The State Police Battalion (Bereitschaftspolizeiabteilung) based in Eichstaett has had friendly relations with Nepalhilfe in nearby Beilngries for more than twenty years, with Nepalhilfe representatives regularly holding talks at the police facilities and thus prompting numerous young policemen to travel to Nepal. On August 25th, 2017, a celebration was held at the Eichstaett Battalion’s gymnasium honoring 109 young police masters upon their graduation from their training scheme.

Thanks to diligent planning and many donations, the event made a profit, which the participants donated to the Batallion’s booster club and to Nepalhilfe Beilngries e.V. Seminar spokespeople Jennifer Schreistetter, Christian Randelzhofer and Tizian Predeschly presented Manfred Lindner, deputy director of Nepalhilfe, with a check for the respectable amount of 1049 euros (about 1100 US dollars).

October 2017 – We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words, and this is particularly true of the pictures experienced photographer Kathrin Vogl from Munich made during her stay at our children’s house.

She snapped pictures of different moments of everyday life there, and we are delighted to show them to you.

The images express concepts such as “caring, feeling secure, trust, happiness, zest for life and friendship”

Michaela and Michael Rebel as well as Maria Hundsdorfer from the team at Nepalhilfe Beilngries spent nine days in Nepal in October. They were joined by Betina Wanner and Stefanie Rebele for a schedule crammed with dates and destinations as evidence of how far-flung this organisation has become.

Whether it was laying the cornerstone for the new school complex in Sangachok, the inaugurations of the schools at Sanosiruwari and Gothatar, talks with sisters of the Congregation of Jesus, visits to schools being renovated in Sindhupalchok District and government representatives in the region, or add to that a visit to Midpoint Community Memorial Hospital a Nawalpur/Terai or the little orphanage of Lila Devi in Dhapakhel.

Not to mention the handover of two new ambulances worth 10,000 euro apiece and of course calls at the Shaligram children’s home in Lubhu and the Siddhi Memorial Hospital in Bhaktapur. 

A stressed out rental car driver and school inaugurations

It is 90 kilometers from Kathmandu to Sindhupachok District northeast of the capital. There, widely dispersed mountain villages had been hard hit by the 2015 earthquake. Because the roads were totally wrecked in some places, the driver of the party’s rental 4x4 eventually announced that proceeding any further would be “too dangerous” and that he would rather head home. The visitors from Germany made it to their destinations after all, among them the “LOWA School” in Falate, which is especially dear to Betina Wanner, wife of LOWA’s head of sales for Germany, or the newly built home for the blind in Chautara, which Sanjay Sapkota, the engineer in charge, says will be finished in May 2018. Then, the 14 boys and girls will finally have a new house worth calling home.

Special memories remain of the cornerstone-laying ceremony at Sangachok, where construction has begun on the first of three building units. The school there had been totally destroyed, but the guests found it hard to believe a healthy birch fig tree which had been providing soothing shade need to be cleared away by mighty excavator shovesl.

Ram Prasad Dhital, a disarmingly open politician stepped up to the microphone during the inauguration ceremony at the school in Sanosiruwari, reminded listeners that after the earthquake, the local population had pleaded to the government for help, but it had been Nepalhilfe Beilngries that had arrived instead. The ceremony closed a loop of sorts: after all, Michaela and Michael Rebele had laid the cornerstone here almost exactly four years ago. This time, the visitors had brought with them a symbolic cheque for 10,000 euros. The money will be spent on furniture, a library and computers for the school.

Four years was also the time it had taken to completely finish the Shramsheel Vidyapit Higher Secondary School in Gothatar. This will be cheered by the students at the middle school in Oberhaunstadt near Ingolstadt, who have been canvassing donations for ten years under the heading “School for school”. The impressive building now stands six stories high and can accommodate up to 800 children. Kamal Prasad Dahal, former headmaster and long-serving coordinator, was positively bursting with pride as he showed the guests around the building.

New ambulances handed over

Two more ambulances bearing the Nepalhilfe Beilngries logo will drive on the roads of Nepal. One of them will be based in Kawasoti/Terai not far from the Midpoint Hospital. Maria Hundsdorfer and Michael Rebele handed the vehicle over at a small celebration. As the head of the local Red Cross explained, the car features air conditioning and a powerful light and horn, both a boon in the lowlands that can often be hot, humid and fogy.

Another ambulance will be stationed in Namjung in Gorkha District. Its sourcing had been a project led by Honorary Consul General Ram Pratap Thapa, a resident of Cologne, an old friend and supporter of Nepalhilfe Beilngries. The new 4x4 will be serving his home community.

Caring for a foundling – Tihar festival at the children’s home

A foundling only a few weeks old was one of the centres of attention during the visit to Siddi Memorial Hospital in Bhaktapur. The child had been found in a road ditch in eastern Nepal and had reached the hospital via a kind of odyssee. There, little Kanja is now being pampered and lovingly cared for by the finder’s daughter, whose family intends to continue looking after the little one. The guests from Germany had brought warm winter clothing, and financial help will also be available if it should prove necessary. A fixture of the schedule was of course a visit to Shaligram children’s home Lubhu, where the children and the staff exchanged gifts and had their foreheads adorned with the artfully crafted tika. Of course, the guests from Germany arrived with suitcases bulging with clothing, shoes, sports gear and of course sweets. It is perhaps fitting to close of this rundown of a travelogue with the words of thanks coming from students at one of the schools that has already been completed. This perhaps best reflects the importance of the work being done in Germany and Nepal: “We heard that God will come to us in different guises. He came to our community to rebuild our school and thus also our confidence. We sincerely thank those who had a heart for us. They have strengthened our hope and our dreams of a better future.

Selling a calendar to raise funds for a charitable organisation is neither exceptional nor novel. Nepalhilfe Beilngries has been selling its own calendar since 1997.

Compared with today’s print run of 10,000, the venture’s beginnings were modest indeed, featuring 50 hand-made calendars showing images from members’ collections.

This year, as in the past years, pictures have been provided by Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Ralf Dujmovits, Hans Kammerlander and Dieter Glogowski. Having these renowned alpinists scour their photo archives for motives is unusual and deserves a special mention. It also enhances the calendar’s value.

The calendar is available for 17 euros via the homepage’s calendar sales section. It is also on sale at several outlets in the Beilngries area and in Regensburg. The 43.5 by 40.5 cms calendar is made of a cover sheet, twelve month sheets and an information page. It shows impressions from the Himalaya’s majestic landscape and its culture and people.

The calendar has built up a worldwide following. At Nepalhilfe Beilngries, Werner Eisenhofer is responsible for calendar shipping. He has stuck markers in a large map to denote recipient countries, among them almost all of Europe’s nations, but also Chile, Dubai, Australia, Thailand, Georgia and Canada. Clients range from individuals purchasing a single copy to companies ordering major quantities to give away to their customers, a gratifying example, for which we extend our thanks. 

The revenue from sales of the calendar is badly needed given the resources required for swiftly proceeding reconstruction and rehabilitation of buildings damaged by the earthquakes of April/May 2015. Some of the buildings are already back in service or face commissioning in the months to come, returning them to their original purpose. At the same time, service continues at existing institutions such as the Shailgram children’s home, currently housing 42 children aged five to 18 years, or the old age home at Siddhi Memorial Hospital, themselves also requiring funds for their ongoing operation.

Order your calendar from:

Nepalhilfe Beilngries e.V.
Postfach 1211
92336 Beilngries

Use the calendar sales section of the website

or shop in person at 

Regensburg: Buchhandlung Pustet, Gesandtenstraße und Donau- Einkaufszentrum  (Shopping Centre)
Beilngries:  Buchladen Barbara Duft, Hauptstraße 21 und Touristikbüro
Berching: Cafe Mittelbach, Reichenauplatz 2
Dietfurt: Tourist Information im Rathaus
Parsberg: Buchhandlung Buchfink, Dr. Boecale-Straße 12
Plankstetten: Hofladen im Benediktinerkloster, Klosterplatz 1

April 2015’s enormous earthquake in Nepal left 9000 dead and ten thousands injured, it also crippled the country’s infrastructure and destroyed uncounted buildings. the epicentre lay in Sindhupalchok district, about 80 kms north of Kathmandu. This is also the area where a large number of the schools of Nepalhilfe Beilngries can be found. 14 of them were totally destroyed or damaged. This has upended member’s schedules for the past two-and-a-half years. Since then, the priority has been on raising donations in order to repair the massive damage as quickly as possible.

Following the earthquake, Nepalese authorities first issued a ban on construction work and, quite rightly, inspected all buildings for soundness and earthquake resistance. It was to take almost a year and a half of  tortuous administrative process until the government finally gave the green light for reconstruction. Nepalhilfe Beilngries attempted to make the best possible use of this delay and so worked with its local coordinators to commission a civil engineering practice. Its remit was to inspect each building independently of the government, to record damages and to stipulate appropriate safety concepts for reconstruction.

Cost increases prove a burden

Costs had originally been forecast at 900,000 euros but have since risen to a seven-digit figure. This is not surprising given an inflation rate of about 10 per cent and an enormous demand for building materials have put upward pressure on prices. Reconstruction has now begun thanks to the donations collected to date. Much has evolved and changed since at all building sites. In July 2017, construction finally started at was Michi Dachler School in Kadambas, which together with the school for the blind in Chautara, the administrative seat of Sindhupalchok District, has been the special focus of the Beilngriesians’ activity. This is because Michi Dachler was the first of currently 28 schools to be funded by Nepalhilfe Beilngries, and because the boys and girls living at the school for the blind can be considered doubly handicapped following the quake.

White turns into yellow 

The hope is now that there are no more additional delays, whether caused by government or by another extreme monsoon season such as the country experienced this year. Barring such obstacles, the end of next year should see the status quo before the quake. Makeshift buildings made from corrugated iron and bamboo, which still host classes today, will then be retired.

One change is visible even now: rehabilitated schools sport a bright yellow colouring instead of the former white-and-blue livery. Witness the Shree Bandevi Lower Secondary School, which used to form part of a joint building also housing the school for the blind. Unlike the latter’s, Shree Bandevi’s concrete structure was sound enough to warrant rehabilitation and serve as the basis for the new building. The same is true of the Shree Irkhu Lower Secondary School at Irkhu with its 600 pupils.

Groundbreakings and grand openings

While the monsoon wrought havoc in other places, Nepalhilfe’s institutions were  mercifully spared, though blocked sections of the country’s path and road network, sketchy at the best of times, hampered the supply of building materials and furnishings for weeks if it did not make it outright impossible. But things could have been a lot worse considering the state of other regions in the country, and so late October saw one groundbreaking and several inaugurations of completed school buildings.

And so the perspective is to the future. Sanjaya Sapkota, the engineer in charge, has drawn up plans which will only see the light if donors keep  on donating (Reference „Earthquake“. Sales of the new „Himalaya 2018“ calendar, available from October, should also generate additional revenue.

Dear visitors of our homepage, Sunil Shrestha has been our coordinator in Nepal for many years. Here is his report from the Nepalese countryside. It provides an authentic picture of  customs and conditions of people’s everyday life. We also think it is a gratifying feedback and confirmation of our committment and our cooperation: 

September 2017

Impressions about a visit at Tanahu School Project 

It was a day with sun and rain, the Sunday 20^th of. August 2017. I get in a Jeep at Kalanki crossing at 10 AM and waited for Nepalhilfe Beilngries Project Coordinator, my colleague Mr. Shyam Pandit and some other friends. Among them was the president of Sangachok Village Improvement Societies (VIS), Mr. Krishna Sapkota and his uncle, a retired Nepalese Government teacher. 

This composition was a great opportunity to visit our supported School project in Tanahu along with the VIS chairman in team. We start driving on the way to Tanahu. As we already had an early lunch so we do not need to stop our Jeep on the way and drove directly to Dumre Bazar joking, laughing and singing and sharing each and every member’s life. We passed our time so joyfully that we  not noticed reaching Dumre Bazar. There we had some refreshment drinks and waited a cousin brother of Shyam Pandit. After 30 minutes of waiting with refreshment in warm, sunny time in Dumre Bazar. He came and introduced us that he was a renowned forestry specialized profession, Dr. Shiva Hari Pandit. Who is a big potential person for the birth village of the Pandit family. 

After completing our group we start driving to Ratanpoor, Tanahu District where our supported school project is under construction. The road to Ratanpoor from Dumre Bazar was very jumping and turning and has to drive through the river and cross many hills with some dangerous turnings. Finally we reached the birth place of our Shyam Pandit village, called Ratanpoor, Bhanu Municipality at 6:00 PM. 

Very fast we washed our face. After being fresh all the team members are starting to cook dinner in a traditional fire wood cooking stove, made of stones and clay. At 9:00 p.m. we start taking our dinner together with the school management committee and village people. We were about 10 people, enjoying our dinner and drinks with the support of torch lamp in a yard. We joked and laugh a lot. The night we spent in a temporary shelter, made of earth bags hut, next to Shyams birth home. 

Next morning at 06:00 AM we start to walk around the hills and observed the forestry planted trees. Dr. Pandit was showing us the water sources where their families used to be queue one hour to fill the pot for drinking and kitchen used. Same way he was showing us the childhood naughty memories, doing along with his friends, steeling vegetables and fruits from other fields and running away in the friend’s gathering place. This was very funny,  especially for me because my childhood life was completely different. 

Another interesting part of our walk was that most of their bigger children in the houses are outside the village for their professional services with their families. All the guardians expect their children to come back in the bigger festivals only. Most of the houses are empty, waiting for repair and maintenance. Only senior citizens and smaller children who go to school live inside. 

At 09:00 AM we came back to our earth bag house and start packing to take our breakfast, which was left over Dal Bhat from Pandit’s uncle’s house. We enjoyed this breakfast then we started to drive to the school Building site. The road was rough with jumping and bumping. At two places we all have to get out of the Jeep and remove big stones to make a driving place. After this experience we reached the “Shree Saraswoti Mandir Secondary School” which was under construction in good quality work and supported by us “Nepalhilfe Beilngries e. V. Germany” (NHB). 

We observed the old classrooms covered with tin shades where the schooling was going over. We are very glad to talk with few students concerning their new school building, which is under construction. The students are very thankful to us (Nepalhilfe Beilngries e.V. Germany) for this generous support which they never expected, as local government is never supporting to build an earthquake resistant permanent building. Then the school management committee prepared an informal welcome program to us and asked me to give a special impression speech in front of grade nine and ten  students. I informed how NHB members came in mind to our communities by building schools, Home for needy children, supporting in health and sanitation through hospitals and health center, drinking water supply in schools and respected senior citizen homes within the last 25 years. 

I told them what we have achieved till today in our service to the need. The children were amazed and surprised. One of the girl stood up and asked me how it was possible to support this many projects in 25 years in coordinating of 15 active German members. I replied her, everything is possible if we think we are serving in motto “Service above selves”. We just need to build our “Believing System” in our mind and go further not looking back, and then everything is possible. 

Finally our Shyam Pandit explained, why this idea came to this village. Because it was necessary to make a complete and safe school as in his childhood they normally have to take a class in a shade of trees or open sky. 

On the way back we stopped by a retired army officer who is living with his 90 years old mother and honeybees, after return back to his village home. We were invited to test the rough honey which was very delicious. This man explained us his decision to serve the old mother and doing small business selling honey in the market. It came to my mind that, if every household of this village thinks to come back like this man then the village will be inhabited with young and energetic people. But this is just thinking which is never possible as young people are living with their own families in towns now. 

We drove back to Kathmandu and reached late evening safely our home. After all my impression I came to the result that this is the right palace to give a new school building. Support like this is very much needed in many villages of Nepal. But to reach every village is not possible for a small organization like us. So at least I would like to salute all the executive members, donors and well-wishers of Nepalhilfe Beilngries e.V. Germany for this right decision to support the school project in this village. Also recommend to find the donors and supporters in near future to make a twinning with any schools from Germany to make this school a “Happy School”. 

Monsoon season, now coming to a close in Southeast Asia, has been more violent than for many years. India, Nepal and Bangladesh were especially affected. There were several thousand dead, uncounted injuries and large-scale loss of property.

Thankfully, our institutions were spared, but we still wanted to provide help and support to the victims. Midpoint Community Memorial Hospital (MCMH) in Kawasoti in southern Nepal lies in an area especially hit by the monsoon’s masses of water and held six assistance camps over several weeks to provide emergency medical help to the area’s population.

We have provided intense support for the hospital for several years. Ram Rai Pandit, the facility’s manager, now tells us that it treated a total of 1,210 ill or injured patients during the period, terming the conditions he and his staff encountered “heartrending”. According to his account, the focus was especially on reducing the risk of infections and preventing the outbreak of epidemics while providing basic health  care to patients. Pandit said he and his team were ready to help if similar situations arose. We have been provided close to 10,000 euros to support the assistance camps.

This year’s monsoon season in Nepal and its neighbour countries has been exceptionally violent, with attendant rains wreaking death and devastation. This was especially true of Terai in the south of the country. Authorities have reported a total of 160 dead, not counting the many missing and injured. Masses of water swept away houses or badly damaged them. Multiple landslides, destroyed bridges and roads hampered rescue teams on their way to the affected areas.

As far as Nepalhilfe Beilngries’ institutions are concerned they have been spared from damage. the organisation nonetheless feels it is its duty to help the people in distress. Kawasoti Midpoint Community Memorial Hospital, located in Terai, which the Beilngriesians have been generously supporting for several years, has set up several assistance camps in the regions hit hardest.

This makes a donation from Beilngries’ Altmühltalrealschule (junior high school) all the more welcome. Lily Black and Johannes Wiest, the editors of this year’s graduation magazine presented Manfred Lindner, vice-president of Nepalhilfe Beilngries e.V., with the proceeds from the magazine sale amounting to 1,902 euros as a donation. Manfred Lindner will immediately forward the money to Nepal, where the recipients are sure to welcome the assistance.

In case anyone would like to follow the example of the graduates, details can be found on the donation page on our website.

Sehen Sie selbst:

Shree Sukute Lower Secondary School, Sukute

Shree Siddhi Ganesh Higher Secondary School, Sanusiruwari

Shree Bandevi Lower Secondary School, Chautara

Shree Irkhu Lower Secondary, Irkhu

All the effort in the forerun of the jubilee action for the 25^th anniversary seems to have been worth it, which was shown by the great immediate response after the celebration on 18^th March. 300 guests from all parts of the republic as well as from Switzerland, Austria and Italy filled the assembly hall of the grammar school Beilngries - among them innumerable donators and benefactors, some of them have been beneficial in various ways since the early beginning of our aid organisation.

A commemorative speech with punchlines and words of thanks

Ralf Petschl, chairman of NHB, led the audience through the history of Nepalhilfe from the early beginning to today. It all started in 1992, when the four police officers Christian Thumann, Manfred Lindner, Karl und Michael Rebele returned home from their trekking tour in Nepal and presented their photos in a slide show in order to raise donations. 2,000 German Mark was the outcome of this first event, which was a motivating and overwhelming result. Just as the high peaks and deep valleys of Nepal, the meanwhile 15 members of NHB have since been on their way with ups and downs. There have been definitely more ups than downs and that’s how they can be proud of 10 million Euro donated by an uncountable number of supporters, almost 150 fund-raisers by renowned mountaineers and cabaret artists, arranged bazaars and calendar sales.

This money has been invested into 28 schools, which have since been attended by 20,000 pupils, into Shaligram Children’s Home, which is home to presently 43 children, or into the support of various hospitals, for instance the Siddhi Memorial Hospital in Bhaktapur. Not completing the entire list of projects, Petschl additionally mentioned the fire brigade and ambulance vehicles delivered from Germany and India, the water supply projects and the construction of a school kitchen.

However, everything started with jumping on bandwagons, like the dispensary of the Bir-Hospital in Kathmandu or the charity school of the Mary Ward Sisters in Patan. Thus financial and material support was guaranteed for them. Nevertheless, NHB’s main aim has always been an independent organisation, which Karl Rebele, who used to be chairman and think-tank until his resignation in 2009, managed to pursue. This fundamental idea of independence has since been intensified and pursued by all members, including their friends of the Austrian section Lichtenegg/Burgenland.

Petschl broached the issue of the earth quake of April 2015 and its enormous tragic aftermath in his speech, of course. The overwhelming response of the German population and their generosity made it possible for the NHB to coordinate first emergency measures within short time. Nevertheless, it will take some more years to reach the status quo of the days before the natural disaster.

Words of thanks from Nepal and the deputy mayor

Shyam Dhaubadel, manager of Siddhi Memorial Hospital in Bhaktapur, emphasised the importance of the financial support of NHB for his institution and therefore for all the mothers and children as well as all for the residents of the neighbouring elderly home. NHB has become a reliable partner for him and his employees over the years.

Sunil Shrestha, who has always been the linchpin from the early days on, held his speech in German, which caused long applause by the audience – especially when he said he would take his hat off to the hard work NHB members have been doing, and when he was lifting his topi – the traditional Nepali headgear – at the same time. Doing so, he showed his and his fellow people’s deep thanks for the long-lasting and efficient cooperation.

He and his fugleman, Shyam Pandit, originally teacher at the first school built by NHB in Kadambas, came to celebrate the anniversary with their wives. The guests from Nepal who were all wearing traditional clothes had brought along a special surprise in the form of medals with which they decorated each member of Nepalhilfe Beilngries and Lichtenegg. The female members also received each a nice woven scarf, whereas the male members were presented a topi. The honoured party was obviously highly pleased about this surprise.

An envoy of the municipality, deputy mayor Mr Anton Grad, also attended the festivity and thanked the organization for their commitment. He emphasised the found-raiser events, no matter slide-shows by adventurers or evenings with cabaret artists, which enriched the cultural programme and made the town itself well-known over regional boundaries, even partly in Germany. He handed over a donation cheque and wished the members of NHB to go on with the same impetus and success in the future.

Bridge builder Buddhi Maya Sherpa

Buddhi Maya Sherpa from Klagenfurt was invited to come to Beilngries to convey an impression of Nepal to the audience. Her presentation about a life between two cultures, held in a Styrian dialect, showed the facets of her spare life with her parents and siblings at the foot of Mount Everest and her growing-up in Austria with her adoptive father, and enthused the audience. Her speech reflected various experiences of her very own, but also the fact that ambition and hard work often lead to achieving ambitious aims. She, as a successful entrepreneur and first female Nepali trekking guide, would know how to reach targets.

In the end she mentioned that she was also indebted to NHB as five children of her home region found a new safe home in Shaligram Children’s home. 

Renowned mountaineers as guests

The presence of world-known and famous mountaineers like Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Ralf Dujmovits und Hans Kammerlander made the jubilee event even more special. They all have been good friends with NHB and generous supporters for many years, as well as providing photos for our calendar or being coordinator to further benefactors. A meeting of such extraordinary mountaineers - Sigi und Gabi Hupfauer also need to be mentioned here – won’t happen again for a long time. Jürgen Winkler – famous mountaineer and outstanding photographer - may not be forgotten in this list, as he provided the photos for the calendar for many years.

Ernst Vogt, manager of the editorial department “hiking and climbing” of the Bavarian broadcast, gave a very satisfying feedback as for him the evening was entertaining and worthy of this kind of jubilee. Being impressed by the cheerful atmosphere of the evening, he gave high compliments for the organization.

If all other guests also went home with such a positive feeling, the organizers could call it a successful jubilee action.

Construction work at the various construction sites shows efficient progress in Nepal. The reconstruction of the Shree Setidevi Higher Secondary School in Thulosiruwari, which was destroyed completely in the earthquake of April 2015, and the new building of Shree Saraswati Mandir HSS in Mirlung/Tanahun District represent examples of this positive estimation.

The Cologne journalist Stefan Nestler has mostly been organizing the funding of the first of the two schools, which used to be called “Gerlinde and Ralf School” named after its former benefactors and famous mountaineers. He has been raising a high 5-digit Euro amount with his aid project “School up!”. A special thanks to the organizer himself and the donators.

Only at the end of September 2016, the first stone was laid for the new school building in the village about 80 km north-east of Kathmandu. Not even six months later, the second storey has been finished. The responsible construction supervision plans to have the building mostly finished by the start to the monsoon season and to be able to start exterior work and add the finishing touches during autumn 2017. The pupils will be able to move from the TLC with its corrugated sheet roof, where they have been learning for nearly two years, into the new building in a couple of weeks’ time. The costs of this reconstruction will amount to 200,000 Euro.

First steps toward a new school building

There is a new building project on the list of NHB, namely the construction of a new school in the district of Thanahun, about 150 km west of Kathmandu and not far from Pokhara. There will be a new school built in Mirlung for approximately 100,000 Euro. The project was started at the beginning of the year and meanwhile the construction site has been levelled, the groundwork prepared and the construction steel set in concrete towering into the blue sky. By the middle of the year most of the building will be completed.

122 boys and girls as well as their 12 teachers are looking forward to moving from an old mudbrick building which didn’t have any electric light and which was damaged by the earthquake into a new school building which will be a building with two storeys and four classrooms each. The 1100 village people also contributed financially and offered a local seed capital of nearly 2,000 Euro.

These and all our other projects can only be realized because of all your donations. Thanks for them. However, we will need further financial support and donations to continue our work and we would appreciate and be grateful for them. For more information regarding donations, please click HERE.

See for yourself:

Shree Sukute Lower Secondary School, Sukute

Shree Kali Devi Secondary School, Kadambas

Ralf und Gerlinde Schule Thulosirubari

Gyan Mandir Higher Secondary School, Mailchaur

Jana Jagriti Higher secondary school Sangachok

Shree Siddhi Ganesh Higher Secondary School, Sanusiruwari

Mary Ward Higher Secondary School, Lhubu

Blindenschule Lichtenegg, Chautara

Midpoint Hospital

Generous supporter

It´s in the eye of the beholder whether you want to call it luck or a pure incident. It is probably a little bit of both which caused COSMO CONSULT Nuremberg and our NHB to find each other. The result of this connection is the generous financial support with the prospective of further contributions. 

The horrible earthquake in April 2015 in Nepal was the trigger for the head of the company to look for an aid organisation which supports this country. Manfred Gross is the head of the company which was founded in 2010 and focuses mainly on the introduction and the system management of business software solutions. It was his idea to support Nepal, because he has been fascinated by the country and its people since his holiday in 1992. 

While looking for an appropriate aid organisation one of his employees built the bridge to us and it has been “sustainable” so far. 

In November 2016 the 57-year-old entrepreneur, his wife Erika and his daughters Sarah and Stefanie spent their holiday in Nepal. Besides going trekking they also visited our Shaligram children´s home in Lubhu and the Siddhi-Memorial Hospitals in Bhaktapur, which we mainly co-finance. Our staff member Sunil Shrestha took care of them. 

The family later said that they were convinced of the strength of our organisation and of the specific aids. We highly appreciated the fact that our donators had the chance to get a direct insight of our work. They didn’t arrive with empty bags to Nepal, instead they brought along two fully filled kit bags with brand-new LOWA shoes. They were also convinced of the coordination to ship the cargo for free from Beilngries via Nuremberg to Kathmandu. Sunil Shrestha had been already waiting for it at the airport. 

When he arrived back at home with all these experiences, Manfred Gross inspired the management team as well as over 100 employees of COSMO CONSULT of the efficiency of our work. As a result they donated another generous amount of money at the end of the year. On top of that they decided to donate sustainably with a sponsorship for our children´s home in Lubhu, which is a blessing for the currently 43 boys and girls and their responsible nursing staff. 

COSMO CONSULT also donates money to organisations like “Doctors without borders” or “Aktion Mensch”. It is seen as a contribution to support people in need locally and worldwide. It should be a contribution to improve the world a little bit and maybe to inspire others, too. 

We would call the philosophy of the company “Do something good and talk about it!” and we would like to warmly recommend it to everyone who is interested. 

Homepage of the COSMO CONSULT group:
https://de.cosmoconsult.com/

Homepage of COSMO CONSULT Nuremberg:
https://de.cosmoconsult.com/ueber-uns/standorte/deutschland/nuernberg/

Welcome to the orphanage in Dhabakel

The small white taxi weaves through the street of Kathmandu. It is a Saturday and the traffic is not too heavy. However, crossroads, where cars, motorcycle, bicycle, handcarts and sometimes even cows meet, are often very chaotic. This hurly-burly gets quickly unravelled not really elegantly but rather efficiently in a special Nepali way.

This home offers space – inside and outside

I am on my way to the CHEF orphanage, which the NHB financially supports. I am carrying a big bag full of warm winter jackets in all sizes, which I am about to deliver for the children. Lalitpur, where the orphanage is situated, has expanded into Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, whereas the living situation gets kind of rural here. The taxi driver has to ask for directions and needs to turn his car into an even smaller street. Left and right of the street there are small fields and gardens, which are lying fallow at the moment, and some houses scattered to the four winds. One of these is the orphanage in Dhabakel.

Childhood with responsibilities

Several children are playing in the garden and welcome me shyly but curiously. They introduce themselves politely to me. It doesn’t take long and some kids wave a badminton racket in front of my nose to invite me to a match. Himal, Pardip and Amit play against me one after another. After some time I swap into the role of a spectator and Sylvia, a seven-year-old girl, comes to me to chat. She looks like a little tooth-gaped princess with her dark curls and her colourful dress.

Nepali welcome culture

In the back part of the garden, the older girls are washing their clothes, which is one of their chores during their free days. Water for clothes washing is usually cold. Afterwards they put the wet clothes over the washing line. There are some vegetable beds where still some winter vegetables are growing. The 19-year-old Sapana serves tea and noodle-soup with veggies, which is part of the Nepali welcome culture.

Bright and roomy

The front yard also needs tidying. Raj Snar, who has meanwhile come home from university, leads the young helpers in their work. The children between seven and twenty come from all geographic regions of Nepal and now form a colourful family of ten children and teenagers together with their foster parents Lila Devi, Raj Sunar and their eight-months-old son Liam. The building which they have moved in recently is bright and roomy. The few games and clothes are neatly tidied up. Three or four children share one dormitory furnished with bunk beds. One room is reserved for volunteers who commit themselves preferably longer than a couple of weeks. The winter jackets are stored in some wardrobes as the temperatures in December are still warm, at least during the day.

A home even during the holidays

During my next visit a few weeks later, I finally meet Lila Devi, who was on a wedding ceremony in Phokara with her son Liam last time. The 27-year-old studied sociology and is a fulltime mother managing the orphanage. Lila plans to start working again soon as a trekking guide or as a tourist guide in Kathmandu. 

It’s holiday time and the orphanage is quiet. Most of the young occupants have returned to their parents or families. The eight-year-old Himal also spends his holiday in Dhabakel as his father doesn’t accept him being at home. The same goes for the 16-year-old Sabin. Some had to travel far and the warm winter jackets were good for their journey in the icy cold night busses. Delivering the jackets myself was a wonderful opportunity to meet new people and gain new –friends in Nepal.

text/photos: Anne Oschwald, free-lance journalist