Nepal, until recently the world’s only Hindu kingdom, is now a secular state and, with equal rights for all, come new opportunities for the Nepali Church. Anthea McNeil reports on Feba’s project with partner HDCS to help Christians keen to respond in holistic mission to the needs around them.
Mother and Daughter on Garden Plot
Imagine Michael Palin-type pictures of the Himalayas, and you have Nepal: tanned and breathless trekkers scrambling about mountainous hills and valleys, hands clutching bottled water, minds stunned by the landscapes. Yet something else as breathtaking is happening in the Himalayan foothills: CoRIN – our Community Radio Initiative in Nepal – is gaining momentum!
We are working to establish five community FM stations across the country. The government has licensed our partner Human Development and Community Services (HDCS) to build the stations in districts where it has hospitals. Preparations for the first station at Okhaldunga are underway to help alleviate human need in one of the world’s least developed countries.
People lack basic facilities such as electricity, clean water, sanitation, health care and education. Aside from this, efforts to eradicate poverty and improve living standards are hindered by the hilly terrain of the country.
Queue at hospital window
"Radios are a part of life in Nepal"
Radio to the rescue
For decades Nepal’s health system has worked against daunting odds to disperse health care across a country where the mountainous rural areas are without roads and basic transport, and communication is difficult or impossible. Radio, however, is a readily available medium that can educate and help in these isolated situations. “You often see people walking around carrying their radios; they are a part of life in Nepal,” says our International Director Jonathan Hargreaves. Commenting that Nepal is leading the way in community radio in South Asia, he says, “People rely heavily upon radio for news, information and entertainment, and over 50 FM stations have already emerged around the country.”
CoRIN’s aims and vision
S P Kalaunee, a Director of HDCS known to everybody as “S P”, adds, “In Nepal, radio is more important than newspapers”. He tells Threshold why the CoRIN project is so vital: “As well as many basic facilities, people lack the awareness to prevent diseases. Most health problems and resulting deaths are caused by bad health practices; literacy is low, and radio is the best way of educating people in combating their needs.”
The CoRIN stations will broadcast mainly to Hindu audiences, coming alongside listeners who have little or no contact with Christians or the Gospel. We want to build friendships and trust, and talk about issues that interest and concern them, working to see God’s power transforming communities.
Okhaldunga
The first thing to notice about Okhaldunga is the inaccessibility of the region. Okhaldunga hospital is below a ridge on one of the Himalayan foothills. People live scattered around the ridge and in the small town of Okhaldunga, the area’s administrative headquarters, nestling in a hollow of the ridge.
"Some people walk for days to reach the hospital"
The hospital is the only mission hospital in eastern Nepal, serving nearly 250,000 people in its four surrounding districts, treating 20,000 on average every year, many from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds. “With no other health care facilities this far up in the hills, some people walk for days to reach the hospital,” says S P.
This key development is happening on several fronts:
There’s the research leading up to building the station, to identify the best location for the transmitter for maximum coverage in and around Okhaldunga. The mountainous terrain presents our engineers with the technical challenge of linking the studio (probably sited in the hospital) to the transmitter, which must be higher up the ridge.
We are carrying out a media and needs assessment survey in Okhaldunga. This will provide information on how people use their radios, the state of their health, social and spiritual needs and so on, identifying the key issues our broadcasters should address.
Young Porters
There’s much to do to be on air by early summer, as the government FM licence expires in July 2008, including recruiting full-time staff and volunteers and holding training workshops in using radio and producing programmes. We envisage setting up community radio teams that include health workers from the hospital to work with local communities, collecting interviews and stories relating to the broadcasts and giving the people a voice on air. Management also needs training in running the station.
Dream coming true
We have always wanted to expand our ministry in Nepal, but this was not possible while Christianity was still a persecuted religion. Our present Nepali broadcasts, produced in India for Nepalis there, are also heard in Nepal. Meanwhile the Church in Nepal has been growing and Christians are estimated to number over 700,000; the door is open as never before for Christian work. So much so that Sean MacKenzie, our Development Director for South Asia and his wife Sarah, went to Nepal in January to set up base and further Feba’s work in the region. Sean is also Feba’s Project Manager for CoRIN and as our man on the spot, he’ll be using his skills training, mentoring and empowering local people to see this dream coming true in Okhaldunga.