After two concerts in Butwal and Nepalgunj on November 12 and 14, they wounded up the event with a fundraising concert in Kathmandu.[break]
Surarshan Shrestha, one of the organizers from Save the Children opined, “Every child that’s born has the right to survive and develop.
We know that 13,000 civilians have lost their lives in 10 years of conflict, but do we realize that every year 12,000 newborns under 30 days are dying? We’re here to generate awareness that certain things are not acceptable,” he adds.
With the aim of meeting the Millennium Development Goal 4, which aims to reduce infant mortality rates, the project has four pillars that consists of financing for heath care facilities, lobbying governments and donors to surmount infant deaths, making policy changes, amendments and lastly raising consciousness amongst people.
The concert was a part of the fourth pillar.
The event kicked off at the mythological premises of the Patan Museum at 6:05 pm on Friday to celebrate life, love, and humanity, to prevent injustice and to take a stand against infant mortality.
Dr. Ashish KC took over and talked about how millions of children all over the world are dying before celebrating their first birthday due to preventable causes like birth complications, low birth weight, pneumonia, diarrhea and malnutrition.
Everybody needs to be aware of these fatalities and take proper steps to bring an end to it. The program aimed at portraying the need to take action to save lives along with spell binding music.
Once Kutumba took over, the stage looked flamboyant with lights and beautiful folk instruments. While they played their piece, pictures of little ones playing with their friends, mothers embracing and feeding their children were shown, on screen.
“The project’s concept intrigued us and we accepted the proposal offered by Save the Children Nepal, at once.” stated Arun Gurung, who manages the band.
Raju Maharjan who plays tabla for the band said that he was grateful to be a part of the ‘EVERYONE’ campaign. ‘Around 9,000 people from Butwal and Nepalgunj attended our concert, I think we have effectively passed on the message and the listeners have grasped it very well,’ he said.
A documentary was shown where children from all walks of life came together and one which left a poignant effect on the viewers. The collected amount will go towards supporting a birthing centre in Murma VDC of Mugu.
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