Just over 12 months ago my sister, Imelda, began a Women's and Children's Home in Nepal. The genesis for the home goes back three years or so when she first visited Nepal. I happened to be up in NQ at that time and dropped her at the airport. She was very nervous, travelling by herself to a country she'd never been to, but had long wanted to visit. At one point she thought she'd lost her boarding pass, thankfully found it, but was still on the verge of tears as she boarded the plane. Nepal had not long "finished" its civil war and there were still often strikes and violence. I knew all this and, being my "little" sister, it took a lot of effort for me not to rip Imelda out of the boarding line and bundle her back home with me. But I also knew that going to Nepal was life long dream and that this trip was too important for her to back out of.
On Imelda's first day in Nepal she went to visit the beautiful Durbar Square in Patan. Not realising that she needed to purchase a ticket first, she began to wander around and was soon pulled up by one of the tourist guides - a Buddhist Nepalese called Balram Lama. They struck up a conversation and Balram offered to show Imelda around, becoming her guide for her time in Kathmandu.
Not only was Balram a tour guide at that time, but he was heavily involved in charity work - caring for families affected by AIDS and having founded and run a drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinic. I still don't know the full details of Balram's early years, but I do know that one of the reasons he is so good at what he does is because he has first hand experience of it. One of the critical people in his life, who effectively acted as Balram's guide, got him on the road to rehabilitation and is still one of his closest friends is a man who I know only by his surname "Lama" (which is what everyone calls him), who runs a Thanka shop in Kathmandu (I'll write more about that in another post).
During Imelda's first visit to Nepal, she and Balram developed a friendship, and found they shared a similar vision for helping the children of Nepal. It took some planning, work and a whole lot of courage (Imelda at first provided sole funding for the establishment and running of the Home), but within a couple of years, Balram and Imelda had established a joint Nepalese/Australian charity and started the Home - WASH Nepal - Women and Street Children's Home.
Imelda continues to live in Australia, working, fund-raising and visiting Nepal as often as she can, while Balram runs the Home on the ground in Nepal. They Skype every night and make all decisions about the Home together. The Home currently cares for 9 children, but has also supported a number of other children during times when their parents were unable to care for them.
With my family, Imelda, my other sister and her friend I visited Nepal in 2012. It is physically beautiful country with generous, resourceful people, however, it is impossible, from a western perspective, not to see poverty and need everywhere. The reality, of course, is much more subtle than that. Many people don't have a lot, but most manage to get by, particularly helped by the fact that the Nepalese are a generous people who will help each other as much as they can. I was still interested, though, in learning from Balram how he "decided" which children would be cared for by the Home - surely, I asked, you could have hundreds of children here, how do you decide who gets the opportunity offered by this Home.
The answer goes something like this. If a child has any parental figure - mother, father, uncle, aunt, employee - who can and does care for them that is the ideal no matter how difficult that situation might be. It is when the child's last support network has dropped from beneath them and before they end up on the streets and an "accident" (Balram's euphemism for drugs or alcohol) happens that a Home like WASH Nepal comes into its own. But the time between the child losing all support networks and being taken into somewhere like WASH Nepal is critical. If the child becomes too independent or gets into drugs or alcohol then it is often too late. Age is a factor as well. In terms of helping street children, the younger the better (street children can be as young as three), because they are most likely to be willing to adapt to the routine of school, homework, chores. Older children are often too independent to be willing to do that and (as strange as it seemed to me) will sometimes prefer life on the street. (Another blog post on that at another time).
If you are interested in following Imelda's sporadic Facebook updates you can like WASH NEPAL here
On Imelda's first day in Nepal she went to visit the beautiful Durbar Square in Patan. Not realising that she needed to purchase a ticket first, she began to wander around and was soon pulled up by one of the tourist guides - a Buddhist Nepalese called Balram Lama. They struck up a conversation and Balram offered to show Imelda around, becoming her guide for her time in Kathmandu.
Not only was Balram a tour guide at that time, but he was heavily involved in charity work - caring for families affected by AIDS and having founded and run a drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinic. I still don't know the full details of Balram's early years, but I do know that one of the reasons he is so good at what he does is because he has first hand experience of it. One of the critical people in his life, who effectively acted as Balram's guide, got him on the road to rehabilitation and is still one of his closest friends is a man who I know only by his surname "Lama" (which is what everyone calls him), who runs a Thanka shop in Kathmandu (I'll write more about that in another post).
During Imelda's first visit to Nepal, she and Balram developed a friendship, and found they shared a similar vision for helping the children of Nepal. It took some planning, work and a whole lot of courage (Imelda at first provided sole funding for the establishment and running of the Home), but within a couple of years, Balram and Imelda had established a joint Nepalese/Australian charity and started the Home - WASH Nepal - Women and Street Children's Home.
Imelda continues to live in Australia, working, fund-raising and visiting Nepal as often as she can, while Balram runs the Home on the ground in Nepal. They Skype every night and make all decisions about the Home together. The Home currently cares for 9 children, but has also supported a number of other children during times when their parents were unable to care for them.
With my family, Imelda, my other sister and her friend I visited Nepal in 2012. It is physically beautiful country with generous, resourceful people, however, it is impossible, from a western perspective, not to see poverty and need everywhere. The reality, of course, is much more subtle than that. Many people don't have a lot, but most manage to get by, particularly helped by the fact that the Nepalese are a generous people who will help each other as much as they can. I was still interested, though, in learning from Balram how he "decided" which children would be cared for by the Home - surely, I asked, you could have hundreds of children here, how do you decide who gets the opportunity offered by this Home.
The answer goes something like this. If a child has any parental figure - mother, father, uncle, aunt, employee - who can and does care for them that is the ideal no matter how difficult that situation might be. It is when the child's last support network has dropped from beneath them and before they end up on the streets and an "accident" (Balram's euphemism for drugs or alcohol) happens that a Home like WASH Nepal comes into its own. But the time between the child losing all support networks and being taken into somewhere like WASH Nepal is critical. If the child becomes too independent or gets into drugs or alcohol then it is often too late. Age is a factor as well. In terms of helping street children, the younger the better (street children can be as young as three), because they are most likely to be willing to adapt to the routine of school, homework, chores. Older children are often too independent to be willing to do that and (as strange as it seemed to me) will sometimes prefer life on the street. (Another blog post on that at another time).
If you are interested in following Imelda's sporadic Facebook updates you can like WASH NEPAL here
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| The children, Didi, Imelda, Balram, Luka |
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| Balram and I in the back of a Tuk Tuk |
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| Imelda being welcomed by Balram at the airport |
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