April 6, 2011 / Photography News / Founded by Mother Theresa’s Missionaries of Charity, Briddhashram Home for the Elderly sits on the outskirts of Kathmandu. Presently It houses approximately 240 elderly and infirm residents. These residents suffer from many illnesses and afflictions associated with old age. Amongst them reduced mobility, blindness and severe mental deterioration.There are presently only 9 care givers at the facility. And it relies heavily on Charitable donations.Years of major political turmoil in Nepal has led to the virtual collapse of any reliable health care system, paired with Nepali's deep rooted traditions and religious beliefs especially in rural areas, meaning that there is a poor-to-non existent understanding of mental illnesses associated with old age such as Dementia and Alzheimers. Thus, unable to firstly understand and secondly to treat and deal with the complexities of their older relative's illnesses, families often abandon these elders, who are then left to fend for themselves on the streets.If they are fortunate they may find refuge at Briddashram Home for the Elderly. A place which by the standards of the developed world is unhygienic, heavily understaffed and painfully short in medical supplies for treatment and alleviation of even the most basic of ailments. But for Nepal, being of the worlds poorest countries overcoming the legacy of a 10-year Maoist insurrection, this is the best possible treatment for individuals who, through Nepal's poor health education and ingrained religious and cultural beliefs on physical and mental deterioration, would live a squalid and painful life on the streets.