The children at Kanti Hospital  

This project is not about a Hospital or an Organization.

It´s not even about prevention or politics.

This project is about the burn kids that are admitted daily at Kanti Hospital.

 

 

I started this Project with the main idea of uncover the hell that some nepali women are facing right now in the hands of their own families, relatives or society.

 

There is a real, but not that well known problem that it’s happening at this same moment; Women are being abused and burned with petrol, battery acid or hot liquids.

The reason why I´m forced to use the word ¨some¨ when I mention the quantity of women affected by this, is because the accurate and specific  information is not available for the inability of all victims to denunciate this violent and inhumane treatment.

 

 

But as I mention at the beginning there is another topic for this photo project (even if women violence hasn’t lost its severity and importance of being denounced) and I must say that the main reason why my attention was deviated where the wonderful eyes of Sumina Lama, a nepalí girl of only 12 years old that lost her arm and has severe injuries due to an accident with a loose wire.

 

Sumina and the rest of the kids in Kanti Hospital are in pain but haven’t lost the incredible strength to continue smiling.

 

After saying that let me introduce you to the life at the Burn Ward in Kanti Hospital.

 

Kanti Hospital is located in Kathmandu City, Nepal´s main city, in the disctict of Maharajgunj.

 

The burn Ward is equiped with 22 beds for the pacients and most of the time you will not be able to find many of them empty.

 

The Schedule that the pacients need to follow is very simple, it is only conformed by four meals during the whole day.

 

There is not therapy or special treatment followed at this moment.

 

However, this doesn´t mean that there is no movement at the burn ward, because  many students of the social work carreer are there to assist the kids while doing their practice and also you can find workers from BVS-Nepal twice a week playing with the kids and providing the correct dietary suplement  that burning victims need in order to get a proper recovery.

 

Half  of the kids that are admited are under 4 years old and the main reason for their burnings is listed as “open fire when cooking”, but there are also cases of hot liquid, flame and electrocution.

 

And the same story gets repeated over and over; The mother or the person in charge responsible to watch the child, leaves the kitchen just for a moment, and in that single moment the infant goes directly to the fire that it’s on the ground (normally low income families or the ones that are located in remote areas have the cooking place as a hole in the ground) or spill hot liquid and burn themselves.

 

Another common story that you can hear is that there was a loose electric wire and the child got really close to it and touch it either by accident or curiosity.

 

Sometimes kids get really injured by something as innocent as playing with kites. How?

Well, the kite gets stuck in the electric wires and when trying to get it back to continue playing, they get electrocuted and burned.

 

I could continue just talking about this issue, what has been done and what hasn’t been done yet to help them, even I could adventure and try to give my opinions about it.

 

But I rather rely in the old phrase that says “A picture is worth a thousand words”. So, I will let that the Kids at Kanty hospital do all the talking.

 

I only wish to add this final thought that came over and over to my mind every time:

 

 

JUST CARE