Category: Humanitarian actions

This year we are supporting food security and better management of the water crisis in India. It is via the humanitarian association Karuna Shechen, founded in 2000 by Matthieu Ricard that we act. We chose this organization for its low operating costs and its targeted field actions.

In August 2022, we donated €1250 to support this project.

Malnutrition in India

It mainly affects children under 5 and women. Karuna Shechen's project operates in two states in the north of the country, Bihar and Jharkhand. Malnutrition is almost irreversible in children and transcends the stages of adolescence and adulthood. Severe lack of food is the cause of high mortality and morbidity in these two states.

India's water crisis

Since the early 2000s, the state of Bihar has experienced significant water crisis. In Jharkhand, about a third of the surface and ground water comes out of the region. The consequences are wells and water reserves completely dried up, from November to February, in both states.

The actions of the association

Malnutrition actions

To ensure the food security of the poorest, Karuna Shechen deploys several micro-programs to install:

• vegetable gardens,
• nutritional gardens,
• drip irrigation,
• well,
• retention ponds,
• small dams,
• culvert construction

Farmers receive drip irrigation kits, including a 500 liter water tank, as well as vegetable and fruit seeds and seedlings with unique registration. They are also trained in mushroom cultivation and organic compost management.

Water actions

To boost water harvesting Karuna-Shechen installs rainwater harvesting systems, a traditional technique that turns rain into a reliable source of water for families' domestic and non-drinking needs. Teams in India are installing 1000 liter water tanks in schools and villages, as well as 500L domestic tanks next to homes for families, for laundry, sanitation and watering vegetable gardens. To help farmers during the dry season, drip irrigation systems have been introduced, so they can use water efficiently while growing more crops (65-75%), less weeding (80% savings). A suitable solution is offered to each farmer, depending on the layout of his land (well, reservoir).

In 2021, 320 people benefited from this program!

This year we have decided to donate €1000 to the humanitarian association Chay Ya. This donation helps finance an effective and direct “field” aid program to deal with covid 19 in Nepal. Chay Ya has a main antenna in Nepal, with Nepalese staff and volunteers and several fundraising antennas in Europe, the USA, etc.

Until 2020 we supported the Karuna Sheshen association but unfortunately many projects are suspended because the association employs several Westerners who were unable to continue their actions on the spot. The Chay Ya association has a network of local volunteers in the seven Nepalese provinces, which makes it possible to act in an emergency and to face an evolving situation.

Chay Ya is our choice for this year because she has excellent field actions, because these operating costs are extremely low (2% administrative level) and because she works with serious partners like UNICEF Nepal or national hospitals. on large-scale projects.

Here's a very simple pdf table allowing you to see how the funds of the aid project in Nepal are used - covid 19.

To find out more information about covid-19 actions in Nepal, you can click here and on ongoing covid-19 actions in Nepal, click here.