July 18: Embassy of Israel distributed wheelchairs to children with disabilities in Kathmandu on Tuesday, July 17, to mark its independence day.
This year, Israel is celebrating its 70 years of independence and 60 years of the establishment of MASHAV (Israel's agency for International Development Cooperation under its foreign ministry), which has been assisting Nepal since the establishment of the diplomatic relations in 1960, through development cooperation, particularly in the capacity building of the human resources and humanitarian activities.

“To celebrate this special occasion, the Embassy of Israel in Kathmandu has decided to use the budget allocated for its Independence Day celebration for a special cause, to give the way forward in the lives of children with disabilities by making their mobility accessible and increase independence. The Lions Club of Kathmandu Capital District 325-A2 and Karuna Foundation Nepal have collaborated with the Embassy for this noble cause,” the embassy said in a statement. 

According to the embassy, 40 'Wheelchairs of Hope' specially designed for children were distributed to children with disabilities by the chief guest Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, minister for Foreign Affairs, at a special function organized in Kathmandu. 

Addressing the function Minister Gyawali thanked the Government of Israel for providing the wheelchair to Nepalese children with disability. “The wheelchair will greatly enhance the mobility of the children with disability in Nepal. Since the establishment of relations between the two countries, Israel has been providing very meaningful support to Nepal. The newly developed wheelchair is another milestone,” the statement uoted Minister Gyawali as saying.

Speaking during the program, Ambassador of Israel to Nepal, Benny Omer, expressed his satisfaction for the embassy’s contribution to this humanitarian cause and hoped that these children would benefit from the specially designed, light and comfortable wheelchairs for the freedom of their movement and expressed his commitment for more of such activities in the future.

Meanwhile, Prof Dr Bhagawan Koirala, vice chairperson of Karuna Foundation Nepal, highlighted on the activities of Karuna Foundation Nepal in the areas of prevention of childhood disabilities and improvement of quality of lives of the children/adults with disabilities and their families. He further mentioned that environmental and attitudinal barriers are the major challenges for the people with disabilities in Nepal and further stressed that the time has come to break all barriers and myths to include this population into the mainstream.

The Embassy expressed its belief that such humanitarian activities would further strengthen the bilateral relations between Nepal and Israel, not only at the government level but also at grassroots level and between people to people, which is a very important component in the development of friendship.