Stichting Veldwerk

Secretariat: Stichting Veldwerk Postbus 163 1850 AD Heiloo The Netherlands

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

Newsflash June 2003

Hi everybody,
Here in Nepal, there's happened a lot in the past period, including the celebration of the 50th anniversary of climbing the Mnt. Everest, which made it a real busy in town.


My selves, I didn't see many of these all, I was to much busy with our children's home, Hamro Niwas. We moved on first of May, out of the suffocating streets of Thamel and in to a bigger house in a more peaceful area.
Our biggest gain is the big playground that comes with the house; it's wider and lighter, which gives us the opportunity to continue with taking in more needy children. Our goal is to provide a shelter for 45 children in three years, which means each year 15 children. We already had 16 children and already 8 more have come. At this moment there are 6 children left on the waiting list, they will arrive in the house later in the week.
Space isn't a problem, but there is a shortage of beds, already too many children are sleeping on the floor, so we have to solve that before the new children arrive. We basically moved in a big hurry. Our children were finished with their first year on a school in Thamel and here in Nepal, we don't have a big vacation between the school seasons. So, the admission for the new school year had to be done quickly. But after having them already listened up (and paid for it) in their previous school it's very hard to transfer the children to another school. That was one of the reasons that I was looking for a new house to buy, so the children could go to their new school right away. But that was just not possible with the high prices and the bad quality.


So, at the very last moment we decided to give up the house hunting and started to look for a good house to rent, a bit more away from the rough streets of Thamel. But in the mean time the new school season for the children had already started.
I informed my real-estate agent about my plans and he found a suitable house for me within a week.
After making a deposit and picking up the key we immediately listed our children at the nearest school. After a week of scrubbing floors and walls in the old house we started the actual moving, which was a good timing because the rental contract of the old house just expired.


The moving itself went in a typical Nepali way. I had an appointment with the moving truck on Thursday. On Wednesday I would give all the different parts the beds numbers, adding something like under, top, side, etc. Then it would be easy to put them together again, good plan but it was meant to go differently…..
When I arrived on Wednesday morning I saw that the staff had already torn everything a part and put it on a big pile outside. "Didi, I thought that were going to move tomorrow" I screamed out with confusion written all over my face. "Yes" said Didi, "but I thought it would be a good idea to start on time, don't worry, these beds are all one size."
"But I arranged the moving truck for tomorrow Didi, I told you. So there's not going to be any car today and the one size story doesn't sound real to me either!"

The Didi approach of moving costed me a lot of extra hours (and drops of sweat). While I was hammering the beds back together (they don't have one-seized beds in Nepal) the Didi kept on apologising behind me, "sorry sir, sorry sir..".


In the end of the afternoon on Thursday we moved, and that evening the children slept for the first time in their new house. On Friday we had a small party with a barbeque and cola, I showed up before the children with a pillow under my shirt and told them that I was in expecting of a couple of children. Saturday already I returned to the house on my motorbike with two little sisters, sitting on the back. At first they hesitated a bit to get in but the other children took them in like family and made them feel like they came home.


New children
Like I said before, in the mean time, 8 new children arrived in the house, but one of them has troubles getting used to live with us. Samichha is two and a half years old and lost both of her parents. Because of that she has been already in several host families and apparently decided that this last move was one too many. The moment she came in she started screaming for her mother. Big tears, long stroke and a lot of pushing, especially whenever I came too close. She refuses to change the clothes that she had on her when she arrived. No new clothes, no shower, no food and for sure no René. For some reason I'm the boogieman, if looks could kill I would rest in peace for many times already.
Now, three weeks later she starts to lighten up a bit, there's less crying and now and then she agrees on getting into other clothes. Even I can pass these days without her starting to cry and run away. Thumbs up for all our children who are always trying to comfort her and the Didi's who handle the situation so well!


Remedial teaching
We also hired a teacher who's giving tuition to the two weakest children. They couldn't deal with the level that they're following on school, so they stopped learning anything there. Now they're getting a lot of individual attention and they start learning material from the base including a lot of playtime because their concentration level is very low. Finally they learn a bit how to read, write and calculate.
The teacher itself was in a very difficult position. She was banned by her family because of her love marriage. After her husband died she had two little children, no income and no family. So the fact that she was there to take on the job was a gift both parties.


Our one year anniversary
Exact one year had past on the 15th of May 2003 since the doors of Hamro Niwas opened for the first time. So again there was a good reason to have a party, especially since we decided that it would be the same date to celebrate the common birthday of the children. This because we have a lot of children of which we don't know the date of birth, and it is a bit too much to have 45 birthdays in 52 weeks.


We received a financial gift from Hotel The Mountainhouse in Pokhara of which we bought a small and a bit bigger bicycle. Because many children came from the mountains they don't know how to cycle so they can start learning now.
The thing the children wanted most was a play board of carambole. It has the basics of a pool but you shoot the chips with your fingers. The goal of the game is to shoot the chips into one of the holes in the board; it is like a national game here. So carambole it would be! One big and one a bit smaller board we bought after a gift from Brigitte and Sietse, who are working here for SNV Holland, thank you very much, the children love it!


The Radisson Hotel, which is located near to the house provided us with a delicious birthday cake that said 'Greetings and Happy Birthday from the Radisson Family' so that even increased the surprise of the children when they came back from school. To complete the picture Shoba Madam brought for every child a bright coloured balloon with his or her name on it, filled with helium. Of course, several of the balloons went on an unexpected journey into the blue sky, luckily I had a few normal balloons left to dry most of the tears.


A little change of direction
Our strategy has changed a bit. Beside the fact that we're renting a house at the moment we're still looking for a piece of land outside the ring road on which we can build our own house. The advantages of building your own house is that you can make it earthquake proof, which is not a luxury for the future. Further we can make it accessible for disabled children, by leaving out doorsteps and a bigger kitchen and bathroom.
We can also build more small rooms on one floor so that the children have more privacy, and build a computer room, a library and a big piece of playground around the house. Last but not least, we want to build a departure section in it. In this part of the house the older children are going to learn to live independent before they leave the house. They have to shop and cook and clean for themselves so their step to the world outside will be smaller.
All these things make the project more expensive than it was in the previous plans but it is a long-term investment, so it will be worth every penny. So far we manage to realize our projects so why wouldn't we accomplish the mission this time?


Pokhara.
Jyoti VTC, the trainings project for street children is also running for a year now and the 28 students who started a year ago are going into their second learning year. 38 new students are going to start in the first year and the centre builded a couple of new rooms. This was necessary to provide the new students with accommodation. Anneleen van der Heide visited us in the beginning of April to drop of the last of the tools, collected with the action 'tools for self-reliance' from Holland. We delivered the tools in Pokhara and immediately put down a request for new tools because in one year the students will go out on practices and need to have their own tool collection by then.
The request is on the way and is already approved by 'tools for self-reliance Amsterdam.' So to all of you, who are travelling from Europe to Nepal, if there is any space left in your bag pack and you're willing to fill it with a few kilos of project help, let us know!
(Read more about this under the title Pokhara on this site).


The I-ngo
I'm still very busy starting an I-ngo, an International Non-Governmental Organization. If that works out we are able to perform some of the financial transfers by our self and the organization Veldwerk can become the legal owner of the new house. Another advantage of this type of organization is that the government will provide us with at least one permanent visa, trying to get these types of visa is normally very hard in Nepal. There's also the right to import certain things into Nepal without having to pay tax for it. Tools for project in Pokhara for example, or computers. But the people behind the desks still have a lot more power than in Europe. So, to having a good plan is one thing, getting it done is another. 'Sorry sir, you have to go to desk number two.' 'I'm sorry sir; this can only be arranged at desk number one.' 'I noticed that you've been waiting in our office for the whole day but the person you need to speak to just went out for lunch, so you have to come back tomorrow.' And if you arrive the next day the person you need has taken the day off. Just remember the sweet faces of the children, that's what you're doing it for, killing this guy will only delay everything more than it already is. It is a bit of a relief that even Nepali desk workers have noticed this kind of situations and complaining about it (see the article).


Visitors
Hamro Niwas was happy to be visited by quite some people who showed interest in our projects. Ben Voogt, accompanied by family and friends, came by; he is a volunteer in the project 'tools for self-reliance in Holland. Together we paid a visit at the project in Pokhara and we looked around in the training centre Jyoti where our beautiful tools are being used frequently. A travel group from Holland also visited the children's house, this time it was Shoestring journeys from Amsterdam. It was nice meeting the members of the group, who were quite impressed by the work that's been done here. (see 'sponsors' on this site)


Volunteers
In the past period we had the pleasure of being accompanied by several new volunteers. They perform or performed different kinds of work here, of which some in our own children home. They teach the children who are unable to go to school and help the other children with their homework when they return from school.

Rene Streefkerk worked, and Jimi Oostrum is still working on a school for Tibetan refugees, see what they had to say about it under 'volunteer newsletters'.

Jolanda van Gent was working in the disabled home of Mother Theresa, in the afternoon she gave tuition to the children in Hamro Niwas.

Lucie Fenton from Scotland was working in Hamro Niwas during daytime, giving tuition to our weak children. After she left, two months ago, Hillary from Ireland and Aled from Wales came to take over her job.


Bettina from Denmark (our Danish Dynamite Didi) works also as a teacher in our home, she arrives everyday at three o' clock to teach our two Didi's, and after that the children. Early in the morning she cycles from her room in Thamel to the children's house from Mother Theresa to wash, dress and feed the children, after all that there is a some time to play a little with them and then it's off to Hamro Niwas again.

Niek Groenwoud from Amsterdam and Tom Dollar from London made it their mission to translate our website in English; the result is definitely worth a look, great job guys!

Sion from Wales and Johanna from Frankfurt are working in Hamro Ghar and the attached Contact centre. They both teach children who've been pulled out of the carpet factories or coming from very poor families.


So we can say that a lot of work has been and still is done everyday by a very international group of people. But, although the countries may not be the same, the spirit and the kind of work is definitely, thank you all very much for your great effort, combined with the flexibility to develop a good answer to the Asian way of life here! (see 'volunteer newsletters').

To end with…..
Well, I think that's about it, I could go on for quite some time but that will be a little too much I'm afraid. Right than, just one more thing.
Our little one Prabina (everybody calls her Boenoe) is growing really fast. She starts to speak her first sentences. Boenoe loves it to sit on the front of my motorbike; if I even touch my helmet she starts making a 'Broemmm Broemmm' sound and points at my bike. I always take her out for a few rounds on the bike in our garden before I leave and we both are happy like a little child (which is not weird in her case). The smile she gives me on these moments is really to die for.


Besides that were the last few months filled with a lot of strikes. Which also means no school. We picked one of the days to take the children out for a picnic in the park. They really enjoyed the day of picnicking and playing football outside the house.




O.k., enough is enough, time for some action!
We must start building the new house and with that, a new, secured future for our children. So far the children happy with their house, their school, the love and the attention they receive from us and all our volunteers. We like to thank all of our sponsors and fundraisers, and, of course all the volunteers in the past period.
Again, we're hoping that you will support us in the coming future the way you all did it in the past so that our own house will be reality.
And on the 12th of September we will be present again on the annual Nepal day in Amsterdam/Amstelveen, so if you're in the area, don't hesitate but pay us a visit!

For now, all the best, also from the board from Holland,

René Veldt, Stichting Veldwerk,
'Don't say's, just Do'
Kathmandu.
veldwerk@wlink.com.np

Phone+31 (0)72-5339585
IBAN nr. NL51ABNA0543703266
Bank: ABN-Amro 543703266
Attn. Stichting Veldwerk, c/o Egmond-Binnen The Netherlands

But first time for a break, siesta time, we need a nap!