6000 Street Children in Nepal: Give Them a Home

Time stopped for a bit and we haven't been able to help as many children as we would like to due to all the current restrictions. But our team are doing whatever they can to provide good support, education and care to the children in our current care, and have also just been able to get in touch with many more children that are on the streets of Birgunj. 

It's a festival time in Nepal and many parents have sent their children to beg on the streets - families have no money for food or basic necessities and no support from the government during these difficult times. The government have even stopped supporting medical treatment for coronavirus patients so everyone who needs hospital treatment needs to pay around 15,000Rs (approximately £96) a day and this is a huge amount for most people in Nepal. 

We are trying to keep the children as safe as possible - no outsiders are allowed into our children's home or the child helpline buildings (apart from the doctor who comes to do routine health check ups). Luckily, it has so far worked really well and all the children and the staff have managed to enjoy their Dashain festival - we even built our own huge swing (a tradition in Nepal during these holidays).

All the boys are receiving online classes on top of their usual classes and activities with our staff. They celebrated the National Children's Day in September with art and music competitions and tonnes of quizzes. So everyone is in good spirits! 

We are hoping things will come back to normality shortly but we just have to wait and see. We will keep you up to date with all the new developments.

And thank you so much for all the support. It really means a lot to us and the children in these strange times. Please keep sharing the information about us and the projects.

The last few months have for sure been really eventful. Luckily, all our staff and children have been safe and healthy and observing social distancing very strictly. We have redesigned our child helpline/day care centre building slightly to provide an area for any new children needing emergency assistance so that they can be isolated for 2 weeks. In some new cases, the children were quarantined at the police station and then brought to us to ensure safety of everyone. 

We have had some very sad cases of children being forced to beg on the street with a cobra snake performing for the passers by, children used in the porn industry and many more difficult situations. The staff from our children's home and child helpline have only been able to communicate via phone but they have been exchanging ideas for activities with the children. The children have been occupied with the yoga classes, a lot of crafts, sports and of course classes at home. Last time I had a video call with them, they were watching Bollywood movies so it was difficult to get their attention - so I promised to find them some more educational programmes and movies in English to help them learn in a fun way. I think they'll be watching Indiana Jones soon!

As the lockdown is being eased, we expect to come across more and more children needing assistance - the lockdown was very strict and many people lost their income streams. Many experts predict famine in Nepal and a massive economic disaster. We are prepared to take many more children should the need arise. We are working closely with the local government, the mayor and the local chamber of commerce - we have now started discussions with them to try and arrange jobs for some of the most affected families. We will also provide education for the children from these families, and food and shelter where necessary. 

I wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us throughout this difficult time. Thanks to you we are able to help more children and families. Please continue your support when possible.