MANAGING PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL LIFE DURING THE PANDEMIC: 

A STORY FROM ONE HEART NEPAL’S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

While you have likely heard what One Heart has achieved this year in terms of program activities and results, I wanted to share with you a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what it has been like managing personal and professional challenges in Nepal, and to share how our team overcame tremendous hurdles during this time of crisis. 

During the beginning phases of the pandemic, our field team frequently reported on what was happening out in the field. We soon learned that the women we serve were skipping health facility checks-ups and that healthcare providers feared that they would be infected by patients coming into the facilities. Moreover, all quarantine and isolation centers lacked the necessary supplies, equipment, and technical resources for COVID management and prevention. We worried that if we did not act fast, we could lose everything that we’d achieved in the last 10 years. 

In response to the situation, we realigned our priorities to mobilize the distribution of PPE, supplies, and services to our program districts in collaboration with our government partners. Because there was no infrastructure in place for virtual meetings in the early days of the pandemic, we ran several in-person meetings - masked and physically distanced - with the Ministry of Health and Population, the Department of Health Services, Nepal’s Social Welfare Council, the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens, and the Association of International Nongovernmental Organizations (AIN) in Nepal, which laid the groundwork for an effective roll-out for COVID response and for the ultimate programmatic success that One Heart had down the line. 

Despite concerted efforts in our workplace to prevent COVID transmission and comply with government protocol, 10 out of the 65 in-country staff tested positive for COVID this year including me and my family. My wife, two sons, and I isolated for twenty days and experienced symptoms like headache, fever, body aches, and loss of taste and smell. This was the shared experience of many of my fellow staff members, all of whom fortunately recovered from the virus after quarantining for three weeks and experiencing varying degrees of COVID symptoms. We received immense love and care from our family and colleagues back in the office, and we all got better slowly, though COVID cases continued to skyrocket in the country. 

Despite the hardships faced this year, I have never been prouder to be Executive Director of this organization. Had it not been for the determination of our team, the strength of family, the support of our global community, and a shared concern for women and their children, I am not sure that we could have pulled through this pandemic as strongly as we did. Thank you for sharing in this wild journey with us, and I look forward to greeting whatever challenges lie in the years ahead! 

Sincerely, 

Surya Bhatta, Dad and Public Health professional