Stichting Veldwerk at Nepal

Secretariat: 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

Newsflash from Nepal;
"We have moved"

Our former SVN home for children, Hamro Niwas, in the city of Kathmandu has been closed. All children living with us are transferred to the village of Sankhu, to a large and clean house. We have rented this house for a while and it is situated at the edge of our new construction site. This way the children can experience the progress of our beautiful and ecological new project from up close and play in the jungle right behind the house.
Although the timing of our transfer was inconvenient for the school season, there was no other way and it simply had to be done. Since changing schools can be quite a hassle in Nepal, the children are temporarily transported to their old school by minibus everyday, which works out just fine. But from the beginning of the new school season, half of April, they started in a school in Sankhu, which is more convenient as you can understand.



The other good news;
By now it is already the 5^th anniversary of our home for orphanage children! We started half a decade ago in the centre of Kathmandu, in the tourist area Thamel. Next, we moved to the back side of the Royal palace and so today our children live in the beautiful village Sankhu. The 15^th of May we celebrated our joyful 5^th anniversary, combined with the birthdays of all of our 35 children. Since the date of birth of most of them is unknown we did it this way, all at once. Click here for an impression of this festive day.

Hamro Gaun;

Our new construction project is called Hamro Gaun which can be translated to "Our Village". In order to respect the surroundings, our village will be constructed in the old traditional Nepali style, and as much as possible, in a sustainable, environmental friendly manner. The surrounding gardens will be used to culture many types of flowers, plants and fruit trees next to our own vegetables.
This will done by using biological farming methods so without the use of toxic materials and pesticides. The garden will also serve to generate income; the profits from the products will be used to make the project partially self reliable. The garden will also serve as a training project for our job training centre, where women and youngsters from less fortunate backgrounds can learn a profession. With this experience - and if required some micro credit during the initial phase - they can be self sustaining after the training period.

In short; an all-in-one project that will serve as a role model in the heavily polluted Kathmandu valley. Click here for more specific information concerning this project.

So we have moved out of town which was quite a `moving experience`, able to match itself with some of the better soaps! If I have the time, let's say in a year or two, I will write a little memoir about it. The punch line comes down to the fact that the contract with our former partner CCSD had expired, leaving us unsatisfied with their very poor output. We allied with a new local partner called Bal Kshetra Nepal ("child playground Nepal").
Although we promoted cooperation between the two partners, the former partner wasn't amused, so in the end it was quite a hassle to put it mildly. It may be useful to know that no foreign organisation is allowed to work in Nepal without an implementing local partner, being the executing party, and thus, formally in charge. During our cooperation with the former partner CCSD, we were the `Milk cow` but unfortunately we were drained from more than milk alone. But we were not allowed to say a single thing not even a Mooow.
Well, it will all be in my book one fine day. First let's finish the construction smoothly with the new and more trustfully partner.

How about the construction on the new site??

The fire brigade way!

As you probably remember, the first brick was laid on the 27^th of September 2006.

This was immediately followed by a month of holyday due to the Dashain and Tihar festivals. But the first bricklayers and carpenters finally came into action in the beginning of November and currently, 4 months later, the first of the eight buildings has reached its highest point. Work on the school building is progressing steadily and has almost reached the final stage. Everyone who visits the project is amazed by the neat and solid craftsmanship of the construction work. Most of them have seen numerous construction sites in Nepal and other parts of Asia, but rarely one that matches this one. If that isn't positive feedback I don't know! We have chosen a good contractor and that's worth a lot. He pays his staff appropriately and the women gain the same salary as their male colleagues in similar circumstances do. The latter is a small miracle since this hardly ever happens in Nepal.
While searching for a suitable contractor, one of our demands was that no children were to be employed and an equal reward for both men and women. So, we succeeded in our efforts and as you will all understand so far I am very satisfied until so far!

As mentioned before, the construction work is performed by using the good old fire brigade way; thus, every bucket of cement is passes from hand to hand by a row of about 20 people. The bucket flies in no time from the cement heap up to its destiny in the concrete beam or floor. An ancient way to end a fire but still an efficient system Nepal. And above all, 20 people are employed and have an income, great isn't it? To view the progress on the construction site, click construction-progress-report, with lots of pictures.

Jyoti Vocational training Centre in Pokhara;

And there is another spin-off; just 5 years ago we founded together with our English partner, Child Welfare Scheme, the Jyoti Vocational Training centre in Pokhara. In this centre, guided by our skilful CWS colleagues, youngsters with a difficult background receive a personal fit professional education like beautician, caretaker or secretary, electrician or plumber. By coincidence, both the plumber and electrician classes are attended by a girl.
Both Manju and Radhika are in their final year and were looking for a site to do their traineeship, something that's hard to do for a girl in a man dominated profession as theirs. As you will understand, since nothing happens by chance, these girls are now doing their traineeship on our building site, supervised by the electronics expert and plumber chief. They had to get used to the idea, girls at a construction site were a laughing stock ha ha ha………!!!
But…. they have been accepted, since I didn't leave them a choice! And they are doing great!

Recently, on the 11^th of May 2007, the Jyoti VTC project also celebrated its 5 year anniversary. Manju and Radhika already received their certificates. We warmly congratulate these great girls!

It might be nice to report that since last February 5th, 2 engineering students from the Technical Faculty in Utrecht, the Netherlands, are doing their traineeship on our building site. Bart van Bunningen and Thijs van Oostrum are working with great enthusiasm as executors and supervisors. They are working out the technical design issues and on ensuring the ecological way of construction. They are taking care that all work is performed according to our standards, of course with respect of the local values. Bart and Thijs contacted us via the organization De Civiel Ingenieur. We thank them for their contribution to our work.

It was the beginning of this year on Valentines Day which is, as everywhere, commercially exploited in Nepal. But all of a sudden it became a very special day for Nepal and especially for Kathmandu. A huge snow shower poured down on us, something that had not happened for the past 62 years. Bart en Thijs shot some beautiful pictures since they were on our building site.
So take a look at; Snow-leave on Valentines Day.

Miscellaneous Veldwerk projects;

At the other SVN projects things are also going well given the circumstances.

Barhabise;
The sewing training project in Barhabise is extended. Through our sponsor Armas Europe a new building will be erected where the women of the local Dalit community will be trained. The building will also serve as a clubhouse.

Chitwan;
The women of the sewing training project in the Chitwan district have now opened their own shops. They could do so after they received their certificates and a micro credit was arranged by us via the TEWA foundation in Kathmandu. Next to their sewing and stitching activities, the ladies are now willing to extend their knowledge with embroidery or even computer lessons. Currently we are examining the latter option.

Dhading-Nalang;
We have also started to work in the Dhading district, located between Kathmandu and Pokhara. Jaques Angenot from Belgium is teaching there on the local schools. Besides that, he investigated the present state of basic needs like medical care, water and sanitary facilities, physical hygiene, family-planning, medical care for pregnant women, help and after care at delivery, etc. It was discovered that even a minimum of basic medical care is lacking. Anna van Gemert, a medical student, investigated the situation and has written a bit shocking report, healthcare in Nalang (PDF).

With a financial contribution from Jaques Angenot and his daughter Charlotte, who did a project at her school, and a grant from our sponsor Armas Europe, SVN has started to offer information and first aid. Since December last year, we have employed a medical trained Nepali woman named Meena. She pays house visits to all villagers in the area, provides information to the mothers and surveys the safety, hygiene and nutritional situation. She also identifies women suffering from Uteres Prolapsed - in normal language this is a subsided womb- since these women need medical care urgently. The village does have a health worker who is appointed by the government but he is not medical qualified. He wears dark sunglasses and chews bubblegum all day, and since the women of the village don't rely on him, they never seek his help or advice. Detecting the Uterus Prolapsed cases has SVN's priority at the moment, since only a slight delay in medical care can have grave effects in these cases. So in short, hard work is going on up there on the mountain and we certainly hope that our efforts will spread out to other villages. Our emphasis is on awareness and self reliability of the local population, also known as community based development. To be continued!

SVN Scholarship program;

Recently a scholarship program was raised under the SVN umbrella. This program intends to guarantee children, living in the Hamro Gaun project and children from the Contact Centre, continuation of their education. Besides that we are raising funds for a program to provide on-the-spot education for working children. These children, around 32.000 in Nepal, HAVE to work in order to survive, pressured by their relatives and circumstances. One or two hours of education a day, on or near their worksite will enhance their changes to escape form their horrible situation. Mijke Caminada, Marieke van Heek and Sasja Maas, three visitors of SVN have initiated this scholarship program. We thank them for their extra efforts for the children of Nepal which proves over and over again to be very necessary. See also the following story about Nikesh Gautam.

Nikesh Gautam, self reliability and micro credit;
This is an example of how a relative small amount of help can cause big changes!

I was contacted a year ago by a girl who reported that her neighbour, a very poor woman, had recently given birth. She told that they are living with 4 people now in a hovel and the mother was in need of medical care. She would try to care for the mother but she requested me to arrange education for the eldest boy, aged just 6 years. The boy's name is Nikesh Gautam, click here to see his story

Well folks, that's all for now! There is so much more to tell which will be added here later this month. Because opening of our new school for the poor children in the surrounding is coming very near, besides other progress, I will keep you posted!

For comments on this newsletter or on our work, please write to veldwerk@gmail.com
Any help to the work we do is always more than welcome, for instance for the construction of our new site, the scholarship program or the training for the women with a difficult background.

With warm and kind regards from Nepal,
Actions speak louder than words!
René Veldt.

Bank: ABN-Amro 543703266
IBAN nr. NL51ABNA0543703266
Attn. Stichting Veldwerk,
p/a Egmond Binnen
The Netherlands.