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

Kathmandu, September 2007

A small update about the things happening here in Nepal.

Hallo allemaal, even en kleine update vanuit Nepal.

Hi everybody here and all over the globe, some little big news from Nepal too you all. And please do not feel shy to forward this letter to your friends. Here in Nepal we still experience the aftershocks of a heavy Monsoon season also; the road to the children's home was temporarily blocked by a big landslide. The same story on the way back from Barhabise, near the Tibetan border. There we went to visit the opening of a women training program. Big chunks of the hill crashing onto the roads. Luckily for us, we survived these forces of nature, but elsewhere in India and Nepal, people are not that lucky. Already hundreds of people drowned in the floods this season, and thousands lost their homes. Still the Monsoon seems to be going on.


A small group of activist reminded us a few weeks ago, that they elections are approaching. By setting off 4 time booby traps, on different places in Kathmandu, they managed to kill two people and injuring 25 others, the most shocking part of this cowardly act was the fact that one of the bombs was placed in a buss with school children. Surprisingly fast, life went back to normal, showing that unfortunately, the population is getting used to these acts of aggression.

At the construction of the Hamro Gaun project, things are pending since we are waiting for the Ministry of Children and Women affairs to give the green light for the next phase by signing. A few weeks ago, the person in charge was replaced by a member secretary from the Maoist party. By the time we got to know what this guy looked like, the Maoists redrew from the government. So, starting all over again. We are still optimistic and try to get the deal done before the big festival season starts.

Moving on...
Our projects are performing as we hoped,
The first part of our construction is ready and with that the new Day-care for poor children from the surrounding are started and also a small part of our woman training program. Have a look on this very nice program.


In the meantime there were some children coming and going in the Hamro Gaun children's home. For the whole story click on the link below: new children in our Children home

A vocational training program for women;
As mentioned earlier, a new women's program started close to the Tibetan border. Here, marginalized women (outcastes, Dalits, widows, etc.) are receiving vocational training. For more details, click on
a new women's program.




32.000 children, Are crushing stones along the riversides each day in Nepal, horrible but truth. This calls for immediate intervention. Together with the Nepalese organization Concern-Nepal, we started a program to remove 300 children from these conditions, make them and their families aware, improve their living conditions and admit them to education. If you want to found out more, please check "a project that rocks!"


Methodology, vision and mission SVN
Er is nogal wat commotie gaande rondom het gegeven kinderhuizen, weeshuizen en het wel of niet steunen daarvan, met de vraag erbij of ontwikkelings gelden en sponsor geld zo wel op de juiste wijze wordt aangewend. Met daarachter; verwennen deze initiatieven de kinderen niet teveel? Of sterker nog, komen er meer weeskinderen naarmate er meer kinderhuizen worden geopend?

Like you can read on the website, we focus to support children at home and in the remote areas, by improving the conditions they, and their families, live in. In some cases the children's home is the only possible solution. But it remains an institute, and therefore a temporary solution. In order to fully understand how we managed to combine these different ways of support in a way that we feel is bringing a positive change in the lives of these children, please click on
mission and vision.




Reports from the field. As you can imagine, all the things to be done here cause our days to be packed. All in all we are now cooperating with 8 different Nepalese partner organizations in projects in different parts of Nepal. On top of that, we follow up on around 65 students that are being supported from sponsors back home. From out the board in Holland, it was decided that we could enforce our team with Jimi Oostrum. He has been here already for several times, doing work for SVN, so we know what kind of a guy we are getting and were very happy to hear that he decided to stay for a minimum of two years. Since getting a visa in Nepal for foreigners is as hard as finding a taxi here with a meter that is not fixed, Jimi was given the one visa the Ingo is automatically entitled to. This means that we have a new Country Representative. Already it has become clear the team works well together, so ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present.......





Safety first in our children home!
Finally, we also started to work on the safety in the Hamro Gaun project. We want to make this project a role model where other projects can copy for example fire regulations, safety precautions, etc. This point became suddenly very relevant when there were rumours about a heavy earthquake coming up. It showed how little prepared the Nepalese society is in cases of disasters. These made us decide to start preparing, so that if something happens, we can not only help the people in our projects, but also from the surrounding areas. We started to collect aid supplies, such as tents, conserved food, etc. Also, we installed smoke alarms, assembled first aid kits and organised an information day about natural disasters, in cooperation with the Red Cross.





21th September, World peace day, Embrace the Boudhanath Stupa!
On 21^st of September it was World Peace Day. SVN was asked by the group called Embrace the World, to do something special on this day In Nepal. We decided to cooperate with the Women's Foundation and together we embraced the famous Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu with around 350 people. Children and staff from the Hamro Gaun Project, and many women from the Women's Foundation. But also many Tibetan people living in exile joined our peace party on top of the Stupa. There is a short movie running about this amazing gathering at Youtube; take a look here on this Embracing peace party


Well Guys, that's all for now from Kathmandu where the rains slowly starting the be replaced by a little sunshine. Keep an eye on the website, more updates are following soon.

Namaste, with respect,
Rene Veldt,
SV the Netherlands
Actions speak louder than words
Nepal.

  For more information or a reaction veldwerk@gmail.com
Attn. Stichting Veldwerk,
p/a Egmond Binnen
Bank: ABN-Amro 543703266
IBAN nr.; NL51ABNA0543703266
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