Miss Nepal Shrinkhala calls for action to help migrant workers stranded at Nepal-India border

Kathmandu, May 28

Miss Nepal World 2018 Shrinkhala Khatiwada is indeed a beauty with a purpose. She has lent her voice to the issues of migrants stranded on the Nepal-India border, showing her support for CNN Hero of the Year of 2015 Maggie Doyne and how we can help them.

In a short video posted on her Instagram on May 25, Khatiwada has called for support and action to help Nepali migrant workers entering Nepal from Indian borders. “There are many issues on social media and news and it can be very distressing. But this issue is very important and is of priority. That is why I am making this video so that we can get as much public attention and social support as possible,” she shares in the video.

Referring to Doyne, who is doing humanitarian work in Nepal, and her video where she has explained the situation of migrant workers at the border and call all for support, Khatiwada points out the major concern that needs immediate action right now “is the management of water and food for people who are entering Nepal”.

She highlights the rising temperature and long arduous journey they have made to reach Nepal but “there has not been management of food".

Khatiwada believes we can solve this and has called for action. “Let’s call our connections… Let’s just get connected,” she expresses in the video. “…if someone can manufacture packaged food, we need to get it there. If someone can provide water bottles, we need to get it there. If someone can provide fund, we need to get it to people like Maggie…”

Advocating for help and support through proper channel, measures and execution of plan, she advises for packaged food and water bottles at border areas where “they (migrants) can come and pick up”.

“We can do it. We can definitely do it,” Khatiwada says, pointing out that migrant workers and students from different parts of the world want to come back home for which “we need to get together”.

Doyne has called for “big aid, government support, and awareness about this issue” sharing a video where she has tried to “explain ... what is happening here in Karnali, and at the Nepali-Indian border”.

According to her, thousands of Nepali migrant workers working in India have lost their jobs, stranded in India and want to come back to Nepal so that they can survive and have food to eat and get back to their villages and families. However, she shares there is no food and water for their arduous and hot journey, while there is not enough rapid tests available for every migrant worker returning home.

“Some have money but can’t buy food legally,” she adds, “They have not eaten in multiple days, (are) sleeping in jungles…” And when they reach Nepal, “they are not offered food and water or any kind of comfort or place to sleep. They are angry, very angry. They feel not welcomed and feel neglected.”

Doyne has also shared her experience on the Karnali border and how people were starving and were not getting access to buy food. “… And it is not that hard to give people some cooked rice and daal on disposable plate…” she points out.

With many Nepali migrants set to enter Nepal in the coming days, she shares that “we need to treat these people justly, humanly, properly.” For this she says, “I need your help,” in the video.

Click here to watch the video.