Orlando Bloom visits Nepal for UNICEF Program

 

Actor Orlando Bloom recently went on a UNICEF-supported four-day journey to various sites in the western districts of Nepal.   Bloom visited the mountainous nation to help draw attention to the UN’s efforts to fight poverty and infant mortality there.  While most outsiders might feel strange in a remote and impoverished area of Nepal, particularly a movie star, Orlando Bloom seemed perfectly at ease.

Some of the fun highlights of Orlando’s trip included:

Women in Kalika village welcomed Mr. Bloom by smearing his forehead with red ‘tika’ and putting garlands of flowers around his neck.

Orlando visited a school in the Himalayas, where he got involved in a friendly battle of balloons and bubbles.

In Pokhara village, Mr. Bloom mingled with over three dozen blind girls and boys. He also played a small role in a mini-drama the children were recording that day for the UNICEF-supported radio program ‘Saathi Sanga Manka Kura’ (Chatting with My Best Friend).

Orlando also got a chance to see some of the more serious sides of village life and the struggle to make life better:

“Six years ago only 84 per cent of school-going age children were enrolled in schools,” he said. “Now every boy and girl goes to school. Previously only 25 per cent of the households were taking iodized salt [to prevent iodine deficiency disorders]. The figure now has increased to 38 per cent. Similarly women’s workload has decreased from 17 hours per day to 14 hours a day.”

The members of a children’s club at a local school in the hills of Pumdi Bhumdi had a different success story to narrate to Mr. Bloom. As the children explained, they have been instrumental in promoting safe hygiene and sanitation practices in their village.

Later, sitting cross-legged in the yard with children surrounding him, Mr. Bloom learned more about their studies, their ambitions and their world. “I may be disabled, and might need assistance from others for everything I do,” 10th-grader Sujan Dhakal told him. “Yet the world I see for myself is one where I can be of assistance to others and work for the betterment of my society and my country.”

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