The story of Hope ...... The Hope Centre
In 2002 we undertook our first project, to provide support and funding for the Hope Centre in Kathmandu. The home was already operational, providing a home for disabled and orphaned children and run by Nepali volunteers under the leadership of Ram Thapa, a Nepali trekking guide. The rented property was sparsely equipped and had poor sanitary facilities. The children had little or no education, a poor diet and were sleeping 3 to a bed.
Learning of its problems and its precarious financial position, we raised funds in the UK to pay off the arrears of rent, improve the living conditions, enrol the children at schools and provide them with a much better diet. In turn this improved their general health, wellbeing and school work. We were able to provide funds to buy a bed for each child as well as tables for meals and homework.
The home was lacking a full-time carer and so in 2002 we undertook to provide the funds to pay for a permanent manager for the home. Tilak Shrestha had been a voluntary worker at the home for many years and was happy to undertake the position offered to him. Tilak has proved to be an outstanding manager and also a valuable role model and father figure to the children. A family man, with young children of his own, Tilak is an educated and sensitive person who is able to provide not only extra help with school work, but also parental support and encouragement. The children are all extremely happy in his care.
In the spring of 2003 the owner of the Hope Centre property decided to sell the house and the children faced eviction. Ram and Tilak had just three weeks in which to find a new home for the children. Thankfully, due to their tireless efforts, a new rented property was found in time. This was located in the Jorpati area of Kathmandu which meant a change of schooling for all the children. The children settled well into their new home and school and achieved excellent reports and even distinctions in their examinations.
The problems associated with renting property in the volatile and expanding city of Kathmandu were all too evident to our Trustees. Our aims are to provide children with security and stability and late in 2003 we were provided with the means to start us moving along this road. We were left a generous legacy by a friend of the charity. This provided us with the foundations on which to build and we launched an ambitious project to raise funds to buy land and build a home in Kathmandu. This project is named The Smith Project in memory of our generous benefactor. Read about our success story on the next page.
Now that phase 3 of the Smith project is complete and all the children fully settled into the new Hope Centre, the extra space and our extra regular income has enabled seven new children to be cared for at the home. They arrived in stages throughout the month of March and are settling well into their new home, school and neighbourhood.
All the children attend the Vidya Byayam English High School. The opportunity to attend school from a young age is having a positive effect, not only on their exam grades but their confidence and future prospects. Thank you for your support in helping these children and making such a difference to their lives. Their education of course requires long term funding and, as numbers increase, we are going to have to find additional funding to provide for them. If you have not already done so, please consider joining our Sponsor a Child scheme.
In addition to education through schooling, we hope to encourage the children to learn other useful skills to help them in their adult lives. The purchase of a computer enables the older children to learn and practise computer skills which will help their future employment prospects. A generous donation from one of our supporters has enabled us to purchase a sewing machine. The older girls will be able to have free sewing lessons at school and will benefit from the ability to use and refine these skills in the home. Again this will increase their self sufficiency and employment prospects for the future. The children are also encouraged to help around the house, cooking and cleaning etc and also in tending and growing the crops in the garden.
‘The Hope Centre goes green’
