• nursery nursing
• play therapy
• educational play helpers and teachers
• child counselling
• residential childcare management
• administration
• nutrition
• paediatric health care
Haribol Badal, Vice-President of OCCED, has identified the above areas of need where volunteer assistance would be invaluable.
General child-care and after-school activities will also benefit from volunteer input and support.
The Project
OCCED (Organisation for Community, Child and Environment Development) was established in 1999 to care for and campaign for Nepal’s most vulnerable children. Naxal Orphanage is located just over a kilometre from the centre of Kathmandu. It is one of three orphanages run by OCCED, and also serves as head office for the organisation.
OCCED works to provide shelter and education, as well as trying to find the children new homes. There are currently nearly 50 children, between the ages of a few months to 16 years, who are cared for at Naxal. About half of these children are babies and toddlers – many of them having been left on the doorstep by parents or family, while others are found wandering the streets and are brought to the orphanage by the police.
The children live in clean but basic and crowded dormitories. A crèche cares for around 10 to 15 babies, and there is also a pre-school class for 2-4 year olds, usually with about 20 children. The older children attend a nearby school (except of course on festivals and holidays, which are quite frequent!), returning to Naxal at about 4-4.30 pm.
The full-time professional staff includes two teachers and a nurse-matron. The role of volunteers is to support these professionals as their peers, and by example help them to build the capacity of their local non-professional staff – known as ‘didis’ (big sisters). OCCED’s full-time administrator acts as volunteer liaison, and there is also an interpreter / translator at Naxal for most of the working day to facilitate volunteers’ work.
Daily work and routine will involve playing with and caring for the children, as well as supporting and helping the didis in their general work. After-school activities and general child-care will benefit from volunteer input and support.
“I have total respect and admiration for OCCED, the charity which runs the orphanage. I KNOW that these children are the lucky ones – they are alive, healthy, thriving, and most importantly loved, compared to many little ones out on the streets.”
“I feel I was very privileged and fortunate to spend this time with the children at Naxal. I cannot help but wonder how they’re getting on … they were a pleasure to be with and I hope that I brought some happiness into their lives, as they certainly enriched mine.”
Context
Despite its natural beauty, rich and varied spirituality and culture, Nepal is among the world’s poorest countries economically. One and a half million people live in the urban sprawl of Kathmandu, giving the capital the aspect of a human mechanised anthill, yet there are pockets of calm in hotel gardens, little courtyards off busy alleyways and of course an abundance of architectural treasures.
Charming and dignified, Nepalese people from the mountains and the outer villages live side by side in social and religious harmony in this bustling capital city, and single foreigners of either gender can feel safe and secure in streets and squares of Kathmandu.
The Nepalese have traditionally relied on agriculture and weaving for their livelihoods, but poor harvests and machine-made goods are limiting their ability to survive. Tourism is the most profitable source of income, but this too has been threatened by extensive media coverage of very localised problems.
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