Project Aasha

22/05/2022

A huge thank you to everyone who supported Project Aasha's merchandise sale this year! During the collection of merchandise, we also set up a photobooth with polaroids for sale!

We are overwhelmed by the support of all students & staff who have graciously purchased our merchandise, the funds raised will be used for cataract surgeries and first aid kits, as well as our local community project with the Silver Generation Office (SGO) and Agency of Integrated Care (AiC).

Stay tuned for more updates on our initiatives!

16/07/2020

As we interacted with the people behind BYAN as well as the members, they taught us about their various braille books and writing equipment. This braille slate was something we had never seen before. 🤓
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It works by placing a piece of paper in between the slate. Then, you can use the stylus to make small indentations in the paper, thus forming braille! Many of the members use this as a means to “write” on paper. You write the braille from left to right. However, since the indentations appear on the reverse side of the paper, braille is read from left to right! 📚📚
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We all had a chance to try it out and it was rather challenging! It’s amazing that the visually impaired learn to do this so easily.

13/07/2020

We also visited Blind Youth Association Nepal (BYAN). BYAN is a rights-based organisation that aims to advocate for the rights of visually-impaired persons in Nepal. They have been working on various projects throughout Nepal. 👌🏼🥳
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Membership is extended to those aged 16 - 40 years old. BYAN currently has 472 members, many of whom are studying at various levels of education up to bachelors and masters. 👩🏽‍🎓👨🏽‍🎓

13/07/2020

On our last day at Dharan Blind School! Pictured here are the Project Aasha Team, together with our translators Mingma and Karma, and their father Kami, Sabina from Blind Youth Association Nepal, and the teachers and nurse from Dharan Blind School. 😍🙌🏼

13/07/2020

During our visit to Dharan Blind School, we were immensely inspired by their thirst for learning as well as the plethora of other talents that they had. 🎨🎼⚽️
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Many of them sang beautifully, one of whom even won multiple national singing contests and was able to perform fluently in both Nepalese and English. Others were very proficient in playing cricket despite their visual impairment. The cricket balls contained rattles that helped them determine the position of the ball, and their visual impairment did not hinder them from enjoying the game at all!
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The friendship and care that they displayed for each other was extremely heartwarming. They made their way around the campus mostly without guidance, with even 5 year olds climbing down stairs and navigating to their rooms, around the classrooms and to the toilets on their own. There was much for us to learn from the children at Dharan Blind School. 💓

30/06/2020

In these trying times, we would like to wish the best of health to all our Nepal counterparts. Hope everyone stays healthy and happy while maintaining social distancing during this Covid-19 pandemic! With love, from Project Aasha 💓💓💓

30/06/2020

From 21st to 24th December, Project Aasha visited three different schools around Morang, Jhapu and Kathmandu, namely Kabir Secondary School, Saraswati Secondary School and the Central Campus of the Deaf (Kathmandu).

We discussed with the schools’ leaders their most pressing needs and possible collaborations with them. We explored the possibility of adapting our first aid curriculum at Shree Purwanchal Vidhyalaya Gyanchakshu School for the Visually Impaired to suit the needs of these schools, taking into account the different student demographics. The physiotherapy team conducted basic assessments and taught the students stretching exercises

At Central Campus for the Deaf, we met with Principal Upendra to discuss possible collaborations. This gave us a fresh perspective on life as a student with disabilities other than visual impairment. This will be important in creating curricula that can empower students regardless of ailments or struggles.

Afterwards, we also visited the Blind Youth Association Nepal to learn about their efforts in advocating for, educating and empowering visually impaired youth in Nepal. We learnt about the challenges they faced in their efforts, in particular in terms of gaining employment due to the prejudices present in the community.

26/06/2020

In order to provide greater support to the patients at the hospital, the Physiotherapy team conducted physiotherapy assessments for patients in the waiting areas when the student members of the Project Aasha team visited the hospital on 18 December 2019. 😇 Through their interaction with the patients, they identified some common areas of complaint, including lower limbs, cervical and lumbar spinal regions, with conditions such as general muscle tightness and osteoarthritis.
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The physiotherapy students taught the patients strengthening and stretching exercises that would help alleviate their conditions. 🧘🏼‍♀️🧘🏽‍♂️🧘🏾With the information gathered from the surveys conducted, there is potential for a programme to be developed to educate the villagers on how to better manage the common musculoskeletal ailments they face through physiotherapy exercises.

26/06/2020

Our visit to the Dharan Blind School also involved a Physiotherapy component. We aimed to educate the students on long-term management of secondary visual impairment, and to promote physical activity through modified versions of popular sports and games amongst children, made safer for their participation.

Our team found that many students were experiencing muscle tightness. To solve this, the school’s existing resources, such as the morning stretching routine, were refined, and new stretching exercises and tips were added to ensure that the students will gain maximum benefits from each stretching exercise.

Moreover, common sports and games were modified to allow the students with visual impairments to participate safely and have a fulfilling experience. The physical activities included:

Dancing: Students learnt the Macarena and the Chicken dance. Even though they had heard the tune of the dance, this was the first time learning the dance moves and it was widely popular with the students and they enjoyed it thoroughly.

Goalball: A modified version of soccer. A ball containing a ball bearing within it was used as a soccer ball and students must try to score as many points as they can for their teams in a specified time limit

Marco Polo: A modified version of Tag. A ‘tagger’ aims to chase and tag other students who are free to run. Whenever the ‘tagger’ shouts “Marco”, those who are free to run must shout “Polo” back. A bell was also tied to the ankle of the ‘tagger’.

Obstacle Course: Students were paired up to complete a simple obstacle course made of raffia strings and chairs. This was to emulate a “foreign” environment for the students to test their navigation skills and communication with their partner.

The students enjoyed themselves very much. We realised that these children were much more independent than we had initially expected. Despite their visual impairments, this did not hinder their ability to have fun or play.

25/06/2020

24/06/2020

The first aid curriculum was devised by the Project Aasha team - students from Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and Dr Gayathri Nadarajan from Emergency Medicine, SingHealth - with input from our partners from Singapore and Nepal.

Our partners included Mr Chris O’Dempsey from Heart Reach Australia, Mr Samden Sherpa from Classroom in the Clouds, Mr Ramchandra Gaihre from Blind Youth Association Nepal and Mr Pramod Bhandari from Purbanchal Gyanchakshu School.

The focus was on equipping students with practical skills by covering the following first aid skills and techniques:
- Wound cleaning and covering
- Sprain and fracture recognition and management
- Responding to dangerous scenarios (e.g. electrocution, fires)
- Management of burns, nose bleed, eye pain/itch and snake bites

Every student had the chance to practise the skills they just learnt on themselves and on each other under the guidance of the medical students. Feedback from students and teachers showed that such practical experiences were important in supplementing existing theoretical first aid classes in the school.

A Post-teaching Student Assessment was conducted after the two-day curriculum to evaluate how much the students had learnt. The results collated provided the team with valuable feedback on how we could improve upon the curriculum and teaching methodology.

A basic first aid kit was also given to each student, containing essentials such as crepe bandages, triangular bandages, gauze, micropore tape, antiseptic cream, plasters, saline, alcohol swabs and cotton balls. This provided the students with resources to carry out first aid should the need arise in the future.

23/06/2020

From 16 to 21 December 2019, Project Aasha conducted a surgical cataract camp in Biratnagar, Morang District, Nepal. ✨ The camp was held at the Birat Eye Hospital, a private healthcare institution led by Dr Anadi Khatri, a renowned ophthalmologist from Nepal. 🤓
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Birat Eye Hospital is a specialised institute providing eye health services to the Eastern Development Region of Nepal and has a full-functioning Biometrics Department, Inpatient Department, Outpatient Department, Operating Theatre (OT), Opticians’ Shop and Retinal Department, among others. With charity patients consisting approximately 20-30% of total patient flow, Birat Eye Hospital is heavily involved in the local eye health scene. 🤩
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Check out our next post for more information about the cataract camp!

22/06/2020

A team picture on the day Project Aasha flew to Nepal! We were really excited and ready to learn more about the students as well as the environment for visually impaired students there. 🤝 Stay tuned to hear more about our time in Nepal :-)

21/06/2020

Founded in 1977, the Shree Purwanchal Vidhyalaya Gyanchakshu School for the Visually Impaired is a school in Dharan fully equipped with classroom blocks, libraries, hostels, dining halls and a kitchen. It hosts 64 students (aged 6 to 23 years), with visual impairments ranging from partial to complete blindness. The school has been empowering visually impaired students to be more independent and self-reliant in their day-to-day lives. The school is currently under the management of Mr Pramod Bhandari, the School Principal, and his team of teachers.

Project Aasha had first established contact with the school in 2018 to gain a fundamental understanding of the school’s management, the facilities and the potential needs of students. We gathered that the standard of education provided to the students was very high and the school curriculum included a comprehensive spectrum of subjects, including yoga, computing and music classes. The school explained a few needs to us that would greatly boost the effectiveness of their teaching. These include: Audio Equipment, Braille typing device (Perkins Brailler) and embosser and Sports equipment. Project Aasha has ongoing plans to ascertain the urgency of these needs and subsequently raise funds to support the school.

21/06/2020

Founded in 1977, the Shree Purwanchal Vidhyalaya Gyanchakshu School for the Visually Impaired is a school in Dharan fully equipped with classroom blocks, libraries, hostels, dining halls and a kitchen. It hosts 64 students (aged 6 to 23 years), with visual impairments ranging from partial to complete blindness. The school has been empowering visually impaired students to be more independent and self-reliant in their day-to-day lives. The school is currently under the management of Mr Pramod Bhandari, the School Principal, and his team of teachers.

Project Aasha had first established contact with the school in 2018 to gain a fundamental understanding of the school’s management, the facilities and the potential needs of students. We gathered that the standard of education provided to the students was very high and the school curriculum included a comprehensive spectrum of subjects, including yoga, computing and music classes. The school explained a few needs to us that would greatly boost the effectiveness of their teaching. These include: Audio Equipment, Braille typing device (Perkins Brailler) and embosser and Sports equipment. Project Aasha has ongoing plans to ascertain the urgency of these needs and subsequently raise funds to support the school.

19/06/2020

In order to provide greater support to the patients at the hospital, the Physiotherapy team conducted physiotherapy assessments for patients in the waiting areas on 18 December 2019. Through their interaction with the patients, they identified some common areas of complaint through surveys, including the lower limbs, cervical and lumbar spinal regions, with conditions such as general muscle tightness and osteoarthritis.

The physiotherapy students taught some patients strengthening and stretching exercises that could help alleviate their conditions. With the information gathered from the surveys conducted, there is potential for an education programme to be developed to help villagers manage their musculoskeletal ailments through physiotherapy exercises.

With the generous sponsorship from Varun Beverages (Gurugam, India), 500 cataract surgeries were made possible in December. Moving forward, 200 free surgeries will be conducted for needy patients for each month in 2020 owing to their generosity. A tracking system has also been put in place to ensure that the funding is released in a stepwise manner (only after a specific milestone has been met), allowing us to establish this sustainable programme to improve reversible blindness in Eastern Nepal.

19/06/2020

In order to provide greater support to the patients at the hospital, the Physiotherapy team conducted physiotherapy assessments for patients in the waiting areas on 18 December 2019. Through their interaction with the patients, they identified some common areas of complaint through surveys, including the lower limbs, cervical and lumbar spinal regions, with conditions such as general muscle tightness and osteoarthritis.

The physiotherapy students taught some patients strengthening and stretching exercises that could help alleviate their conditions. With the information gathered from the surveys conducted, there is potential for an education programme to be developed to help villagers manage their musculoskeletal ailments through physiotherapy exercises.

With the generous sponsorship from Varun Beverages (Gurugam, India), 500 cataract surgeries were made possible in December. Moving forward, 200 free surgeries will be conducted for needy patients for each month in 2020 owing to their generosity. A tracking system has also been put in place to ensure that the funding is released in a stepwise manner (only after a specific milestone has been met), allowing us to establish this sustainable programme to improve reversible blindness in Eastern Nepal.

18/06/2020

We are proud to have two of our members present at the International Conference on Humanitarian Medical Missions last year! 🙌🏼
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Yao En presented on Inter-profession collaboration and Jun Ye presented on Maternal Health Education.
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In addition, it was a fulfilling time learning from other students and experts in this area and hearing the different perspectives. The many insights gained can surely help us as we continue to move forward in bringing healthcare to Nepal!