Nepal, and in particular the Kathmandu Valley, is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters like earthquakes, flooding, and landslides. As we experienced first hand during the devastating 2015 earthquake, the population is unprepared for such a crises, and very few people have the necessary skills and knowledge to help the injured and dying.
Karuna-Shechen is training members of the local population so that they can take charge and save lives in emergencies.
Police Officers with their first-aid kits.
Police officers are often the first to arrive when an emergency occurs. Unfortunately, in Nepal, most of them have never received any formal first-aid training. Thanks to Karuna-Shechen this is about to change.
Last Fall we organized an advanced first responders training for 120 community police officers, including 39 women. They were trained in the skills needed to save lives and efficiently transfer victims to nearby health facilities. Every officer trained by us also received a free first-aid kit.
Our Medical Emergency Response Program was first initiated in 2013. The monks and laypeople we trained that year were crucial in providing immediate help right after the tragic 2015 earthquakes. They were able to apply their training in first-aid and organizational skills to bring relief to many communities in the Kathmandu Valley.
More trainings will be conducted throughout the years. Our objective is to progressively create a nation-wide network of volunteers who can dispense on–the-spot immediate medical care to people in isolated villages in rural Nepal.
The people who we have trained in this program include trekking guides, social workers, monks, students, health workers and police officers.
October 28 2020
“Karuna-Shechen breaks taboos on what rural women can and cannot do, thus changing attitudes. As Dalai Lama often points out, we more than ever need empathy, altruism and compassion: that is why it ...
October 16 2020
« One only needs to become conscious of the truth for error, no matter how deeply rooted, to disappear, just as one only needs to light a lamp for darkness to disperse in a cave, even if it has been...
September 30 2020
In the continuity of Yoga for Karuna, Karuna-Shechen, an association founded by Matthieu Ricard, launches Action for Karuna, to support humanitarian projects in Nepal. From November 2 to 8, 2020, use ...
September 2 2020
« Altruism is not a luxury, but a necessity. It is also the most pragmatic way to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Altruism is indeed not only the noblest state of mind of the human being, bu...
August 31 2020
Karuna-Shechen is committed, since 2000, to provide access to quality education to the greatest number of people. We believe in a more altruistic world and education is a tool of choice to encourage t...
