All Together Now International NEWSLETTER
December 2001 P O Box 7111, Boulder, CO 80306
Tel: 720.565.8777
You Can Make a Difference, But Together We Can Make a Change
for more information check our website: www.alltogether.org All Together Now International
Everest '96 Memorial Fund grants $8,000 to All Together Now
Jon Krakauer has donated 100% of his royalties from the illustrated edition of his astounding best selling book Into Thin Air to the '96 Everest Memorial Fund.
The book chronicles an assault on Mt Everest in which eight climbers died in a storm. To memorialize their deaths, Krakauer established the fund with the intent of providing humanitarian aid to the indigenous people of the Himalayas.
This year's grant is 60% higher than last year. The increase is in recognition of two aspects of All Together Now's work. First, we continue to bring food, medicine, education, and housing to poor people in Kathmandu. Second, we have initiated a collaborative effort with the Hospital and Rehabilitation Center for Disabled Children in Banepa, Nepal. Our intent is to create a systematic program of spinal surgery for children.
Surgery in Nepal
All Together Now has brought children from the Himalayan region to the US for surgery to save their lives from severe spinal disease. Each child has required over $200,000 in donated medical services and dozens of volunteers have lent their time to each child. These children have endured intense procedures away from their families. We have come to the conclusion that surgeries closer to home would be more effective, kinder to the children and more children could be helped.
We have begun collaborating with a remarkable institution called the Hospital and Rehabilitation Center for Disabled Children (HRDC). Our on-site visits revealed this facility to be surprisingly modern, technologically up to date, sanitary and tightly managed. Over 12,000 surgical procedures were performed there last year.
HRDC is not yet capable of treating spinal disease like scoliosis. Yet, with our help, they are very intent on getting there!
The cost of one surgery in the US could be turned into 50 in Nepal. With your financial help, we can get HRDC to the point of being able to perform such surgeries in Nepal.
Our Mission and The House of Service and Peace
We create and support good works projects designed to address material needs of poor populations in Asia. Our projects also work toward fostering self-sufficiency, cooperation, and community.
Our mission is embodied in such a helpful and beautiful way at Shanti Sewa Griha. This "House of Service and Peace" is one of our projects in Kathmandu that receives on-going support. Shanti focuses its work on people with leprosy.
Leprosy is a chronic disease. Even with proper treatment it leaves some deformity. More than this physical deformity is the stigma attached to this disease which ultimately causes the sufferer to be ostracized by their community and even by their own family.
Shanti Sewa Griha supports over 400 people with food, medical care, and training in craft skills. The environment is brightly and creatively decorated, a sign that people with leprosy are worthy of celebration as human beings.
AllToNow increased its monetary support of Shanti by 20% this year. Help us do more next year!
Royal Blood
On June 1, 2001 - Jestha 19, 2058 on the Nepali calendar - Crown Prince Dipendra shot his father, King Birendra, his mother, Queen Aishwarya, and other royal family members. He shot himself as well.
These assassinations have shocked Nepal. There was already the tumult of Maoist revolution in the countryside and, since the assassinations, Prime Minister Koirala has been forced to resign. The Nepali people have entered into a time of mourning and crisis, much akin to our travail since September 11. Our hearts go out to them as theirs do to us.
Rokpa House for Children
All Together Now provides support to ROKPA House that gives food, shelter and education to street children. In this time of crisis the streets of Kathmandu have become even more crowded with abandoned kids. Nonetheless, here is a bright note of success from the director, Lea Wyler:
...Sushila grudgingly accepted my deal to work for us in the kitchen for a year, then we would put her through school. A month into the bargain, she cornered me in the office: "I don't want to clean your pots! I want to study and become a doctor! My father is a leper; my mother is very sick. I am going to help them and you are going to help me." Her eyes were blazing. How could I resist?
She has already completed her healthcare training and her family planning. As I write to you, she is just now teaching my girls in ROKPA House about the facts of life.
500 students are on their way to becoming doctors through the efforts of ROKPA International. Help us send more girls like Sushila for medical training.
Your financial contributions helped Rokpa serve meals on the streets of Kathmandu, provided medical care, housing and education. Please help us increase our support of programs like the soup kitchen. Your donation of $650 can not only feed a homeless child for a whole year, it can also pay for clothes, housing and schooling!
$20,000 Raised to Rebuild Houses in Earthquake Ravaged Gujrat, India
In our last newsletter we announced the fundraising campaign, directed by our new partner organization Kala Raksha Trust, to the replace the homes of craftworkers destroyed in the earthquake in Gujrat. We have since received over $20,000 in donations earmarked for this project. Of course, more is needed.
Programs we support with your help:
Women's Sewing Project: gives women vocational training in tailoring and sewing machine operation. Without skills, women who have lost husbands or family often have only begging to turn to.
Street Children Program: takes abandoned kids off the street and into a caring home and an education.
Leprosy Clinic: treating one of South Asia's most horrific but easily cured diseases.
Orphan's Children's Home: providing care for orphaned and destitute children.
Medical Clinics: providing basic medical and hospice care.
Operations for Kids: building towards operations for kids in Nepal and for the most desperate cases where help can only be given in the USA.
Earthquake Relief : help to rebuild houses and lives
How You Can Help:
~Your financial contribution of whatever you can help with
~ We get frequent calls about a child in a poor country who needs help. Please donate funds to directly aid these kids.
~organize a fund raiser.
~donate office supplies.
~donate your time or services such as bookkeeping, general office help, phone work and there's more...
~donate your appreciated stocks or real estate.
Did you know that when you give through the United Way you can designate where your donation goes? Please remember ATNI when you fill out your United Way card!
Thank you...
for your support of these projects. Please send your tax deductible donations to:
All Together Now International
P. O. Box 7111
Boulder, CO 80306
Tel: 720.565.8777
Email: AllToNow@aol.com
www.alltogether.org All Together Now International