megschildren.org

Report on recent visit to Nepal Feb 07

Vince and I arrived in Kathmandu on 13th February. Winters in Kathmandu are usually reasonably mild but our first day there saw freezing conditions and the first snow in 62 years. We were at the school that day and most of the kids had never seen snow before, so there was as you could imagine much excitement. Classes for the rest of the day were pretty much abandoned while the kids spent the rest of the day doing what kids all over the world do in the snow.

Bikash reports that all is going well in Meg’s Home, kids are settled and happy most doing reasonably well at school. I have the kids’ reports here for you to have a look at.

We now have 20 kids, SnehaTamanj aged 5 arrived quite recently. Her father died, her mother unable to cope and she was quite traumatised when she first arrived. Bikash reports that she is slowly improving and starting to communicate with everyone. She is a poor student but the older kids are helping her enormously.

There were 2 volunteers staying at the orphanage while we were there. Both are from Finland and have been before. One of these volunteers, Samuli is in the process of organising a volunteer programme. He has also done a lot of fundraising in Finland. I am waiting for him to send me an email outlining his plans. He also plans to return to Nepal in June of this year and stay for the rest of the year. They are in the process of setting up a website for the purposes of getting volunteers. We have spoken about linking it to ours.

The house has weathered reasonably well having 20 kids, their carers and numerous volunteers living there. We suggested that it would be a good idea to set up a cleaning roster. Will report on how this goes after next visit.

The vegie garden is a great success with kids involved in helping to maintain it. The chook house has been converted into a pantry cupboard as it was too flash for even the most noble of fowls!

House mothers Nanda and Bibechana are happy. Bibechana continues with her tailoring course while
Nanda is in charge of buying food, clothing etc and has gained a lot of confidence in terms of bargaining. She also enters all expenses onto the computer.

The kids bedding is not so great so Bikash is in the process of getting some bunk beds made. The landlady has locked up one of the upstairs rooms which we desperately need. She was away while we were in Nepal so I intend to write to her about this. Our original contract is in Nepali.

The school principal remains extremely supportive of having our kids in the school. At our next visit he will arrange a parent’s assembly day where the kids perform and awards are given. We, that is whoever is next there will be the guest of honour!!