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

Thijs van Bokkem and Roos Dusseljee

Thijs and Roos come from Castricum and just finished their studies last year. Thijs studied Commerce and Roos the Pabo in Haarlem.

Being without study commitments for a while, they decided to go travelling. But they wanted a trip with a challenge, “more value for the country and themselves”, as they described it earlier on. Roos wanted to work with children and Thijs wanted to teach English. That were of course the qualities they had to offer.


So I thought; well that's possible because we cooperate with Hamro Ghar –a children home- for a long tome now, and they always ask me for one or more volunteers that are able to help the children with their English lessons and English conversation.
Like us, Hamro Ghar is part of the CCSD, our partner organization, which also runs a so called Contact Centre. That's a place where poor children come that still have their parents. Because of lack of money the parents stroll down the streets looking for food or small jobs for money. In the meantime they lock up their small children inside something that's supposed to be a house, but that looks like an old shed somewhere alongside the river.


Those children come to the Contact Centre where they get tea and cookies and some sort of education. The teachers don't speak English that well and handle the children a bit rough (Nepali style).
Roos works there at the moment and helps the teacher with their lessons. Besides that she tries to improve the methodology in teaching. An hour a day Thijs joins her to help the teachers improve their English.
After school, they jump on their bikes and head for Hamro Niwas to help our children with their homework. They also organise a lot of fun stuff like sport activities and Aerobic lessons together with the other volunteers. And that's a sight to see, all the happy faces of the children.


Thijs and Roos also brought a few second hand laptop computers. Roos' mother managed to get them. One of them went to Hamro Ghar where Thijs works. That really makes people happy because a computer is still a step to far for most institutes!

Roos used to work at the Basisschool de Ark in Haarlem. She wrote a newsletter about her trip to Nepal and a big Christmas market inside the school followed. The profits are yet unknown so the story will be continued!


Before he went to Nepal, Thijs paid a visit to his old employer; Tom Tom. The firm decided to donate 500 euros to Stichting Veldwerk and on top of that he managed to get another 200 euros from his colleagues. This money went to the Contact Centre. Up there the children used to sit on the cold cement floor, but now they have beautiful tables with a drawer for their things and a small bench. So, again happy faces!!


Thijs en Roos, thanks a lot for all the effort. A lot of thanks too for the colleagues and management of Tom Tom, the parents and children of Basisschool De Ark, the mother of Roos and for now... Keep going straight with the good things,

René.