The Oda COVID-19 Fund

My Connection to Oda:

As many of you know, from August 2019 to the end of March 2020 I was living in Oda, a small village located in the Kalikot District of Nepal. My main role while being there was running extracurricular English classes for students from the village, as well as helping where I could with the rest of the education department at the local government school with administration and teaching efforts. I interacted with students daily, laughing and playing with them and learning countless creative games. The genuine care and determination they approached their schoolwork with was motivating, to say the least. To engage with their parents and those from the local village was a humbling experience.

Throughout the years I've created a strong connection to Nepal and I know many other have as well. What I find so remarkable about Nepal's ability for these avenues of connection is that is comes from the peoples of the hill and mountains. As outsiders, it can be an eye opening experience to be treated with such compassion. Yet, to say that the lives of villagers in Nepal is easy would be a lie. There are countless hardships that they face, and this is more true in Oda than anywhere else I've seen. The double burden of coronavirus is partially why I had to leave Oda so suddenly. It was heartbreaking to go so early, and even more so knowing how much more difficult the situation will get up there.

About The Oda Foundation (Oda)
Oda helps local governments in rural Nepal provide critical services such as healthcare and education to their communities. The Oda Foundation is named after the remote village of Oda, where it is headquartered. The village is two hours from the nearest road and is located in Nepal's rural Himalayan foothills. Our dedicated team has been living and working in Oda nonstop since 2013, allowing us to be a deeply trusted partner of the communities we serve. We have been diligently responding to the COVID-19 threat since it became a public health crisis in Nepal.

What the COVID-19 Fund will Combat:

1. Food & Economic Insecurity: With lockdown measures being enforced, households dependent on migrant labor (almost all) are no longer receiving their wages to cover their family's food needs. Households with fields for agriculture will run out of food soon - demanding the need for a local food bank to be established.
2. Healthcare Constraints: The pandemic has not put a pause medical patient needs outside of COVID-19. Our healthcare team is prepared to provide for its regular flow of patients while simultaneously mitigating COVID-19 risks, but we need support! Fun fact, we delivered a healthy baby boy during week 3 of the lockdown!
3. Education Constraints: With school children at home indefinitely the world is turning to online and other tech-based solutions. Because our communities lack a basic power supply, we have begun designing worksheets and distributing them (safely) to households, however printing worksheets for an entire school every week requires a great deal of resources! 

By contributing to this campaign, you are helping us sustain and scale up our response. Every donation will be directly invested in the community and will provide real and tangible support to those that need it most.

We hope you are staying healthy and safe, and wish to sincerely thank you for considering supporting our work in these difficult times.