life's short...make it sweet...

Friday, September 30, 2005

Appeal for donations for 44 underprivileged children in an orphanage at Chabahil, Kathmandu, Nepal

Below is the mass mail which i had sent to my frenz 2 days ago....n it generated a lot of kind response!!! Thank you my frenz....n my frenz had forwarded the same mail to other frenz..n some haf responded to me too....thanks to my frenz to be...would love to meet up with all of you when i am back home....u guys are fantastic!!!!


Namaste!!! Greetings from Nepal...

As some of you may have known, i am currrently doing some volunteer work in Kathmandu, Nepal. I am working in an orphanage at Chabahil in the east of Kathmandu Valley. The orphanage, Shree Mother Nepal Disabled Association, has 44 children aged 2 to 14 years old. The orphanage was established 4 years ago but the conditions have been really bad since. I had read about the family history of the children at the orphanage, most of them are without one or both parents. Some of their parents are killed during the Maoist war. Some of the children are from very remote hilly regions of Nepal such as Humla, Jumla (places that can only be reached after many days of walking) where the village conditions are really bad. Most of them came from very poor families in which their parents cannot afford to feed them or send them to school. There are 2 girls who are unable to walk, one is on wheelchair, the other one would crawl. There is a 14 year old boy whose both legs were amputated from his calves onwards as he had meningitis, he is currently relying on artificial limbs to walk. There is a girl who has scabies.

I had a bit of culture shock when i first arrived at the orphanage. Initially in June 2005, i was told that there were 26 children at the orphanage, but 3 months later the number increased to 44 and i was not being informed. Though the number had increased, the living conditions remained the same, there are not enough beds, 2 to 3 children are sharing one bed. They do not have proper beds to sleep on, all they have is bed boards with thin blankets and the blankets are really smelly and dirty. The children only get to bathe once a week on Saturday as there is not enough water, soap and shampoo for them to bathe everyday. The girls do not have underwears to wear, neither do the boys. There are four girls who had reached puberty, when they have their menstruation, they would cut out old rags to improvise as sanitary pads. Sometimes they have to skip school because of their menses.


All the children are receiving education at Kshitiz Secondary English Boarding School. I had gone to the school with them and spoken to the school principal. All the children goes to the same school, however the orphanage owes the school a huge sum of school fees. The principal had given me feedback that the children are good in their studies, however their cleanliness and hygiene needs a lot of improvement. Their uniform are dirty and torn, some of them do not have socks, shoes, shoe laces, school bags spoilt, etc. They do not have enough exercise books to do their homework on. I have bought 50 buttons to replace the missing buttons on their uniforms and it was not enough, i would be getting more, the sewing kit which i brought along proved to be very useful at the orphanage. The children eat 2 meals a day, at 9am before they goes to school and at 7.30pm at night. It is Nepali culture to eat 2 meals a day and they eat dal bhaat (lentil soup and rice) for every meal. They do not get to eat vegetables or fruits, unless during very rare occasions. The children sit on the floor and eat with their hands during meals. As far as possible, i had been trying to get them to wash their hands before meals. They eat a lot of rice, probably to sustain their hunger until the next meal. There is little medicine for them if they fall ill.

It is saddening and depressing at times seeing such situation going on. I have my doubts about the association if the management is corrupted as the conditions did not improve since establishment. It may be that the orphanage is not receiving enough donations, either that the money the received did not go to the children. I had been trying to gather information by talking to the older children, some of them have been staying there for 4 years and the situation never change. One of the girls had mentioned that sometimes people donated vegetables to them but they did not get to eat them. It is not surprising that the NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations) are corrupted as 98 percent of the NGOs are corrupted as there is no proper body to monitor the NGOs. There is little the nepalese can do to curb corruption as the political situation is so unstable now.

All the children are receiving education at Kshitiz Secondary English Boarding School. I had gone to the school with them and spoken to the school principal. The principal had given me feedback that the children are good in their studies, however their cleanliness and hygiene needs a lot of improvement. Their uniform are dirty and torn, some of them do not have socks, shoes, shoe laces, school bags spoilt, etc. They do not have enough exercise books to do their homework on. I have bought 50 buttons to replace the missing buttons on their uniforms and it was not enough, i would be getting more, the sewing kit which i brought along proved to be very useful at the orphanage.

The children eat 2 meals a day, at 9am before they goes to school and at 7.30pm at night. It is Nepali culture to eat 2 meals a day and they eat dal bhaat (lentil soup and rice) for every meal. They do not get to eat vegetables or fruits, unless during very rare occasions. The children sit on the floor and eat with their hands during meals. As far as possible, i had been trying to get them to wash their hands before meals. They eat a lot of rice, probably to sustain their hunger until the next meal. There is little medicine for them if they fall ill.

It is saddening and depressing at times seeing such situation going on. I have my doubts about the association if the management is corrupted as the conditions did not improve since establishment. It may be that the orphanage is not receiving enough donations, either that the money the received did not go to the children. I had been trying to gather information by talking to the older children, some of them have been staying there for 4 years and the situation never change. One of the girls had mentioned that sometimes people donated vegetables to them but they did not get to eat them. It is not surprising that the NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations) are corrupted as 98 percent of the NGOs are corrupted as there is no proper body to monitor the NGOs. There is little the nepalese can do to curb corruption as the political situation is so unstable now.


I certainly feel that the children at the orphanage deserve much more, i am trying to help as much as possible with my current means. The situation at the orphanage was worse than i had expected, their basic needs such as clothing, food, hygiene are not being met. The donated items i had collected from my friends in Singapore would be a bonus to them, really would like to thank everyone who had contributed. However, right now, i am trying to fulfil their basic needs as much as possible. As gathered from the children and from my observation, the children at the orphanage need :

soap
shampoo
spoons for their meals
cups
clothes
sewing kit, buttons
undergarments
sanitary pads
towels (they do not wipe themselves dry after bath, they put on their dirty clothes after bath)
toothbrush

toothpaste
shoes
socks
shoe laces
school bags
exercise books, writing pads
blankets as winter is coming
proper beds
medicine for common illness
food (more nutritous food)
and many many other things....


I am trying to buy the above items in Kathmandu and would be giving the items to the children directly. It is no point donating money to the association as i do not know where the money would go, the money may not go to the children. If you like to make a donation to the children, you can transfer the money to my POSB savings account ( Account No : 131 286 414), i would use the money which you have kindly donated to buy as much of the above items for the children. Do send me an email at tsquarel@gmail.com or sms me at +65 9477 9566 after you have made a donation so that i can keep track of how much money i have collected for the children, i would do a financial statement of the donated amount and how the money is being utilised, the financial statement would be subjected to audit by my auditor friends and you can ask for it when i return to Singapore in January 2006. If you want to make a donation to improve the lives of the 44 children, i hope that you can do it by 18 October 2005 as my last day at the orphanage would be 20 October 2005, i need the time to go and buy the items and pass to them before i leave Nepal. PS: any amount is fine, in fact every dollar would go a long way for the children, they are really deprived.

I certainly feel that the children at the orphanage deserve much more, i am trying to help as much as possible with my current means. The situation at the orphanage was worse than i had expected, their basic needs such as clothing, food, hygiene are not being met. The donated items i had collected from my friends in Singapore would be a bonus to them, really would like to thank everyone who had contributed. However, right now, i am trying to fulfil their basic needs as much as possible. As gathered from the children and from my observation, the children at the orphanage need :

soap
shampoo
spoons for their meals
cups
clothes
sewing kit, buttons
undergarments
sanitary pads
towels (they do not wipe themselves dry after bath, they put on their dirty clothes after bath)
shoes
socks
shoe laces
school bags
exercise books, writing pads
blankets as winter is coming
proper beds
medicine for common illness
food (more nutritous food)
and many many other things....

I am trying to buy the above items in Kathmandu and would be giving the items to the children directly. It is no point donating money to the association as i do not know where the money would go, the money may not go to the children. If you like to make a donation to the children, you can transfer the money to my POSB savings account ( Account No : 131 286 414), i would use the money which you have kindly donated to buy as much of the above items for the children. Do send me an email at
tsquarel@gmail.com or sms me at +65 9477 9566 after you have made a donation so that i can keep track of how much money i have collected for the children, i would do a financial statement of the donated amount and how the money is being utilised, the financial statement would be subjected to audit by my auditor friends and you can ask for it when i return to Singapore in January 2006. If you want to make a donation to improve the lives of the 44 children, i hope that you can do it by 18 October 2005 as my last day at the orphanage would be 20 October 2005, i need the time to go and buy the items and pass to them before i leave Nepal. PS: any amount is fine, in fact every dollar would go a long way for the children, they are really deprived.

Would greatly appreciate your kind help and thanks for your time in reading this mail til this far. Thanks for your big heart in hearing me. I would be uploading some photographs of the situation at the orphanage on my blog :
www.dunlin.blogspot.com Do check them out and thanks so much for your time and being with me in this journey. Do drop me a mail to stay in touch, i really miss you all!!!!! Take good care everyone!!!!!!

til then, pheri betaula (see you again!!!)
dunlin
durga (nepali name)

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