Repaying Nepal's support with gratitude

Editor's note: This news column showcases stories from around the world that bring a touch of positivity to the fight against the deadly coronavirus.

Zou Zhiqiang remembers her answer to a question by a flight attendant on her flight from Hong Kong to Kathmandu.

"Are you sure you want to be on board?"

"Yes," replied Zou, the only Chinese national on the plane which had just about 40 passengers on March 19. She was to coordinate work in Nepal as country director at the Nepal office of the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, or CFPA.

CFPA's Nepal office was established in 2015 to provide emergency aid after a massive earthquake in Nepal. To date, it is still China's only registered nongovernmental organization in the Himalayan country.

Following the COVID-19 outbreak, Zou was reduced to working remotely from her home in Beijing for a while. But as the situation eased in China, she arranged for her immediate return to Nepal to make sure her office could provide a timely response and help the local people in the pandemic.

Starting from March 24, after confirming its second COVID-19 infection, Nepal implemented a nationwide lockdown, which was extended five times to June 2.

With excess luggage that contained masks for her Nepalese staff, sanitizers and instant food, she put herself into quarantine upon arrival at her home in Nepal but continued working in her apartment to ensure the smooth implementation of CFPA's anti-COVID-19 program.

The program mobilized CFPA's Nepal office to set up hand wash stations for local communities as well as disseminate information on virus prevention, to help the local people be better educated about the infectious disease and protect themselves from the virus.

Zou said that the idea of setting up such stations was based on the office's years of experience in carrying out its Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Program, or WASH, which aimed to improve the country's sanitation habits and health after the earthquake. As the outbreak started to spread in Nepal, she saw soaring demand for water and sanitation across the country, especially in poor communities.

Supervision role

Within two weeks, starting from March 28, around 130 wash stations were established in Nepal, mainly in poor communities.

With permits issued by the local community, Zou was able to supervise the setting up of hand wash stations in person and pass on the experience of disease control and prevention she had received in China to the local community management team.

"I remember that when I was checking a hand wash station in a community, people in a nearby building, from the first floor to the seventh floor, gave me the thumbs-up from their windows," said Zou, adding that some residents even volunteered to guide people entering the community from outside to wash their hands.

Besides the hand wash stations, Zou and her Nepalese colleagues also work to help people in need amid the pandemic. Also, by engaging Chinese enterprises in Nepal and other NGOs from China, Zou managed to expand the footprint of CFPA's hand wash stations to more communities, as well as donate food.

Noting the outbreak has aggravated the hunger situation of children who are at home as part of a self-isolation routine, Zou has modified CFPA's Smiling Children Program into an anti-COVID-19 food package distribution.

The project, which was originally meant to start in March, aims to offer nutrition to students by providing them with midday meals at schools.

Zou said that the Nepalese government has been very effective when it comes to virus control and prevention.

As for what her NGO hopes to achieve now, she said: "I hope we can through our programs support the Nepal government in the control and prevention of the spread of the disease.

"When China was the epicenter of COVID-19, many people from Nepal, including CFPA's partners, were trying to get masks for us.

"I was very moved (by their support)," she said, adding that she now felt it was her responsibility to offer support in return.