RE:Earthquake in Gujarat

[Guest guest]

Dear Moderator/Forum Members,

Thank you for posting Sridhar's message on the Forum. Our concern and

responsibility is not only HIV/AIDS. It is the people too and this is an

emergency that we must all respond to. We talk of holistic programming that

seeks to address the priorities of our target communities as they perceive

it. Here is an example of how this should work.

My name is Dr. ph Chandy. I am the HIV/AIDS Project Advisor to Save the

Children US and am based in Kathmandu, Nepal. We work through local NGO

partners. We have quite a large presence in Mid and Far Western

Developmental Districts of Nepal, especially in 5 districts of the Terai

bordering India. These areas are peculiar in the fact that large numbers of

men migrate to India in search of work seasonally or cyclically for long

periods of time ranging from 3-6 months to 1-several years. This means that

there are communities from which 50-90% of men are in India at any given

times. These are husbands, partners, fathers, brothers, uncles and cousins

of women left behind. It is to Gujarat, and specifically towns of Surat,

Ahmedabad and Bhuj among others that many of these men go.

At best communication is inadequate and slow and news takes long to reach

here. As Sridhar is there and I am sure there will be other members from the

Forum there who will read this, my request to Forum members is for

organisations there to link up with us to help provide/facilitate

information about the whereabouts, health and well being of the loved ones

of the women of the communities in which we work. We will provide the

details needed for this search and provide the information collected by

partners in this in Gujarat to the women here. While our partner projects

are implemented in specific areas of the districts of Dang, Banke, Bardiya,

Kailali and Kanchanpur, our NGO partners there will be able to facilitate

links with other organisations here in other areas who can partner with

organisations on the ground in Gujarat for this effort to broaden the scope

of this collaborative cross-border humanitarian initiative.

Let me take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude, in advance,

to the Forum for posting this message and to Forum members who can

assist/facilitate help in this regard to mitigate the impact of this major

human tragedy in South Asia.

My contact details are:

Dr. ph Chandy,

HIV/AIDS Project Advisor,

C/o Save the Children US,

P.B. No. 2218,

Kathmandu, Nepal.

Phone: 00-977-1-412598

Fax: 00-977-1-435237

After 1/02, please contact Ms. Tara Chettry, Social Development Advisor at

tchettry@... . I will be out in the field from then on.

Thanking you all in anticipation,

Your sincerely,

Dr. ph Chandy/Jo

Email: jchandy@...