Captions

Social stigma, absence of rehabilitation services, resignation of families and the near-impossibility of ever finding a job force children like Shuli to lead isolated lives at the margins of society, as a burden for their parents and as lifelong victims of social rejection. Since they are completely ignored by the authorities, Shuli and others like her are known as “the forgotten childhood”. Arjan Gurung is a 9-year-old boy with serious mental and physical disabilities. He lives in a 15 m2 room with his mother, father and brother. His father too suffers from a mobility problem in his upper limbs, which prevents him from working. Their home is three hours’ walk from the center of Pokhara, along steep and precipitous paths. Arjan and his family are visited by his educator once a month. In the photograph, Arjan is learning to blow.

1. Social stigma, absence of rehabilitation services, resignation of families and the near-impossibility of ever finding a job force children like Shuli to lead isolated lives at the margins of society, as a burden for their parents and as lifelong victims of social rejection. Since they are completely ignored by the authorities, Shuli and others like her are known as “the forgotten childhood”. Arjan Gurung is a 9-year-old boy with serious mental and physical disabilities. He lives in a 15 m2 room with his mother, father and brother. His father too suffers from a mobility problem in his upper limbs, which prevents him from working. Their home is three hours’ walk from the center of Pokhara, along steep and precipitous paths. Arjan and his family are visited by his educator once a month. In the photograph, Arjan is learning to blow.

Shuli is 12 years old and suffers from cerebral palsy caused by a meningitis infection when she was very young. In the photo, she is doing physiotherapy with her educator, Parvati. The exercises are designed to work the left side of her body, which is the more affected.

2. Shuli is 12 years old and suffers from cerebral palsy caused by a meningitis infection when she was very young. In the photo, she is doing physiotherapy with her educator, Parvati. The exercises are designed to work the left side of her body, which is the more affected.

Thanks to the work of two small NGOs (SGCP in Kathmandu and the Spanish Sathi Sansar, based in Pokhara), a small minority of these children receive attention in day centers like the Sathi Sansar Nepal school or in their own homes, where these photographs were taken.They receive physiotherapy, speech training and special education designed to improve their mobility, speech, independence, security and so on.The result – an improvement in the condition of the child and an alleviation of the burden borne by the family.The children’s families receive coaching too, so that they can continue the work of the educators and better understand the needs of their children. Ghana is a 3-year-old girl with physical and mental disabilities. She lives with her mother, shown here holding her in her arms. Her father is in Dubai, where he works in construction. Ghana is visited by an educator once a month, who travels two hours on foot to get there. In the photo, Ghana is learning to drink from a glass, which she’s unable to hold unassisted.

3. Thanks to the work of two small NGOs (SGCP in Kathmandu and the Spanish Sathi Sansar, based in Pokhara), a small minority of these children receive attention in day centers like the Sathi Sansar Nepal school or in their own homes, where these photographs were taken. They receive physiotherapy, speech training and special education designed to improve their mobility, speech, independence, security and so on. The result – an improvement in the condition of the child and an alleviation of the burden borne by the family. The children’s families receive coaching, too, so that they can continue the work of the educators and better understand the needs of their children. Ghana is a 3-year-old girl with physical and mental disabilities. She lives with her mother, shown here holding her in her arms. Her father is in Dubai, where he works in construction. Ghana is visited by an educator once a month, who travels two hours on foot to get there. In the photo, Ghana is learning to drink from a glass, which she’s unable to hold unassisted.

Finalist 2009

BetSabe Ribas

Forgotten childhood

Presentation

These photographs were taken in the Annapurna region of Nepal. Nepal is the world’s 13th-poorest country and
its population has high disability rates: three in every hundred children are born with a physical and/or mental disability which in most cases will stay with them for life. The poverty which afflicts Nepal, and the worrying lack of
services – prenatal, obstetrics, doctors, and healthcare – aggravate what is a serious public health problem.