6 February 2006 – The two open days recently organised by the Foundation proved to be a great success. Both days were well-attended and those in attendance donated generously. In Amsterdam 966,50 euro was raised and in Best 708 euro. The Foundation is extremely grateful to everyone who made a donation or provided any kind of support which led towards the success of the open days.
You can get a general impression of the open days by browsing through our photo gallery.
On
28 January there was an open day in Centrum de Roos in Amsterdam. The
programme was varied and in cluded among other events, a performance by
Bimala Shrestha and the Himculi Culture Group from Nepal. Mr Shyam
Katwal came from Nepal to give an overview of the projects (refer to
the bottom of the page to download the text) and showed some recent
video material. Architect Erik Segers, who oversaw the building of the
new children’s home, also gave a presentation about the building
projects undertaken by the Foundation in Nepal.
On Friday 3 and Saturday 4 February, we were invited to give a
presentation at primary school “de Zevensprong” in Best (a town in the
province of North Brabant). Mr Shyam Katwal (the Chariman of our
Foundation in Nepal and former Headmaster) enjoyed the many questions
he was asked by the children after he gave a presentation in the class.
He told them that children in Nepal often don’t even havea classroom to
sit in, but just sit under a tree with on old book to learn from. He
said that compared to most schools in Nepal, “de Zevensprong” is a
dream: everything is available for the children.
There
were many children present at the open day, especially because the
event took place in their school. There were presentations as part ofa
special parallel-programme for the children. Architect Erik Segers
worked with the children to put together a building design for a
vocational training centre for the children in Dharan. This was later
presented to those attending. Another initiative was that the children
had their own stall with items to raise money. The money raised by
selling these items (70 euro) was then doubled by their parents.
There were also performances by Bimala and the Himchuli group from Nepal. The sociologist Ramesh Devkota explained the situation facing orphans in Nepal and the risk factors leading to a rise in the number of abandoned children. This is exacerbated by the strife in Nepal and a lack of resources. Children are also used as soldiers and become fictims of HIV and AIDS, and so on. He emphasised the importance of projects like ours, which provide protection of a number of children. He also emphasised that we as a Dutch Foundation should call for the improvement of children’s rights there. This can be achieved by, for example, organising and forming a platform. As a Foundation we would like to work together on this!
We hope that the open day in Best will lead towards contact between our children in Nepal and the children at this school, for example by email or via our website. We are alos very grateful to the management of "de Zevensprong" for allowing us the possibility of holding our open day there.
