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Nirmala, 8, has sparkling eyes. After losing her right leg following the earthquake which struck Nepal in April 2015, she underwent a long period of rehabilitation with the support of Humanity & Inclusion physiotherapists. Today, she is walking again on her prosthetic leg and obsessed with just one thing: becoming an actress.

What is psychological first aid? How do you approach someone in distress? How do you help them? Habib (nickname), a member of HI’s psychosocial support team, shares his experience.

On 25 April 2015, Nepal was rocked by an earthquake, affecting 8 million Nepalese people. Khendo, 8 years old, lost her leg in the disaster. After more than six months of rehabilition sessions with Handicap International, she received a prosthesis and can now walk again. Khendo will soon return to school.

Handicap International began working in the Tibet Autonomous Region - where its many projects were designed to promote the social inclusion of people with disabilities - in 2000. In mid-2015, the organisation withdrew from the region and entrusted the follow-up of its projects to its former local partner, the Tibet Disabled Persons' Federation.

Handicap International’s demining operations have been running since 2011 in the province of North Lebanon, and more recently have been deployed in the province of Mount Lebanon. The civil war, which tore the country apart between 1975 and 1990, left swathes of land rendered unusable by landmines. This land has now been cleared and handed back to the local inhabitants.

Mozambique was officially declared to be free of mines on 17 September 2015. Handicap International has been a leading actor in demining in the country since it launched its first operations in 1998. Over the course of its 17 years of work in Mozambique, the organisation has demined over 16 million square metres, neutralised 6,000 antipersonnel mines and 5,000 unexploded remnants of war. Grégory Le Blanc, Handicap International’s Head of Mission in the country, explains the benefits of this demining work for the population who, until very recently, have lived with the constant threat of mines. 

Bayan is twelve-years-old. Born with spina bifida, a condition where the spine does not develop properly, she has reduced mobility. Every week, she visits a rehabilitation centre equipped for physiotherapy sessions by Handicap International, with support from ECHO . She’s also likely to be given orthoses to help her walk again.

Over the weekend, Cyclone Mocha was expected to hit the world's largest refugee camp, bringing with it destructive winds, storm surge, and the potential for landslides. With 550 staff and volunteers at Cox's Bazar—home to nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees—in Bangladesh, Humanity & Inclusion teams launched emergency plans.

Making schools accessible to everyone, including children with disabilities, raises both challenges and hopes. It’s a goal that Handicap International is doing everything possible to achieve and, for Estelle Kougougou, who manages these projects in Burkina Faso and Niger, it’s a challenge we can meet.

As part of a consortium of seven humanitarian agencies, since September 2014, Handicap International has been a member of the Age and Disability Capacity Building Programme (ADCAP).  This initiative aims at developing the skills of humanitarian organisations to ensure emergency response is more inclusive of people with disabilities and/or older people. Ricardo Pla Cordero, a humanitarian action inclusion technical adviser at Handicap International, explains why this initiative is important.

A survey by Handicap International has revealed that 75% of people with disabilities believe they are excluded from humanitarian aid. The report on people with disabilities and humanitarian response, entitled Disability in Humanitarian Contexts is published on 14th October. As the report is launched, 900 representatives of the humanitarian sector are meeting in Geneva to prepare for the World Humanitarian Summit.

More than 8,700 people were killed and 22,400 people injured in the earthquake that hit Nepal on 25 April 2015. Nearly six months on, thousands still need help and Handicap International’s teams continue to provide them with support.

It’s 6 a.m., the team stirs. No need for shrill alarms here, the many roosters strolling around freely outside are enough to make sure everyone is awake. Few words are exchanged. There’s no need for these men and women who have been living together for more than twenty days a month. Everyone knows what they have to do and they busy themselves effectively: putting away the mosquito nets and the mattresses, checking the cars, loading drinkable water, changing from flip-flops to boots…

As the Russian air force launch their operations in Syria, Handicap International has issued a reminder that the use of cluster munitions is prohibited by an international convention (also known as the Oslo Treaty) signed or ratified by 118 States. The organisation remains vigilant as to any use of these weapons.

The decision last April by the sitting president to run for a third term created a climate of instability and violence in Burundi. Tensions remain high. Handicap International has made changes to its operations in order to provide support to people affected by the crisis. Catherine Gillet, the director of Handicap International in Burundi, tells us more.