"Children's
Aid Nepal" is an incorporated society recognised by the
German fiscal authorities and a non-profit association that aims
at the promotion of schooling and education of children in Nepal.
Since 1990 our association maintains a children's home in Kathmandu
where we see to provide food, education and supervising the children.
Our society cooperates with the Nepalese association "Nepal
Association for Children's Care and Education" which has
been founded only for this purpose. The idea for the project came
in April 1989 during our second visit to Nepal and arose from
the wish to give direct and effective help. 60% of the Nepalese
live in utter poverty and we did not want to watch that helplessly
and inactively. Most children are forced to work from age seven
to support their family - if they have one - and schooling is
out of the question for them. A day care was founded that took
care of nine children whom we had "kidnapped" from a
carpet factory. Later there lived 60 children together in a big
house. Three of them are blind and two are physically handicapped.
They are orphans or hail from extremely poor families that could
never afford to send their children to school. Now 20 of them
have reached autonomy, they made their high school degree and
are now in college. 15 others attend university and concurrently
have jobs, but still are receiving our support and the remaining
25 small children live together in an extended family called "Children's
World" and attend school.
Meanwhile the focus of our work lies on the slums of Kathmandu,
where we started a school and built sewerage pipes and toilets.
Four of the young adults that we raised work there and show a
lot of commitment.
Sija Shrestha, 25, works as school director and social worker.
Her small office is the meeting point of all the women and old
people who need to talk their problems over.
Sajhana, 20, Hareram Chaudhary, 21, and Lisa, 22, together with
two young folks from the slums who accomplished to make their
high school degrees work as schoolteachers.
We provide one balanced meal daily for 150 children from the slums
and look after them and their mothers' health. These women live
in incredible poverty. Most of the men have migrated to the Arabian
Emirates and try to earn some money there, while most of the few
who have stayed are unemployed, drink regularly and beat their
wives. Meanwhile the women formed a defence committee that patrols
nightly through the narrow alleys of the slum and intervenes when
necessary.
The responsible
persons at "Children's World" are Meena Sangtang,
33, who manages the house and communicates with Children's Aid
Nepal on a daily basis via Internet and informs us about projects
joys and sorrows. Sarshoti Battharai, 38, takes care
of proper hygienic conditions while the cooks Laxmi Takhuri,
39, and Anita Adhikari, 33, prepare balanced and vitamin-packed
meals for everyone.
Meena manages
the funds and keeps accounts in a very reliable and exact manner.
All vouchers and quittances are on hand in our office for the
routine controls of the German tax authorities.
Amrit,
25, is the driver of the Children's home, he takes the kids
to school and, when necessary, to the hospital.
All the
children help clean the house and wash the dishes and they use
to cook for themselves on the weekends and for the entire extended
family.
Life in
Nepal is difficult. The country lies embedded between India
and China and therefore is depending on both. Nepal's most important
source of income is tourism, which brings about big problems
such as ecological destruction caused by imprudent trekking
in the mountains. 90% of the population live in rural areas.
The men try to work as porters for tourists while the women
cannot deal with the scarce crop on their own. Inflation is
increasing and political unrest makes life difficult. After
twelve years of civil war fragile peace was made and the king
had to resign from any kind of political activity.
The alliance of the different parties strives to form a government
together with the Maoist rebels and to organise elections soon.
Over 13.000 persons lost their lives in this conflict. Still
there is no real security for the Nepalese and tourism has declined
remarkably, both of which makes the life of the Nepalese even
more miserable.
The state schools do not offer reasonable education, which is
why a vast array of private schools with different levels is
thriving and making lots of profits with the fees.
We send children's clothing to Kathmandu on a regular basis
and are grateful to all who will support us in this. There is
a steady need of summer and winter clothes for children.
The monthly total costs for the entire project in Nepal are
4000 Euros. Since the founding of the society Elisabeth Montet
herself bears all the costs for information and the visits in
Kathmandu, so the total of all donations goes to the project.
Every four months we issue a newsletter for all our donators,
who will receive quittances for their donations at the end of
the year, because they are tax deductible. Of course we would
prefer standing orders, as they give us more security. However,
one-time donations are very welcome.
In the name of all our children we wish to express our heartfelt
thanks to all our supporters. Everyone, who wants to visit "Children's
World" and the work of our community in the slums will
be received gladly in Kathmandu.
We hope that we can win new "parents" and friends
with this brochure and send you our best regards.
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