Stichting Veldwerk at Nepal

Secretariaat: 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

Bipendra and Surendra

The two boys, Bipendra Rai (8) and his little brother Surendra Rai (4), citizens of Chheskan, Sankhuwasawa district Nepal.
Once a father, mother and two children, Bipendra and Surendra lived happy in India. But who is it possible that just a few months ago the mother and the two children were found on the street in Kathmandu? Starving and suffering.
Once this family lived in Chheskan, Sankhuwasawa without any property, land or roof above their head. Not able to take care of their first child and no perspective on a better future… Just like other poor families they decided to travel to India hoping for a better future. Soon after arriving in India the father found a job as a mineworker. From that moment they earned a monthly salary, were happy and made plans for the future. The mother got pregnant again and a second son was born.

But suddenly some people knocked on their door to tell them that the mine collapsed while the father was working underground. The father did not survive the disaster. Not only the lost of their father was terrible but because he worked in the mine for just a short time, they did not have any financial right. So the mother and the two children were left behind without any money. The only way out seemed to be going back to Nepal. Thanks to their neighbors they received some money to travel back to Nepal. In Kathmandu the mother got a job as a cleaning wife. She had to clean clothes at rich people houses. She found a very small room to live with her children. She even gathered enough money to send the eldest boy to school but unfortunately the school kept asking more and more money. In the end he wasn't allowed to go school any more.


The winter came. It got cold and misty and the mother had three houses for cleaning clothes. A hard job, her hands were totally destroyed of the water, soap and the heavy work. The people she worked for noticed this and fired her. Again they had no money and had to live on the streets. Together with her children she walked through the city, bagged for money, food and a sleeping place. But they had no luck and not enough food to survive.
On a cold winter day the mother sat down on the street and started crying as a kind women came by. Shoba Subedi, she lived close by and saw the mother with her two children sitting there on the street, starving to death and suffering. After listening to her terrible story she decided to offer them a small room, a bed and something to eat. They were saved of the terrible live on the street.

After a while the eldest boy Bipendra got very ill. Shoba and her husband brought him to a child hospital. For two days he stayed in a coma and his mother was worried about losing her boy. Besides she had to pay for the hospital herself, but how? Luckily the family of Shoba gathered money to pay for the hospital. After two weeks Bipendra was better and went home again. Shoba decided trying to find a better, more structural solution for this family.

The beginning of April I visited a Dutch friend Ocky Pladet, at the Orthopedic Hospital where she works as a nurse for a few months every year. Ocky told me the story of this family and asked me if I had an idea how to give them a better life. After meeting Shoba, the mother and the two boys I started creating opportunities for them. Although there was no place in our own children home, I started finding another place for the children. I found a school for the children. The mother was so grateful; she felt down on her knees and thanked the world for showing her a god exists.

Rene Veldt, Stichting Veldwerk, Nepal.