Stichting Veldwerk at Nepal

Secretariaat: Stichting Veldwerk Postbus 163 1850 AD Heiloo The Netherlands

Tel:+31 (0)72-5339585 veldwerk@gmail.com IBAN nr. NL51ABNA0543703266 Attn. Stichting Veldwerk, p/a Egmond binnen Bank: ABN-Amro 543703266

Daily School journey….

Just like the youth elsewhere are the Nepalese children attending school. The children of the children's house Hamro Niwas are going to a school that lies about fifteen minutes from their house, in the centre of Katmandu.
However, the children's house was mending to be used by us for just one year, but it has had its best times and is after 3 and a half years worn out. So when the contract with our partner ended on january 2007, we decided not to extend this, but instead focus on the new children's house that we have been building in Sankhu.


Sankhu is a beautiful place to have the children's house. Positioned in an outskirt of the Kathmandu valley and close to Nagarkot, where you can experience the most amazing sunsets and Himalaya views, its nature is plenty and not yet compromised by the urban industry. The only disadvantage seems to be that it lies 20 kilometers away from the old school of the children, and that the Nepalese school system nearly makes it impossible for them to shift to a new school half way the year.

Therefore, we rented a Van and manage to get all 26 children in everyday, there bags on the roof, driving them to their old school. It is not the most desirable situation but we only have to hang on until the 2nd of April. This is the end of the Nepalese schoolyear, after that, the kids only have to walk for 15 minutes to their new school. Although all this up and down driving is taking up time that can be used for making homework or playing outside, the children start to mind the drive less and less. Mark my words, they might even start to miss it after april.

The extensive powercuts are often also going on when it is time for homework, but that's part of life, and instead of complaining about it or using it as an excuse to not do it, the children manage to complete their homework ater all with candles or little lamps.

That is something that really strikes you when you are working in Nepal, the people might be poor and living under harsh condition, but nobody uses it as an excuse to sit down and whine about it. They accept life as it comes, taking on the daily challenges with patience and often with a good sense of humor. A thing that we all in the western world could learn a lot from, if I may say so!

From Kathmandu, Nepal,
René Veldt.