A report from Women in Astronomy Nepal (WIAN):

It was a cold morning in Kathmandu when six members of newly formed Women in Astronomy Nepal-WIAN woke up with a beautiful thought i.e. “Universe is for everyone”. Sabnam Shrestha, Denisha Sapkota, Shisham Adhikari, Shikha Pandey, Shilpa Bhandari and most importantly backbone of WIAN Manisha Dwa were all set to make differently able kids of Kanthi Bal Hospital dream and think about the universe that day. 

As planned earlier, all six members reached the hospital at 8 AM. After receiving guidelines from humble sisters of the hospital, they headed towards oncology ward. Kids started surrounding them as they were carrying eye-catching “Earth Balls”. Kids there were actually cancer patients, but the enthusiasm and the energy they had never allowed members of WIAN to take those kids as patients. With around five Earth balls, crayons, pictures of heavenly objects and lots of love for those little fighters, each member of WIAN entered different section of the ward. All kids of oncology ward were delighted and excited by the presence of WIAN’s member. After the entrance of members of WIAN in their individual ward, kids started to ask for Earth balls. 

Their joyful eyes searched for Nepal in the Earth ball. Parents of those lovely kids were also glad to see their kids learning about their place and worth in the universe. Few kids, who once used to be school students and knew about basics of astronomy, were intrigued by pictures of moon landing, rocket launch, planets, and astronauts. As few children never got chance of going to school because of their condition, they even didn’t know basics of science. However, members of WIAN helped them to make precious pictures which are as lively as those kids. In a nutshell, first event of WIAN was indeed a blast. As a wise man had once said, sometimes, real superheroes truly live in the hearts of small children fighting big battles.

We express sincere gratitude to Kanthi Bal Hospital and volunteers for making this event successful. We hope all those amazing kids will be fine soon and will one day start exploring their own cosmos perfectly.