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Um eine reibungslose Zusendung von Spendenquittungen zu gewährleisten, bitten wir die Spender folgendes zu beachten:
- Für Spenden bis 200,– € genügt der Einzahlungsbeleg zur Vorlage beim Finanzamt
- Komplette Anschrift auf dem Überweisungsträger angeben
Für Ihre Mithilfe sind wir Ihnen sehr dankbar.
Bitte vergessen Sie nicht, dass wir alle berufstätig sind und ehrenamtlich für die Nepalhilfe Beilngries arbeiten. So können wir die Spendenquittungen nicht sofort ausgestellt werden. Diese werden wir aber auf jeden Fall noch rechtzeitig zu Ihnen senden bevor Sie die Steuer für das laufende Jahr abgeben müssen. Wir bitten um Verständnis.
Immense progress in reconstruction – visiting projects brings pleasant findings
Claudia Thumann, Roman Meier and Manfred Lindner visited several of NHB projects in November 2016. They wanted to gain a comprehensive insight into the progress of the reconstruction work going on, especially the one of the schools damaged or destroyed by the earthquake in April 2015. The NHB-team also travelled to Nawalparasi, which lies in the south of the country, to visit the Midpoint Hospital, which the NHB has been financially supporting for several years.
Immense progress at the damaged schools
However the main focus of their inspection tour lay on the district of Sindhupalchok, where six of the 26 NHB-schools were completely destroyed and another ten suffered enormous damages by the earthquake, which leads to complex and expensive rehabilitation measures.
Thumann, Meier and Lindner were positively surprised by the progress of the school building in Sangachok, as its twelve classrooms were already finished although it had been only a concrete casing a year before. In October 2016, 450 boys and girls could move from the provisional solution of bamboo and Nissen huts into a proper school building.
The big school of Sanusiruwari which had still been uncompleted when the earthquake caused enormous damages at the five-story building is being extensively redeveloped. An architecture firm commissioned by NHB is supervising the construction progress just as it does with all the other buildings. During a meeting on-site with the leading architect Sanjay Sapkota, the NHB-team could satisfy themselves of the good realizations of the plans
The same goes for nine further schools which need redevelopment, whereas the school in Sukute has already been finished. According to the governmental resolution after which all new school buildings have to follow the new colouring, this school has been painted in light yellow with dark red window frames and doors. Presently repair work is done at five different buildings at the same time – thus at the Shree Kali Devi Secondary School, Kadambas (Michl-Dacher-School), which was the first educational institution built by NHB or at the completely destroyed school in Thulosiruwari, where the new pillars have already been set.
If the wish of the architecture firm gets fulfilled, all bare brickworks will be completed by the middle of 2017, the beginning of monsoon season.
Building School for the Blind anew
The survey of the school in Chautara led to the finding that this building also needs a general rehabilitation with a new structural analysis. The annexed school for the blind had to be torn down at the beginning of 2016 and is being re-erected at the same place at the moment, however with a different building conception. Building the school including a boarding school is planned to be started in 2016 as the blind boys and girls have been living in disastrous conditions since the earthquake.
Hospital on a good way
Highly satisfying was the visit of the Midpoint hospital in Nawalparasi, as the building was very clean and the its equipment – mostly financed by NHB, like x-ray, supersonic and blood test instruments – were in perfect condition. The front yard of the hospital has been newly landscaped and partly transformed into a park which can be used not only by patients but also by the local population.
One of the highlights was the official bringing into service of the new well which was drilled into a depth of 80 metres with financial support of NHB. The well serves not only for watering the new park area but also gaining drinking water in combination with a filter system.
Caused by an increasing number of patients – due to the meanwhile high standards and good reputation of the hospital – the need of extending the clinic is obvious. In line with this demand the hospital committee handed over a correspondent proposition to the vice president, Manfred Lindner.
Twentieth anniversary of our children’s home
Our children’s home which was built in 2001 is being renovated at the moment. It gets a new exterior and interior painting, its water supply system and the solar panels are being thoroughly checked and modernized. During his stay Roman Meier, a trained electrician, exchanged damaged switches, electrical outlets and blubs that the building can shine brightly for its twentieth anniversary festivities at the end of December and that it is fit to house many future generations of children.
It’s a question of financing
All these building measures going on for several months have to be paid for. The rehabilitation work at the schools of Sukute, Sanosiruwari and Sangachok alone have meanwhile caused costs up to 126,000 Euro. The new building of Shree Seti Devi Higher Secondary School in Thulosirubari will cost about 177,000 Euro. According to the architecture firm the complete construction costs for the following years are set down to 900,000 Euro.
Apart from those high amounts, the daily running costs of our other projects and institutions need to be covered. That’s why NHB tries very hard to rest their aid organisation on a solid financial cushion by selling their calendar, presently “Himalaya 2017”, or donations in general. All details for people interested in supporting our organisation can be found here: www.nepalhilfe.org. Thanks to the many people who show a great variety of commitment that we have been able to start the rehabilitation and renovation work in such a successful way. We, the members of NHB, are aware of the fact that YOUR support is the reason for OUR success. Thousand thanks for your commitment and donations!
Project trip in autumn 2016
Claudia Thumann, Roman Meier and Manfred Lindner spent seven respectively sixteen days in Nepal at the beginning of November 2016 to find out if everything is going on well. They inspected the repair work going on at the children’s home and the rehabilitation of the many schools after the disastrous earthquake. The three of them also travelled to the south of Nepal, to Nawalparasi, where the Midpoint Hospital is situated, whose renovation has generously financially been supported by NHB.
This visit which stood at the beginning of their journey was a very pleasant one, as the hospital made a very clean impression and the medical devices like x-ray, supersonic and blood test instruments were in perfect condition and frequently used. The front yard of the hospital has been newly landscaped and partly transformed into a park which can be used not only by patients but also by the local population.
One of the highlights was the official brining into service of the new well which was drilled into a depth of 80 metres with financial support of NHB. The well serves not only for watering the new park area but also gaining drinking water in combination with a filter system.
Caused by an increasing number of patients – due to the meanwhile high standard and good reputation of the hospital – the need of extending the clinic is obvious. In line with this demand the hospital committee handed over a correspondent proposition to the vice president, Manfred Lindner.
However the main focus of their inspection tour lay on the district of Sindhupalchok, where six of the 26 NHB-schools were completely destroyed and another ten suffered enormous damages by the earthquake, which leads to complex and expensive rehabilitation measures.
Thumann, Meier and Lindner were positively surprised by the progress of the school building in Sangachok, as its twelve classrooms were already finished although it had been only a concrete casing a year before. In October 2016, 450 boys and girls could move from the provisional solution of bamboo and Nissen huts into a proper school building. Only grade 10-12 will have to learn in those provisional classrooms for another year as their new school building will be finished by next year.
One of the big schools in Sanusiruwari is being renovated at the moment, fortifying all 24 pillars of the building as well as all four foundation corners according to governmental standard. An architecture firm commissioned by NHB is supervising the construction progress just as it does with all the other buildings. During a meeting on-site with the leading architect Sanjay Sapkota, the NHB-team could satisfy themselves of the good realizations of the plans. Nine further schools need to follow this same conception in their reconstruction. At the end of November 2016 five schools will be finished and the new building of the school in Thulosiruwari will be started.
The survey of the school in Chautara led to the finding that this building also needs a general rehabilitation with a new structural analysis. The annexed school for the blind had to be torn down at the beginning of 2016 and is being re-erected at the same place at the moment, however with a different building conception. Building the school including a boarding school is planned to be started at the end of 2016 as the blind boys and girls have been living in disastrous conditions since the earthquake.
Another item of their travel agenda was the inauguration of a school building of the Mary Ward Sisters, who are neighbours to our Shaligram children’s home in Lhubu. There, a new school building was erected in 2015/16 which was funded by NHB. The three NHB-members opened the school in a ceremonial act together with the Mary Ward Sisters. This building had also been renovated after the earthquake before the four classrooms could finally be used now.
Of course, one of the most important tasks on their project trip was visiting Shaligram children’s home. During this one-day visit they interviewed staff members, as well as young adults who have left the children’s home. This year six former inhabitants came to this meeting to talk about their jobs, their university studies and their lives.
At the moment the whole children’s home is being renovated after twenty years. Everything got a new paint – the exterior and interior walls, the window frames and doors. All rooms, as well as the water supply and solar energy plant were thoroughly inspected. During this stay Roman Meier, a trained electrician, exchanged damaged switches, electrical outlets and blubs that the building can shine brightly for its twentieth anniversary festivities at the end of December and that it is fit to house many future generations of children.
All in all, this was a very positive and encouraging project trip which enhanced our belief that much can be achieved together. We deeply hope that the aftermath of the earthquake from 25th April 2015 will be overcome by the beginning of 2018 – thanks to your generous donations.
The Dashain festival is over – restoration work in full swing
October 2016
If you want to express it with the words of a sports reporter you could say: “Slowly colours are added to the game!” which is happening in our school buildings at Sindhupalchok-district or rather our children´s house in Lubhu.
After the end of the Dashain festival which lasted two weeks and where every work was stopped work is starting again. The school buildings of Sangachok and Sukute which have been repaired by now receive their exterior and indoor painting. The school building of Sangachok which has been a temporary solution is shining white now. The primary school of Sukute on the other hand is painted completely different in yellow which is something one has to get used to in the future.
The Bavarian white-blue of the schools which had been built by us soon belongs to the past. The government Nepal has decided to paint all school buildings in the same colours nationwide with red roofs, white colour indoors, dark red doors and light yellow exterior painting. Inevitably the question comes up if the government doesn’t have any more important things to decide? Due to our main focus on education of the children in appropriate buildings we can surely live with the newly dictated colour concepts.
Also at the Michl Dacher School in Kadambas which collapsed because of the earth quake only a few days after its 20 year anniversary the first steps of reconstruction work have started by now. Lorries brought construction steel, sand and cement. The time schedule is delayed due to the monsoon which lasted long this year. It is going to take a while until the painting can begin. Our first school is emerging again – we are happy!
Comprehensive activities at Shaligram children´s home
Also at our children´s home in Lubhu craftsmen walk in and out, not only bricklayers and painter, also carpenter and electricians. Besides the employees of the Shaligram there are also the volunteers Melanie Mayer and Lukas Reim from Ingolstadt who are deeply involved. Last but not least everything should be perfect for the celebration of the 20 year anniversary of our children´s home project at the end of November. It is comparable to a general renovation. It goes from the exterior painting to water pumps and toilets, new doors and windows to the reparation of the furniture which is old after so many years.
These are pleasing news which we have been waiting for a long time.
Himalaya 2017 - New NHB calendar available
Hot of the press: the new “Himalaya 2017”. NHB celebrates two anniversaries with this year’s calendar sale - on the one hand the twentieth edition of the calendar, on the other hand the foundation of the aid organisation a quarter of a century ago.
The celebrated mountaineers Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and her husband Ralf Dujmovits as well as the extreme climber Hans Kammerlander opened again – as they have been doing for many years now - their photo archives for the present edition of “Himalaya 2017”. This cannot be taken as a matter of course but needs extra mentioning and thanks, as it lifts the calendar on a special level of quality.
Considering today’s run of 10,000 printed calendars, the beginnings of this extraordinary success story can be called modest. In 1997 the NHB started with 50 DIY-calendars featured by self-taken photos. The calendar is sold here on this homepage (ORDER A CALENDAR) or at several different local shops in Beilngries and Regensburg.
The calendar is 43.5 x 40.5 cm and consists of one cover, one sheet for each month and one for additional information. The pictures show fascinating impressions of the wonderful landscape, the culture and the people in the Himalaya region. The calendar which costs 17 Euro interests people not only from nearly every single European country but also people from all over the world. Chile, Dubai, Australia, Vatican City, Georgia and Canada are countries on our distribution list. Individuals as well as companies who buy a greater number of calendars for their costumers as a give-away order NHB-calendars. Thanks to Werner Eisenhofer, who manages the distribution and the mail-order.
The outcome of the sale is used for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of schools and other buildings after the earthquake, which will cost more than 900,000 Euro. The first steps have already been taken and repair work at some buildings are about to be finished. At the same time NHB is responsible for the daily running costs of institutions like the Shaligram children’s home or Siddhi Memorial Hospital.
The aftermath of the earthquake is being removed
Comprehensive building and refurbishment measures have been started.
Besides having caused thousands of dead and injured people, the heavy earthquake last April also caused severe material damage, among them also facilities of the NHB. Especially hard affected was the Sindhupalchok district with its numerous schools run by the aid organisation. The expert opinion of the consulting engineers as well as the one submitted by the NHB stated that six schools have to be rebuilt from scratch. Further eight buildings are in need of extensive repairs. The total costs will amount to 900.000 Euros. Now the work has finally started, and it will take two or three years to complete it. A moment everyone had been pining for.
Unfinished building put to a meaningful use
The community of Sangachok, whose school had been completely destroyed, used the lucky circumstance of being able to move into an unfinished building which had been lying idle for several years. Now the building will be ready for occupation in a few weeks, and then the majority of the 500 pupils can move in from their makeshift dwelling made of corrugated iron and bamboo. Then these will make way for a two-storey building with twelve classrooms and an office with estimated building costs of 170.00 Euros. While the skilled workers will be from the county town of Chautara and from Kathmandu, the men and women from Sangachok do their part as unskilled workers. The Shree Janagrity Higher Secondary School is said to be finished by December 2017 and will offer 600 boys and girls a school to feel at home at.
The four-storey, almost completed school building in Sanosiruwari had also been massively demolished by the heavy earthquake. At the moment these damages are being repaired with the help of the installation of a bracing construction. After its completion work continues with the erection of the inner and outer walls. If all works out according to plan, 400 children will finally move into their new school next year in summer. These refurbishment measures will total 65.000 Euros.
Laying the first stone for the new school
With the laying of the first stone on September 25th 2016 the works to rebuild the Shree Setidevi Higher Secondary School in Thulosiubari started. It had also been completely destroyed. It once was the biggest school of the Nepalhilfe, substantially co-financed by the alpinists Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Ralf Dujmovits. In the future there will also be a two-storey building with 12 classrooms and rooms for administration which then will be used by almost 600 children and teachers. For the first construction stages 100.000 Euros have been allocated, and almost the same amount will be needed for the finalisation.
The Sukute Lower Secondary School has been completed by now and the courses are being held, even if the walls still lack paint. The small village school, attended by 115 children, had suffered severe damage to the ground level. It costs 17.000 Euros to mend these damages.
The Shaligram home for children in Lubhu was also damaged by the earthquake. Luckily these were only minor damages. Besides the richly embellished pavilion also parts of the perimeter wall collapsed. This wall and the entire entrance area have been completely refurbished. After all, the 20th anniversary of the foundation of the home for children shall be celebrated at the end of this year, an event for which everything should look as good as possible.
Still a long way to go
In the light of the works which finally have started, the NHB feels the urge to thank all donors. Only through their support it was and will be possible to get the steps towards reconstruction on their way. It is indeed a long way because new projects should also be addressed, which makes additional funding necessary. But as we all know, every hiking trip starts with the first step.
September 2016: Gabi Hupfauer als Volontärin – Authentische Erlebnisberichte
Nepali doctor trainee at hospital in Wörth/Danube –returning home with rich experiences
Sabina Parajuli will return home to Nepal at the beginning of September after three months of staying in Bavaria and being a trainee at the hospital in Wörth/Danube. All this was made possible by the financial support of Nepalhilfe Beilngries and the professional care of the responsible hospital staff members, especially the head physician in internal medicine and cardiology, Dr Christoph von Eisenhart-Rothe.
Everything began many years before and developed perfectly well. In 2008 Padam Prasad Parajuli, headmaster of Higher Secondary School in Sangachok (one of the NHB schools), pled the aid organization to finance his daughter’s medical studies. The agreement to this support still seems to have been the right decision as Sabina’s professional career shows. Today she is 26 years old and graduated from Tribhuvan University of Kathmandu in April 2014.
As the Nepali government had also given the young doctor a scholarship, she had to commit herself in working in deprived mountain areas of Nepal the following two years. She has never lost her personal aim out of sight of being a cardiologist one day – not even during the time of the heavy earth quake in April 2015 when her parents’ house, her school and the hospital in Chautara was destroyed.
But how did it come that Sabina got this three-months traineeship in Bavaria? Dr von Eisenhart-Rothe made this fortunate coincidence possible by his love for Nepal and his bounds to the Nepalhilfe Beilngries. The 55-year-old physician and his spouse Dr Irmgard Sieber met Sabina in Kathmandu in February 2016 and they arranged the young physician’s stay in Wörth/Danube for the following June.
Hospitating physicians from Nepal are not very unusual there as the medical director, Dr Wolfgang Sieber, has been having close bounds to the Himalaya state for several years. Dr von Eisenhart-Rothe and some more clinic members taught the industrious and ambitious physician first steps in cardiology.
After a one week ECG course, she started her training in sonography of the heart, the echocardiography. Step by step Sabina was taught the diverse diseases of the cardiac muscle and valve. After two months she was able to bring the ECG-finding in line with the patients’ medical condition. Moreover, she assisted the head physician in his cardiac catheter examinations.
The young woman from Sindhupalchok District made a great variety of new experiences on her stay in Germany in every way. Special was not only the high standard of clinic equipment and infrastructure, but also comforts of daily life, such as permanent power and water (even cold and warm) supplies.
Sightseeing tours to Munich, Vienna, Bregenz and Sanct Gallen, as well as mountain hikes contributed to a perfect work-life-balance. She also enjoyed her visits to Beilngries, where she surprised the Bavarian prime minister with a German sentence “My name is Sabina Parajuli and I come from Nepal”. Sabina visited the Nepal temple which lies close to Wörth several times to meet fellow countrymen and to feel close to home in times of homesickness. Her free-time activities will stay in her mind for a long time as well as her medical experiences at the hospital.
Sabina plans to come back one day and start her studies to become a cardiologist. That will be a long way, but Dr von Eisenhart-Rothe is sure she will manage this as she is a good physician. Her curriculum vita shows that she is ambitious enough to reach her aims. NHB will keep supporting her financially provided she practises her medical knowledge in Nepal and for the profit of the people and Nepal.
First pupils to learn in a proper school building
During his visit in July 2015, close to the old, but destroyed school building, the school committee showed Manfred Lindner a shell of an unfinished building, whose construction hadn’t been continued due to the lack of financial means on the part of the Nepali government. Manfred Lindner had the idea of buying the unfinished governmental college and finishing the building to turn it in a school with ten classrooms.
At the beginning of 2016, as soon as the municipality of Sangachok had got the official allowance to take over the unfinished shell as well as a construction engineer had inspected it and given the green light, construction workers could start continuing working on the unfinished building and turning it into a school. Walls were set up and the area in front of the school building was also fixed. Doors and windows were installed and so the school is ready for 450 pupils of grades 8 – 12. The pupils will move in in August 2016 and so their time in provisional housing made of bamboo will end.
The reconstruction of the destroyed school on the former premises is planned for 2017.
Ready, set…
… go! Not only the Olympia athletics in Rio de Janeiro are waiting for this start sign, but also the people in Thuloirubari are in the starting blocks. Only a few days to go and the construction work for the new school building are about to start in the small Nepali village in Sindhupalchowk District.
A report by Stefan Nestler
Finally some progress in reconstruction!
Certainly, donators as well as the members of NHB themselves have long waited for some pictures from Nepal. Despite the available donations, the Nepali government prevented the reconstruction for more than a year as they took 13 months to make new governmental building regulations. In these 13 months of standstill no public nor private building could be repaired nor reconstructed. What a sign of inability and indifference on part of the government! And when finally the green light was set for reconstruction, the monsoon started – this year with especially heavy rain – and the construction work had to be stopped again.
The first 50,000€ of donations could be transferred for the reconstruction of the schools in Sukute and Kadambas. The NHB was generously supported by the foundation of the company VPI from Neuburg/Danube. Reconstruction work should be finished by the beginning of 2017, so that pupils in Sukute will be able to move into their new school building. In Kadambas the earth quake spared only the new building. The small damages can be fixed and six classrooms can be used from the beginning of 2017. The reconstruction of the old school, which was completely destroyed, is planned for 2018.
Hans Kammerlander visiting Kathmandu
Hans Kammerlander visited Nepal once again after quite a long break. He showed much interest and spent much time visiting three different institutions in Lhubu: Shaligram Bal Griha, our farming land and Shree Setidevi Higher Secondary School, which he himself founded in 2004 and which is one of three schools named after him.
He was very relieved to see these three institutions in a relative good condition after the earth quakes last year. All of these were only slightly damaged and the necessary extensions of the school building could be continued. However, it was not satisfying that the water supplies at school were still not working properly and therefore the hygiene at the sanitary facilities was suffering. Kammerlander showed himself immensely impressed on his tour through the farming land, seeing the biogas plant and the results of agricultural growing a diverse variety of plants. This shows the high motivation and commitment the farming staff invests working exemplary. The children and leading staff welcomed the guest heartily and showed their enourmous gratitude.
Hans Kammerlander was welcomed and accompanied by Sunil Krishna Shrestha, the Country Director of NHB, who took much time to show the visitors around.
The famous mountaineer came together with a group of trekking tourists who had rounded Manaslu (8,163 m) and passed the Larkya-La-Pass (5,220 m) the previous two weeks. All group members were deeply impressed of the commitment of the NHB and of the friendliness and lust for life of the people in Nepal.
Author: Siegfried Butz, Management Hans Kammerlander – Germany – May 2016
Mitschnitt radioWelt am Abend, Bayern 2 vom 25.04.16
Der Wiederaufbau - Nepal ein Jahr nach dem Erdbeben, Autor Ruslan Amirov
Proceeds of donated dental gold
A very extraordinary request reached us in spring 2015. A dental surgery from the Hessian administrative district of Darmstadt-Dieburg intended to donate the proceeds of the sale of their patients’ donated dental gold. A patient had called the attention of Marc Ohle, the owner of the dental surgery, to our organization.
Then he started his collection project, during which he collected dental gold and old gold from patients in donation boxes set out on the reception desk. 1822.52 Euro was the proceeds of his campaign – a real success. There had already been a great variety of different fund raising campaigns, but this one was unprecedented and very special. Thousand thanks to Marc Ohle and the unknown patients who zuset the ball rolling.
New Project – NHB funds a small orphanage
The NHB has started to financially support a small orphanage in Sunakothi, a village 10 km south of Kathmandu. A former volunteer initiated this bond in January 2015. Supporting other people’s project isn’t something new for NHB, in the contrary, it all started like this more than twenty years ago with the Mary Ward charity school or the charity pharmacy of the Bir Hospital run by the German-Nepali Aid Organization Stuttgart (DNH). Many things have changed as is known, especially concerning the NHB’s own projects.
No matter how big NHB’s own projects have become, the named projects of other organizations have always received the same – party significantly high – financial support. Even more projects, like the Siddhi Memorial Hospital in Bhaktapur or the Midpoint Hospital in Nawalparasi, have been added to the list during the last couple of years. This is only made possible by the generous donations and the responsible dealing with the trusted money.
From a student and travel guide to an „orphanage mother“
Back to the small orphanage, the Child Help Education Fund (CHEF):
Seven boys and girls aged between five and sixteen are living at the orphanage which Lila Devi and her brother Oman founded in 2011 as a non-governmental organization (NGO), so the government doesn’t support this project financially. Lila Devi, 27 years then, used to work at a trekking tourist office in Kathmandu and her wage together with some donations from tourists formed the basis of her project. She finished her studies with a master in sociology at the Tribhuvan University of Kathmandu and married last year. Her husband, who studies medicine, also cares for the children of the orphanage. Lila’s brother Oman has left the country to gain his family’s means of subsistence abroad.
The CHEF lies on the ground floor of a three-story residential building. The children come from the district of Myagdi, which is well-known to tourists who trek through the Kali Gankaki valley between Dhaulagiri and Annapurna. All the children share the same social background like illiteracy of their parents, many siblings, no income, diseases or death of the bread-earner.
Postponed is not abandoned
The request of the volunteer was pushed into the background by the earth quake last April, but has never been forgotten. Some local coordinators visited CHEF again and again and in the end Ralf Petschl, the chairman of the NHB together with his wife Ingrid in February 2016. It has been decided that the orphanage will receive 8,000 Euro annually for the next five years, which will be sufficient for its running costs. Moreover, the children have already been provided with clothes, shoes, sanitary articles and school material taken from the fund of the Shaligram children’s home. This provision will be kept in regular intervals.
Living in a constricted room
The children sleep in two small rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls. Lila Devi sleeps in the dorm with the girls and her husband Raj Sunar in the other one with the boys. The married couple doesn’t own any separate rooms. For the chores, Lila gets help from Sabin, a sixteen-year-old who lived with his grandmother until she died. In addition, there is Emse, a 13-year-old girl, who is a very good chef and who wants to become a nurse one day.
Looking for a volunteer
Lila Devi keeps looking for volunteers who want to live and work at her small orphanage for at least two months. The volunteers will have the privilege of having their own room.
Anybody interested can contact us via info@nepalhilfe-beilngries.de.
Bavarian politicians visit NHB children’s home – in their luggage some relief
This year the world women’s conference took place in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu from 13th to 18th March. The participants from Bavaria also visited the Shaligram children’s home, which is located in Lubhu only some miles away from the big city.
The politicians from Eichstätt, Augsburg and Ebersberg used this occasion to visit the forty girls and boys of the NHB main project together with Sunil Shrestha, the coordinator of the aid organization. Tanja Schorer-Dremel (CSU) and Eva Gottstein (FW) as well as Dr. Simone Strohmayr (SPD) from Augsburg and Johanna Mühlfeld (ÖDP) from Ebersberg, they all had heavy luggage, namely six kitbags packed with brand-new blue children’s trekking shoes which were sponsored by LOWA and brought to Nepal as free allowance. This amount of shoes even allows the provision of some more children at the local schools and some other people affected by the earth quake. Besides that, the visitors had bought 270 kg food, e.g. rice, lentils and beans, from their own means. That’s enough to cook the national dish Dal Baht for several weeks. Of course, the children were more interested in the sweets the women brought from Germany.
Sunil Shrestha and the manager of the children’s home, Radhika Singh Maharjan, welcomed the guests from Bavaria together with the children. Two volunteers from Munich who were working at schools and at Shaligram for several months also made the guests feel home.
During their tour through the house and the property itself, the politicians were very flabbergasted by the biogas plant, the photovoltaic and the solar panels and thus by the environmentally sustainability of the institution itself. After they had signed the visitors’ book, the politicians said goodbye with a song – the Bavarian anthem.
Visits like this are always a good moment for NHB to show transparency about its work. Nothing is more revealing than getting an immediate insight on the ground, just like the Bavarian group did. These contacts are very important for the organisation’s found-raising in Beilngries and in whole Germany.
At this point we would like to thank everybody who travelled to Nepal and took reliefs with them in their free allowance. Without their energetic commitment it wouldn’t be possible to support the people in Nepal in the way we are able to do it. Thanks!
The reconstruction has started …
…at least in Sangachok, where the entire school building had to be levelled. Within walking distance of the former school, the government had already intended to erect a college in 2013, construction had started with the brickwork complete but stalled due to lack of money. During his visit in July 2015, Manfred Lindner inspected the partially complete building and decided to find out whether it could be completed to be used as the new school.
After some negotiations with the community of Sangachok about the usage of the building, the conveyance of property (land and partially complete building) was fixed. Thanks to the donations of NHB, work on completion of the building will start in March 2016. The ten classrooms will be finished by summer 2016 and the first pupils will move in from their temporary classrooms to their proper school.
By the way: the window and door frames of the old school which were undamaged were taken out of the ruined school and will be used in the new building. As soon as the administrative decision of the government gives the green light we will also start the reconstruction of the Jana Jagriti School.
Just a little song
It is a little song the 16-year-old Suku Maja Lobchen sang for Betina Wanner for her farwell. The German woman used her holiday to play a part in the daily life of our Shaligram children’s home in Lubhu.
During her time there, Betina Wanner was living in the main building of our new nursery, which is cared for by the parents of Suku Maja, who has been blind since her birth. They live there together with their other daughter Sushila, an eleven year old, blind girl. The daily life of the married couple has been planting and growing a great variety of vegetables and caring for pigs, hens and ducks ever since.
Tashi and Kippa Lobchen came here seven years ago with their two blind daughters and their two able-bodied sons from their home village Ramche, which lies far from public infrastructure and which is dear to trekker who love this area – the Langtang Himal.
Since an operation eleven years ago, Suku Maja has been able to notice her environment dimly, which is also true for her sister, whose eye-operation was paid by NHB. Suku Maja has been living at the School for the Blind in Chautara, which was founded by our partners from Lichtenegg. Currently she and all the other inhabitants of the boarding school are housed in a provisionary building because of the severe damage caused by the earth quake.
Suku Maja’s singing skills, which the manager of our children’s home, Radhika Singh Maharjan, calls “hidden treasure”, shall not be kept from our friends and supporters, that’s why they recorded her. It is just a little song and the audio-visual quality could be better, but any one who listens carefully will hear more than that.
Indian-Nepali border open again
The blockade of the Indian-Nepali border came to an end on the 06th Feb 2016. After more than five months, goods have now been able to pass across the border to Nepal again. Importantly fuel, gas and building materials have been able to be delivered since then. An argument which lasted more than five months and which made millions of Nepali suffer finally came to an end.
Apart from the earth quake in April/May 2015, this border blockade was the biggest disaster for Nepal over the last couple of decades, which however hardly was reported of in the media worldwide.
In the next few weeks the price for fuel will normalize again, after people temporarily had to pay up to 3€ a litre. The same goes for cooking gas which was occasionally not available, which forced the population to use wood for cooking and which in turn led to a rise in forest clearance.
You can find further information to this topic here: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/key-india-nepal-border-post-open-trucks-cross-after-5-months/
Positive German – Nepali cooperation
Many people who have ever travelled to Nepal keep returning there. I am among these people. I used to follow the work of NHB now and then until the day that I asked if I could do them a favour. I used the rest of my free allowance to take a kitbag full of LOWA children’s shoes with me to Nepal. These shoes were sponsored by LOWA itself.
Sunil Shrestra, the local coordinator of NHB, took me on a tour which also led us to the district of Sindhupalchok. This region in particular was severely hit by the second earth quake on 12th May 2015. The friendly German-Nepali cooperation has been really positive.
Our tour leads us on a well-constructed (considering Nepali standard) main road from Kathmandu to Tibet. After one hour of bends we turned in Dolalghat to go in the direction of Chautara on a small serpentine road uphill after crossing the river Indravati Nadi. The landscape is densely populated and narrowly terraced. Sometime later the path leads down onto a narrow, macamized road through small villages. Here we can see the extent of the damage from the May earth quake very clearly. There are only ruins of the former houses and most miserable huts have been repaired in a rough-and-read way with some corrugated metal sheets and tarpaulins. The climate of the last couple of months with its monsoon and enormous temperature variations has deteriorated the quality of the plastic material. That’s why the shelters might not be sufficient for the winter nights to come.
Only a few schools without damage
We arrive at Phalante. Here the new LOWA-School was opened only in the previous November. Fortunately, this school was undamaged by the earth quake. About 200 children from the surrounding villages attend this school. The pupils had been expecting our group with Sunil Shrstha and Shyam Pandit, the school construction coordinator. They formed a long queue ordered according to size. Most of them held a Khada, which is a self-made flower necklace of Tagetes or Bougainvillea blossoms and which is said to bring good luck as well as the silk scarves the children to give us as presents - a very moving gesture.
Our SUV is loaded with second-hand clothes for cold days – including the fifty pairs of new LOWA trekking shoes in various children sizes. After we have handed out the shoes we can see some children walking around like storks: Wearing sturdy shoes is a completely new experience for them. Children and parents are happy about new trousers, pullovers or jackets, which Sunil Shrestha has collected either from private people or from shops in Kathmandu. All pupils go back to their classrooms after this exciting event. They wave goodbye smiling happily.
We are welcomed at Ramadevi Secondary School in Harre by children waiting for us with brightly shining eyes and innumerable khadas. Some girls perform dances and receive a round of applause from their schoolmates and the guests. Some boys have prepared a small flag of Nepal made of cardboard, which they hand over with pride.
Education is the Alpha and Omega
Shyam Pandit shows us the damage at several schools and talks about them during our tour. The enormous violence of the earth quake can be seen and felt which leaves us stunned. Only three of the NHB-schools are undamaged while the other fifteen either need significant rehabilitation or a complete reconstruction. This is also true for the school in Chautara with its annexed school for the blind and its 15 children who live there. At the moment they are living in temporary accommodation nearby and are being taught in classrooms in shanties and tarpaulins. In Chautara we also meet the young practitioner Doctor Sabina Parajuli. The 24-year-old is the first to have studied medicine supported by NHB. Today she works at the hospital in Chautara. She welcomes the guests in a very friendly way and introduces herself in perfect English. Her calm and self-confident appearance shows very clearly that she knows what she wants.
Personality is what counts for a country
Sarita Pathak is well-educated and self-confident. The 26-year-old was the first child of the children’s home in Lalitpur. The children’s home was built 23 years ago and was the first project of the NHB. The building itself was spared by the earth quake – with exception of the photovoltaic and the garden wall. Today Sarita Pathak herself has become the boss of the children’s home. 40 children and teens between four and nineteen live here. They are from difficult family backgrounds or have only one parent. Living at the orphanage the children are supposed to stay in contact with their family. Sarita manages the staff of the children’s home and the farming land which supplies the institution. Surva Chimara economizes ecologically and without mineral fertilizer or pesticides. He proudly shows us how he makes compost and what he can harvest in winter, including cauliflower and broccoli.
Reconstruction will take years and many supporters
NHB have made sure that the school and daily life for the children and teens can go back to normal as soon as possible. They know how important education is for young people in Nepal. The reconstruction of the destroyed schools will take time and the support of many people. Indispensable young people like Doctor Sabina Parajuli and Sarita Pathak will become the tower of strength of the country.
Anne Oschwald (Free-lance journalist)
More information
Any kind of support helps the people in Nepal. For example, anyone who travels to Nepal can use their surplus weight of his or her free allowance to take more LOWA children shoes with them. Regular shipping and customs would be disproportionally high.