Opening ceremony held for 2024 Nepal WT-ADF Cares Program

By Seok-jae Kang

KATHMANDU: An opening ceremony of the 2024 Nepal WT-ADF Cares Program took place successfully on November 7, 2024, in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Held at Prithvi Secondary School, the 16^th human school built by the Um Hong-Gil Human Foundation at the Tarakeshwar Municipality in Kathmandu, the event drew World Taekwondo (WT) President Chungwon Choue, Um Hong-gil, executive director of the Um Hong-Gil Human Foundation; Tarakeshwar Municipality Mayor Krishna Hari Maharjan; Prithvi School Principal Narayan Sharma, and around 500 students and local dignitaries.

Among other distinguished attendees were Prakash Rana, president of the Nepal Taekwondo Association; and Namdev Shirgaonker, president of India Taekwondo.

The ceremony featured a taekwondo demonstration by the Nepal Taekwondo Demonstration Team, along with a performance of traditional Nepali folk dance.

Supported financially by the Asia Development Foundation (ADF), the 2024 Nepal WT-ADF Cares Program will provide Taekwondo training for students at Prithvi Um Hong-Gil Human School. An instructor from the Nepal Taekwondo Association will lead the sessions, promoting physical fitness and discipline among the youth through this martial art.

WT and the Um Hong Gil Human Foundation launched The WT-ADF Cares Program at the 4^th Birenthanti Human School in 2022.

Since signing a memorandum of understanding with the ADF in 2019, WT has implemented the Cares Program to support disadvantaged youth, including orphans, in eight countries: Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Cambodia, Mongolia, Timor-Leste, Kyrgyzstan, and Pakistan.