Seit November 2012 ist der 4-jährige Samir Volan im Shaligram Bal Griha Kinderhaus das jüngste Familienmitglied. Samir ist das zweite Kind einer 4-köpfigen Familie, in der der Vater aufgrund eines Herzleidens nicht mehr arbeiten kann und die Mutter fast nichts zum Einkommen der Familie beitragen kann. Der Junge ist aus dem Makawanpur Bezirk südlich von Kathmandu. Das Komitee in Kathmandu entschied nun, Samir in die NHB Familie aufzunehmen.

Herzlich willkommen und alles, alles Gute für deine Zukunft, Samir!

with Deuter School

It’s been a year now since the first stone was laid for the new Deuter School. Now an impressive three-and-four-storey building can be seen by passers-by. There are just a few inside jobs left to be completed.

So it won’t be long before our primary school children from the nearby Shanti Nikunj Primary School can move over from these wet and uncomfortable shacks into light and dry classrooms. The complete school family has been looking forward to this moment for months.

with our bakery building

On our farm there a new building has been established which can be used from now on. There are six shops in the bakery building where homemade bakery goods produced by one of our former ‘children’ as well as our own homegrown vegetables, our homebred rabbits, ducks and our chicken’s eggs can be sold. The building is also big enough for an office and some flats. Maybe one or the other former pupil might move in with his young family.

We’ll be happy to see the building completely finished and officially opened soon.

with our boarding school for the blind

Our blind children have been able to attend their own school in Chautara for a while now. It’s part of the Shree Bhandevi Secondary School. Now a new boarding section has been completed. This is a great help for those children who are blind or almost blind. They are no longer forced to live in shabby shacks, but can live next to their school now. It also means they no longer have to walk the 2 km through the village: every stone, every piece of rubbish was a danger for them.

If you want to see happiness – just look into those blind pupils’ faces!

This time not only the children and the staff members were pleased about the arrival of the goods at the children’s home. Even the birds living around the children’s home got quite excited. Apart from pencil cases, shampoo, liquid soap and schoolbags (many thanks to our sponsors!) some colourful bird tables had arrived.

The children and all the birds were absolutely thrilled. Before long, the colourful homes for our feathered singers were put up in the trees. So Shaligram Bal Griha is now not only a home for children but also for some songbirds around Lubhu.

During the time of monsoon in summer, it is not only rice that grows particularly well but also everything else. By late summer the moss and all the plants which have taken root in places where they are not wanted need to be removed. This also needed to be done on the roof of the small pavilion in the garden of the children’s home. Kungsang and Pema were brave enough to climb to the very top and put everything in order up there.

Once more the farming staff of our children’s home took part in a workshop in ecological farming. The training went on for five days and Bipin Shilpakar, our commissioner for both farms, and Surya Ghimire, our farmer of the old farmland, learned all about the latest developments. Thus we can be absolutely sure that the vegetables from our own land will always meet the highest standards in quality and will be served perfectly fresh. Needless to say, selling the surplus will as profitable in future as it is now.

The members of our female staff joined the celebrations for the traditional women’s festival Teej in September. On this day Nepalese women fast (many of them don’t even drink any water during the day) and dress in all shades of red. To make it a happy day in spite of the fasting many woman get together and celebrate all day with prayers and dances. It’s all in honour of their husbands and their families.

The new little boy who is the first to find a new home in our children’s home after Aakash, Ram and Tsering left after their graduation from specialized secondary school is called Suraj Mohara.

The four-and-a-half-year-old boy is from Jhapa, where he lived with his 65-year-old grandmother. Surja’s father, who lived in India as a guest-worker, disappeared one and a half years ago, traceless. His mother eloped with her new lover half a year later and left her little boy behind. As his grandmother worked as a housemaid to earn her own living, she didn’t manage to care for and educate her grandson at the same time. Now Surja has found a loving home here at Shaligram Bal Griha. It goes without saying that we also provide for his education.

In June, everybody was more than happy when the rain finally came - vitally important for all of us. However, sometimes there is just too much during the rain period. The many deep puddles make not only the walk to school difficult for our children in their white school uniform shoes but also for many cars which get stuck in the mud. We try our best to get rid of the water on the streets but it doesn’t last long. Nevertheless – rather rain and rice than drought and famine!!!

Laxmi Shrestha, our matron, attended a three-day advanced training course in June, where she learned how to act correctly in a parent-child relationship. The training was about how to build a sound and resilient relationship between tutors and children and take account of the various stages of development of the children. The challenge of dealing with difficult kids was also a topic of the course.

Many of the topics dealt with during the course were not new to our matron. Nevertheless, it is always helpful to gain deeper insight into the education of our kids and to view the relationship from different perspectives.

Drought has lasted a long time this year. Especially the plants on our old and new farmland suffered from the dryness. The long-awaited rain finally started in June. The monsoon had begun. Soon after, the green plants sprang to life.

Fighting fires in Bharatpur

It wasn’t the first time that the municipality of Hachenburg has donated one of their discarded fire engines to a Nepalese town. In 2003 it was Bhaktapur’s turn, this year the fire-fighting vehicle goes to Bharatpur in the south of Nepal. The town close to Chitwan National Park has never had its own vehicle for fighting fires, so they are looking forward to receiving the donation even more!

The NHB was able to organize a smooth transport of the “red racer” from Hachenburg via Bremerhafen to Calcutta in India and from there to Bharatpur. This journey took two months. It became soon very clear how i mportant it is to instruct the Nepalese driver in the handling of a German truck. When the driver reversed the vehicle out of the container, he drove too close to the wall and broke the side mirror and the indicat or of the right side. Fortunately, it was only a little crash and the dousing function wasn’t harmed. Nevertheless, everybody agreed on the necessity of professional instruction for working the vehicle, which the delegation of the Hachenburger fire fighters will give on site!

This January people in the Kathmandu valley and thus all members of our children’s home must save water and energy. As it rain ed too little, our water standpipes are dry. Every single litre of water we need these days must be delivered by a tank lorry. That’s why it is extraordinarily important for every individual to use water in a responsible way. In view of the circumstances we organized a course for our kids called “How to save water”.

However, water is not the only resource which Kathmandu is short of. Currently, there is no electric power in the Kathmandu valley for twelve hours every day. This is called “load-shedding“. Newspapers announce some days before which days of a week and when exactly electric power will be cut off. People can prepare for it and adjust them selves to the inconvenience. Nevertheless, life isn’t easy as electricity is needed in all realms of daily life nowadays, also for internet and emails, which is important to stay in touch with Germany. However, the router won’t work with the electric power generated by our photovoltaic plant.

Although many members of our children’s home are experts in producing bio-briquettes, Arjun and A run Ghimire, the son of our farm employee, took part in a three-day course “training in bio-briquettes”. It took place at the Research Centre of Applied Science and Technology (RECAST) at the Tribhuwan University in Kirtipur. It’s always worth working on our knowledge expansion.

Soon after his training (see above), Arjun hurt his hand while playing with his little brothers and sisters in the children’s home. The X-ray photograph showed a broken finger of his right hand. As it was a very complicated fracture, survery was inevitable, in which Arjun’s bones were fixed with a steel pin. Get well soon, Arjun!!!