New Hope for Badri Shrestha & Family

Badri’s family

Badri Shrestha is a father in his late 40s affected by leprosy, with a married daughter and two adult sons Subash and Sudeep, who are in their early 20s and both seriously disabled by cerebral palsy. Subash and Sudeep are mostly in wheelchairs (provided by NLT) and also require regular medication to keep them stable which is a significant monthly cost. Subash is a bright lad who is a wiz on a mobile phone, but Sudeep is much more limited and has difficult outbursts of temper at times.

Badri himself was treated for leprosy some years ago at Lalgadh, but his leprosy was the more difficult kind and he suffered repeated leprosy reactions. This has physically weakened him and left him with impairment in his hands and feet, making many tasks more difficult. This in turn has seriously impacted on his ability to care for his family, and they have been in significant poverty for some years, although their daughter has helped them where she can. Badri’s wife Somwati, a diminutive lady, is the powerhouse of the family and works very hard with Badri to help their two wheelchair-bound sons through the challenges of day to day living.

Their house was a simple timber, bamboo and mud plaster house, which NLT helped to improve some time ago, including enlarging the toilet area to make it easier for Subash and Sudeep to use it. They looked after the house as best they could but unfortunately it was some distance from their business, and Badri and Somwati were very worried about leaving the boys for the time necessary for them to travel to the market and operate their shop business.

A church group generously donated some funds in 2016 to help Badri’s family with a monthly support to help with medicine and food costs for the boys, for at least a year, and this has helped to keep the sense of impending disaster away from the family, which has been a big help.

Base of the new house. Road and main junction nearby.

However, it was clear that the future for this family was still pretty grim, as mum and dad are getting older and yet have to do so much for their two seriously disabled sons, with no external support. Add to that the commute to reach their business, and it was clear that we had to try and do more. After a visit by NLT UK in June  2016, we decided to try and help them buy some land nearer the business and support them through selling their current land and building a new house. With our help they managed to buy land 2017, in a much better location, and late in 2017 they borrowed money to start building. Borrowing is expensive in Nepal and this has

New house taking shape – February 2018

been a struggle for them so, with help from some supporters, we provided them with funds to bridge the gap between building a new house and selling their old house. This has made a way forward for them and they have been working brilliantly to bring it together at their end, and the new house – which is so much better than the old one – is now more or less finished and habitable. The family is overjoyed and can now live and work in the same place, without leaving their two sons at all.

This has transformed their family life and has made a better future possible. It will provide a secure base for the family while they find a way forward for their boys who at the moment are totally dependent on their parents for everything. However, Badri and Somwati are now both about 50, and the boys need something more to prepare them for a future when mum and dad are no longer around. We do not have the answers for this yet, but we pray that there will be a good answer and we are looking for it now. If any of our supporters, or people reading this story, have any constructive ideas, please do share them with us…

The new house – almost finished – with the family now living in it.

Progress – Summer 2018 – Subash and Sudeep with Mum

The brief video clip below is a simple expression of thanks by Somwati and Badri for all the help that friends in NLT have provided. They are deeply grateful.