Nepal–Bharat Indigenous People Friendship Association (NBIPFA) Founder/Chairman Mr. Binod Kumar Gurung expresses his views in an Inaugural Programme on August 6, 2017 in Kathmandu

On the occasion of World Friendship Day and the event of the eve of World Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we are glad to take this opportunity to mark the special relationship between two friendly nations Nepal and India organized by Nepal-India Friendship Association (NBIPFA) through this inaugural session. On this occasion our two friendly nations are going to talk about contemporary national issues and friendship theme focusing on indigenous peoples.

In spite of her busy schedule, we are gratified that our invitation is kindly accepted in this first meeting by Speaker of House of Nepal Parliament, Honorable Madam Onsari Gharti-Magar to be presided as Chief Guest, Special Guest, Akhil Bharat Hindu Maha Shaba (ABHMS), Special Guest Chairman Mr. Chandra Prakash Koushi, Joint Secretary and Ambassador for Law & Educational Enforcement of the International Police Commission Mr. Vikas Mittra Sexena, Special Guest, Nepalese Ambassador to India, His Excellency Deep Kumar Upadhaya/ representative member Mr……….. Indian envoy to Nepal, Special Guest His Excellency Manjeev Singh Puri/ representative member Mr. ……, Representative of Nepal Parliament’s honorable members, Nepal Parliaments representative of Medeshi, Tharu, Anglo-Indian and minority groups members. We are also grateful for accepting our invitation by esteemed guests, including ex-foreign ministers and ex-ministers of Nepal government, Member Secretary of Nepal Social Council, Nepal Government’s District Administration Council’s First Chief, Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City , Chief of Napal Defense Minister’s Supervisory Members, special guests from Indian Embassy to Nepal, all guests, retired Nepal governments special commissioners, secretaries, social workers, our organization’s chief and special advisors, all media friends, my valued colleagues at NBIPFA, ladies and gentlemen, Please allow me to express my warm welcome, good morning and Namaste to you all.!

One of the world’s most powerful, developing and the biggest democratic nations, India has a special relationship with Nepal, a sovereign and independent nation since time immemorial. It’s needless to say our ties between our two great nations cannot be compared with the rest of the world. Nepal has 3-side boundaries to India. So that we have special sentimental, social, economic, practical, inter-dependence, blood/bread and contemporary issues and relation. To refine and update inter- nations relation, it is necessary to integrate two nations’ indigenous peoples, which would certainly reap mutual benefits. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to organize discussion, assembly, seminar, and workshop and solve its past errors and rectify for the future. In order to gain win-win goal, we have established Nepal-India Indigenous People Friendship Organization in 2016. It is a purely service-orientated and non-profit organization and runs under the rules of Nepal Government’s act, rules and regulation. Today is the special day for us that we are going to inaugurate our organization in a formal way. We are so much happy that we are announcing our organization present and future programme with our most valued guests and independent intellectuals, freelancer, and garner stronger diplomatic ties between the two nations. It makes us more exciting and with utmost seriousness to execute our duty within the perimeter of our agendas in a professional and responsible manner. I am going to put forward our organization’s objectives and goal briefly in the following points:

Objectives and Goal:
1. To establish good and friendly relation between Nepal and India. Our organization ratifies pool works for that mission. NBIPFA key role interacts between two nations’ indigenous peoples from time to time.
2. To remove misunderstanding behaviors, rumors and negative attitude between two nations’ peoples. Establish Indigenous communities’ broad spectrum, awareness program, income generation, technical, creativity and constructive programs in the days ahead.
3. For the contemporary issues, NBIPFA organize arrange to dialogue with nations, politicians, diplomats, intellectuals and religious leaders, social workers, media workers and parliaments. NBIPFA’s role is to provide platform for dialogue and advocacy for the uplift of indigenous nationalities of the two countries.
4. For the prosperity of both the Nepalese and Indian indigenous peoples to participate and engagement in meaningful dialogues – is mandatory, with zeal and gusto and special organizational management.
5. To establish high level intellectuals groups from Nepal and India. These groups work for the welfare of both the sides. Moreover, groups work and recommend on agriculture, health, education, tourism, power, infrastructure, human rights. NBIPA works on indigenous people sector and uplift backward section of the two societies.

Future Perspective Program and Planning:
One of our nation’s most fascinating tourists destination sites is Ratnanagar Municipality in Chitwan District, where indigenous youths will be facilitated with various training programs. For building office I personally donate 2 Ghathas of land that would costs over two crore at the current market value , which is suitable to start with. And for building the office we request to raise fund from both national and international benevolent donors and patrons who care about humanity and boost the lives of the indigenous peoples.
Incorporated in our agendas, we are going to establish a Hospital in Gorkha District, essentially aimed at imparting free medical treatments to those down-trodden indigenous community people. The site selection is settled in Gorkha Municipality ward No 10, Tamu-Danda, 13 Kilo. For this humanitarian endeavor, we need to raise funds from different cluster and kind-hearted donors to materialize this vision. As for the hospital site I will donate lands on my part.
To develop science and technology in Nepal, we anticipate cooperation from our friendly nation India through NBIPFA and apply in our nation as far as possible and practicable.
In order to mitigate the earth-quake evil that devastated in Gorkha on April 2015, NBIPFA will take initiatives to rebuild residential housings for earth-quake victims. NBIPFA appeals donation from National/ International donor agencies and kind hearted patrons for starting new life for the poorest of poor and helpless.
Last but not least, we express our deep gratitude who are present in this meeting today – to our Chief Guest, special guests and all of you.
Ladies and gentlemen, for the weakness of the organizers, we appreciate constructive criticisms so that we can correct in our future ventures. I hereby end my short views on behalf of NBIPFA.
Many thanks for your time.

Marilia Brocchetto, Fernando Ramos, and Ray Sanchez, CNN / April 2, 2017

(CNN) — Mudslides killed more than 200 people after heavy rains caused rivers to overflow late Friday night in Colombia’s Putumayo province, authorities said Saturday.

Gabriel Umaña, spokesman for the Colombian Red Cross, told CNN 206 people had died and 220 are missing. He said at least 202 people were injured and 300 families displaced. Twenty-five houses were destroyed.

President Juan Manuel Santos told reporters at the scene it was impossible to predict the number of deaths.

“Unfortunately, it is possible that the number of deaths will go up because we have a lot of missing people,” Santos said on local TV channel Cable Noticias. “We don’t know yet where they are. Many people are coming to us saying, ‘My son is missing, my father is missing, my mother is missing.’ We are working on putting a list for the total number of people missing.”

Photos released by Colombia’s military showed rescuers carrying old women and children over downed, mud-caked trees and homes.

Santos said 130 millimeters, or more than 5 inches, of rain fell in the area Friday night, setting off the deadly torrents. The monthly average is about 400 millimeters, or about 16 inches, he said.

“Here we are facing a disaster caused by nature, by climate change,” Santos said.

Santos has declared a state of emergency.

Electrical power and water were out in Mocoa, and the hospital system was shut down, according to firefighters.

Heavy rains battered the southwestern region of the country on Friday.

Three rivers in the area, including the Mocoa and San Boyaco, overflowed and unleashed muddy waves into homes, over cars and onto bridges, according to Mocoa Mayor José Antonio Castro, CNN en Español reported.

In 2015, torrential rains in northwest Colombia caused a landslide that killed more than 80 people as mud rushed into homes and bridges, officials said.

This story was first published on CNN.com, “Mudslides kill more than 200 people in Colombia.”

Rameeza Moin, Pakistan

“So what if I am a woman? Can’t women take the initiative to build an organisation for the betterment of the community”

Rameeza Moin is a healer of people, but not in the conventional way. After being confronted with the devastating realities of healthcare across Pakistan, she worked against the odds to create a community that heals through crowdfunding.

A boy named Raheel

Transparent Hands might not have been launched if Rameeza had not had a chance encounter with a sick five-year-old boy on the road one day. Wearing tattered clothes and breathing heavily, Raheel was selling boiled eggs to help make ends meet. After some questioning, Rameeza learned he had a hole in his heart.

After asking his father, who was accompanying Raheel, why the boy was working when he was so sick, he responded: “What else should I do? I have to save enough money so I can buy his medicine and pay for his operation”.

“I couldn’t get that boy’s face out of my mind and it left me sleepless for many nights. I wanted to help but didn’t know how. I kept worrying about where they would go for the heart surgery and who will bear the expense for them.”

Many hands make light work

After discussing the issue with her family, Rameeza came up with the idea for Transparent Hands, a crowdfunding platform that connects patients around the world with donors, thanks to kind strangers who donate money to each operation and cause.

But the startup wasn’t created without some doubts and pushback.

“At first, everyone was against it. I heard them saying, ‘how can a woman build an organisation by herself? She won’t succeed’. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it and I wanted to make a real difference to the lives of those less fortunate.”

With the support of her family, Rameeza set off on her entrepreneurial journey and was selected by Pakistan’s largest technology incubator, Plan9, allowing Transparent Hands to become the country’s first crowdfunding portal in the healthcare industry.

“That was the happiest day of my life.”

Healthy growth

From what began as a one-woman-band, Transparent Hands is today a growing family of marketers, IT professionals, accountants and product developers who all believe in the same vision as Rameeza. The company has been running for almost 2 years and has already successfully funded more than 200 surgeries in collaboration with 12 hospitals.

Social media channels have been a huge influence in the growth of Transparent Hands, allowing the unique story to be told and shared across Facebook and Instagram. With effective videos, graphics and a gripping narrative, Rameeza has been able to engage various communities, groups and individuals via social media on a national and global level.

The company was also the first in Pakistan to introduce a new technological feature, which allows people to donate through Facebook simply by typing “#donate $5” under any post.

Now, Rameeza is focusing on the expansion of the company’s services across different regions.

“Transparent Hands has a great vision. We want to become a crowdfunding platform for all social welfare projects in Pakistan. We also plan to venture beyond Pakistan and to all developing countries one by one, to make a huge impact in those societies.”

Jolyn Chua, Singapore

“I had relationships with my customers and I loved being down at the store, but I had to let go.”

When Tokyo Bike owner Jolyn Chua first became a mother, she got a crash course in delegation. After two years of doing the heavy lifting herself, her business was taking off and she had to learn how to trust her team to help her as orders started to fly in.

From the importance of having a bit of faith to learning to let go, Jolyn shares her entrepreneurial journey with us.

Entering a man’s world

Jolyn remembers the first time she saw a Tokyo Bike. She was flicking through the pages of a design magazine and couldn’t take her eyes off the beautifully designed city bike.

Spotting a gap for affordable mid-range bikes in Singapore, she got in touch with the founder and designer in Tokyo. It didn’t take long before she was awarded with the distribution for Southeast Asia and opened her first shop on Haji Lane in Singapore. But it was a male dominated industry, and Jolyn had to fight for bicycle suppliers and partners to take her seriously. Customers didn’t even want her serving them because of her gender:

“A lot of them didn’t think a woman would be able to last long in this industry because she probably doesn’t know a lot about bikes”.

Although people questioned her ability every day, she believed in the product, in the brand and most of all herself — so she just went for it.

Educating the marketplace

In addition to educating people that women could know as much about bikes as men, she had to educate her customers about a new category of bikes altogether.

“Everyone knew what a racing bike or a mountain bike was, but when we said Tokyo Bike was a city bike, we were met with blank stares,” Jolyn recalls.

She then set about educating the public about the joys of owning a city bike and changing the way they viewed cycling from performance and speed to exploration and discovery, encouraging them to slow down and enjoy the nooks and crannies of the city.

Juggling a family and a business

In the middle of growing her business, Jolyn was also busy growing her family.

Jolyn learned quickly how to juggle home and work life, but she has learned she can’t do everything. When she became a mother, she became an expert at delegating, handing over tasks like the day-to-day running of the shop to her team.

“When the baby came along my priorities had to change. It was difficult because the business was my other baby. I had relationships with my customers and I loved being down at the store, but I had to let go”.

Having a team she could rely on helped, and Jolyn soon learned to trust them.

Trust your instinct

Although there were times when she thought about giving up, something told Jolyn to hold on. She listened to her gut, trusted her team and waited it out. And as people became familiar with the brand and product, they started coming into the store.

“I felt such relief when things picked up. I was so happy and excited that it was finally going somewhere”.

The business has been steadily growing with a 20% increase in sales each year. It’s expanded regionally and now has dealers in Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Philippines (with even more new markets to come).