Project 002:

What set this project apart was the local Nepali involvement. At the same moment we first visited this home, the founder of our Nepali partner organisation was also visiting for the first time. It transpired that we were next door neighbours and had both only recently moved in. On looking at the home, we decided to take on the project together. Further to this Australian –Nepali cooperation, the Founder of the home was a man of high integrity who had many excellent ideas and simply needed help with funding. His days were spent going door to door in the district asking for rice and lentils for the next month’s food. He had perhaps twenty regular donors, but was only just managing to feed and house the 15 children, with his collecting and also his wife working full time as a maid for $50 per month. We began slowly, and the decisions were made cooperatively.

We now can see that these children need sponsors, and the cost per child of providing basic survival is $1 a day and the cost of giving them a future is another $1 a day. We are currently preparing an annual budget. The web site will soon have a sponsorship section.

The inside toilet with 18 people using it made the entire house smell very bad to the extent of a health hazard. Niras (home founder) knew exactly what to do he just had no funding. He did all the work himself and constructed an outdoor toilet for day time use with brick walls and a door, cleverly using the external staircase as part of the structure.

$90

We've heard of rising damp but what about falling damp? The roof needed patching up to stop the water leaking in and creating damp all through the house. This is a big danger for respiratory diseases. We fixed most of the problem with a 30 mm layer of cement on the roof. This is still an issue to be fully addressed.

No money to buy gas for cooking means using an outdoor fire and scrounging for wood. This is difficult at any time but especially the wet season. They need about 13 x 20kg bottles of gas a year which we are funding. This is an annual expense.

$73

$144

Right at the front door is a big hole (30 tonnes of dirt to fill it in) which is not good for mosquitoes and is a drowning hazard. Some of the kids are under 6. We will finish filling this in once the truck can get in there. Trucks are all loaded and unloaded by hand.