Every year Barbara Rentsch and Peter Vecker spend time in Nepal and have since 2002 done volunteer work for the CWA Children’s Home. Here we present a selection of photos from their large collection.
Every year Barbara Rentsch and Peter Vecker spend time in Nepal and have since 2002 done volunteer work for the CWA Children’s Home. Here we present a selection of photos from their large collection.
Everyday life for the children –when they are eating, playing, dancing or washing clothes– Currently 29 children aged between 2 ½ years and 19 years are living in the Home.
For another 17 children living under the poorest conditions with their families outside of the orphanage, costs for education, health and, in some cases, food are covered.
Every year we celebrate a big birthday party for the children. After a trip to an outdoor pool, many team games are played, an interesting quiz is conducted, and a special dinner is then given ending obviously with a delicious birthday cake.
Until grade 10, our children attend the ‘Little Step Boarding School’. Subsequently, we support them for two to three more years to attend college or vocational training. After school, all children receive help with homework. There are also computer lessons twice a week.
Since there are no workshops in schools in Nepal, we have set up a workshop in which the children regularly attend courses. In addition to learning simple handicraft skills, the children’s creativity is stimulated. Staying tidy during the process of creativity is encouraged.
The organization ‘Pass the Beat’ has sponsored guitars, keyboards, drums and flutes for the Children’s Home and covers the cost of regular music and singing classes. The children practice diligently and with great enthusiasm. Soon they will perform their first short concert.
We always take the kids on day trips, during which we play games and have a picnic. Around the New Year holidays in April, all children and staff are taken on a longer trip of multiple days into the surrounding mountains.
Nepali society has many holidays and religious festivals. In order to understand and preserve the traditions, the children are taught the basics of their culture in special classes. At many festivals, music is played and dances are performed. At the Dashain and Tihar Festival in autumn, the children dance for three days. They borrow the costumes they wear and perform in different places.
In their free time the children tinker and paint enthusiastically. They like to make beautiful decorations for their Home and like to decorate all their creations from the workshop. Under Barbara’s guidance a Christmas card workshop is held every year. In it the children create beautiful cards for our Christmas sale in Switzerland.
In the summer of 2010 we were able to move into our own, specially built Home, on a site just outside Pokhara. This Home provides plenty of space for living, learning and playing and each child has their own bed. The Home has a small spring, a well and a cistern. Two small biogas plants produce about 70% of the gas needed for cooking. A photovoltaic system produces electricity for light, for our water pump, water filter and for the rice cooker.
Our small agricultural unit generates about 60% of the Home’s need for fruit and vegetables –all produced without the use of chemical pesticides. Since 85% of the Nepali population are dependent on produce from their own garden, the children are also given instructions into how to cultivate fruits and vegetables. Two cows provide the children with fresh milk and produce the necessary fertilizer for the fields.
The teenagers who after completing their 10th year at school, have chosen to attend college or have subscribed for training courses are given the chance to continue living in a separate building on the property. In this way they can better prepare for an independent life.
In order to generate income for the Children’s Home, we also rent out rooms to tourists. Together with our small restaurant on the ground floor, the ‘Happy Sedi Lodge’ offers the youngsters opportunities in hospitality training.
Please meet the charm and beauty of Nepal in the following selection of photos of flora and fauna. These pictures were taken close to the Children’s Home and during earlier excursions with the children.
