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The First seed of thought for the op shop came from a trip to Nepal by Sue Kupiak who came home with a heart to help fill some of the needs of a people and country that captured her heart. Primarily a remote village called Maidi(pron: my-e-dee). She saw poverty like never before. Hence the shop was born. Our on going focus is the mountain village of Maidi. It is a remote poverty stricken village high in the foot hills of the Himalayas. This village had stayed still in time. They have little knowledge of a whole other world. They are primarily a farming community, surviving on what they can produce. The people there know little about hygiene. Sickness is rampant, the fatality rate in children is appx 30%. It is not from exotic diseases but common illness that we take for granted, eg: the flu, compounded tummy problems, and wound infection. So far we have taken and distributed many kilo's of clothing. Last trip we distributed toothbrushes and paste, aswell as soap and talked about simple hygiene. These people live in mud houses with open fires and NO chimneys. Our next project is to begin to install smokeless chimneys in their houses. The smoke causes many chest problems in these people. Even some tiny babies have compounded chest problems due to inhalation of smoke. Our vision is to one day put in a school, library and medical centre. No. all these things are not going to happen straight away but we committed to work towards these goals in the future. |
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