Stichting Veldwerk at Nepal

Secretariaat: Stichting Veldwerk Postbus 163 1850 AD Heiloo The Netherlands

Tel:+31 (0)72-5339585 veldwerk@wlink.com.np Gironumber: 8289522 Attn. Stichting Veldwerk, p/a Egmond binnen Bank: ABN-Amro 543703266

BBBrrr……….Winter………!!

The winter is coming in Nepal so also in Kathmandu. Up in the mountains its freezing and many mountaineers and Sherpa’s are coming home with frostbite, or not at all.
Kathmandu luckily isn’t that cold, but still. From mid November till mid February it’s almost foggy daily in Kathmandu, which brings a watery cold with it. This fog starts late afternoon around 4- 5 o’clock, and it stays until the next morning 9- 10 o’clock. In the day time in the sun it’s nice but in the shade it’s cold.
Our children’s home Hamro Niwas is tucked away behind a high building which means that we don’t get any sunshine anymore. Imagine, 3 months without any sun in the house and a temperature when it’s foggy a round freezing point, very cold. In Nepal there are no central heating systems only the 5-star hotels and some restaurants have this luxury. In the early morning on the streets you can see little fire’s made from paper and plastic collected by some of the poor people living on the streets, it’s the only way to keep warm. They all sit around it in little groups soaking up the warmth.
It was our intention to have a warmer house before the winter came, one in the sun so we could have some warmth for the early evening. Because everybody was busy, we didn’t have the time to look for a new house last summer, so we are still in the cold. I went looking myself and I think I found the right house, but the house is far above our budget. They will not drop the price, but maybe around Christmas we can get some more money from some sponsor’s so that we can afford to buy the house in question.
I know how cold the house we are now staying in gets I was living there myself, I saw what a problem it was to keep the children warm. Due to my time spent in the house I asked a lot of travellers that where coming to Nepal to look in their wardrobe’s, or ask their family or neighbour’s to make a donation of children’s clothes (warm jumpers, coats, trousers but also shoes). Also at the yearly Nepal day in Amstelveen, I asked a lot of people to bring some extra luggage for us. 
To make a long story short, this was for us and the children a big success. A lot of visitors and travel groups came to the house to donate warm clothes. With some volunteers and the staff we sorted the clothes by size and gave them to the individual children. It almost looked like Santa Claus.
The children where so happy with their new cloths, that they were spontaneously dressing up, and acting like it was a fashion show. This gave me the idea to organise a real fashion show. This happened the next day, look at fashion show on the website. All the clothes that we didn’t use we gave to other children’s homes in Kathmandu. I would like to thank all the people that helped us with the clothes and the transportation to Nepal.
Leny Rusticus and Wil Pleizier (at the right) are tour leaders with a group in Nepal. Two of the group members, Theo (left) and Lies (with the baby), came with them to deliver the clothes. 
Our volunteers, Susan Verstegen and Eefje van der Linden are sorting the clothes together with our staff members; Phool Maya Gurung and Deboki Thapa.
The first children are receiving their new clothes; it was almost like Santa Claus for them. Right at the back you can see Willeke van Rijn from Holland, she also worked as a volunteer in Kathmandu.

The children put on their new clothes with so much enthusiasm; the idea to have a fashion show was born, (see for this result the fashion show below on the site).  
The rest of the clothes we brought to Hamro Ghar, the first children’s home from CCSD. Anita, one of the teachers, is looking for the right size for one of the children. All the clothes are at the right places just before winter sets in.