictures that you see is of the children at the school assembly recieving the tablets, you will notice how smart they are in their school uniforms. The other two pictures are of the parents in the poor village that the children come from. The children often teach the parents about “Hygine”
Monday 10th of November 2008
Welcome to our new site! Its dedicated to the work of Fig’s charity “The Human Touch” – we’re hoping to just keep you up-to-date with what we are doing out in Nepal to help the local community that make our cashmere clothing.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be filling the site with the archives of the work we have already done, and as we do new work, we’ll post it here.
For a more general introduction to all the projects, please visit the Projects page.
