A second Covid-19 wave in Nepal has coincided with a wave of anti-Christian hostility in the Hindu-majority country.
“Christians are marginalised and victimised by Hindu extremists and we can also experience recent community persecution,” says our project partner. Even Christian Covid patients in hospital find they are discriminated against and not given as good care as the other patients.
Poor and persecuted Christians in Nepal desperately need food to help them survive during this catastrophic wave of Covid.
While the world’s eyes are focused on the pandemic catastrophe in India, neighbouring Nepal is plunging into the same morass. “What is happening in India right now is a horrifying preview of Nepal’s future if we cannot contain this latest Covid surge that is claiming more lives by the minute,” said the chair of the Nepal Red Cross.
Hospitals are already overwhelmed. Nepal has only 0.7 doctors per 100,000 people (a lower figure than India) and fewer than 600 ventilators for its population of 30 million. The mountains and dirt roads of this landlocked country make the logistics very challenging.
A strict two-week lockdown due to end on 12 May has been extended for a further 15 days in and around the capital Kathmandu. But Nepal’s long and porous border with India, crossed frequently by Nepali migrant workers, and a haphazard vaccination programme mean that the coronavirus is virtually impossible to hold back.
Hungry Christians
For poor Christians, the situation is disastrous. They cannot afford medical care, let alone quarantining in hotels as is now being done for wealthier Covid patients in Nepal. More than 15,000 churches are closed, leaving thousands of pastors penniless and struggling to feed their families, because there are no offerings collected in church meetings. Yet their church members, who have lost their jobs due to lockdown or persecution, continue to look to their pastors for practical help as well as spiritual care.
There is an issue with the burial of Christians dying of Covid. The government has refused to give land for their burial in Kathmandu and the bodies have to be taken 600 km to Nepalgunj, which, like the capital, is a Covid hotspot.
Anti-Christian hostility has risen as the Covid crisis in Nepal has worsened. Please help our brothers and sisters.
“Basic survival needs”
Our project partner pleads for “basic survival needs” for Covid-19 affected people within the poor and persecuted Christian community. Food for hungry families is the main priority, followed by medical needs. Food is also needed for hospital patients and their relatives caring for them.
Please help the forgotten Christians of Nepal.
