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

Nepali street children need a good education to make way for a better future.

Jyoti Vocational Training Project, Pokhara.

One of the aims of Stichting Veldwerk is to achieve a vocational training for street children. For this target group the Stichting Veldwerk wanted to start a job-training programme, to give the children an education and take them out of their miserable existence and the vicious circle. But research 3 years ago taught us that the English organization Child Welfare Scheme already had exactly the same plans.


As 2 foundations with the same goal, we decided to work together on this project. CWS already had the idea to build a new school with accommodation for the children. A place hadn't been decided on, but after some talks with the local authorities a nice place was found. This turned out to be a bit more expensive than expected.

Stichting Veldwerk has adopted 4 theory classrooms in this project for more than 8000 euro. We are also taking care of the tools used in the technical workshop. The tools are of high quality, in cooperation with Gered Gereedschap Amsterdam (Tools for Self Reliance at Amsterdam) and the workshop in Heiloo, who is set up 20 years before by René Veldt. We brought the tools to Nepal, with a lot of help from travelers who where willing to bring a couple of extra kilo's for the project in Nepal.

Saturday 11 may 2002
The training centre for street children in Pokhara opened. Being a very important sponsor they decided that Stichting Veldwerk should open the school. This in cooperation with the second head sponsor, and some students.
Unbelievable, first you are a street kid, a dropout, handicapped or a drug and alcohol user. And now you have a fair second chance in your life, without looking at your status, religion or caste.
Gary Barnet was one of the staff members of Child Welfare Scheme who was involved with this kind of work in Nepal for many years was very emotional at the opening of the school. He talked about the number of children he had seen going down the gutter in Kathmandu and Pokhara, and was so happy that we realized the problem existed and had set up this centre for the children. It was the crown of his work especially as he was about to return to the U .K. He still had his worries, the center was reality, but the sponsors for the individual students weren't sorted out yet, which could seriously damage the continuity of the project. There were many years of fighting against bureaucracy, corruption and conflicts with the local authorities. Yet there is the centre with 17 girls and 14 boys selected to join the first year of education to get a respectful job and a good future perspective. In the next 2 years they will be followed by another 60 students, which will bring the total of students to 90.

The staff of the new centre has been carefully selected, they are all Nepali, and it is not good that western people occupy jobs in Nepal, as there are not many available. We have an electronics, and electro-technique teacher. She is a very well educated Nepali woman and this way we also take away the less appreciation off the Nepali women in the system, which could be an example for other schools.
The caste system is also not applicable within the centre, and equality and sense of standards and values are very important in the education of the students in the centre. The opening was a tremendous success, which everybody looks back on with satisfaction. You can find pictures of this event in the photo album.






Rene Veldt, Stichting Veldwerk, No words, just Do!
Kathmandu, Nepal.


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