Developed West must exhibit their sincerity towards Nepal’s basic issues

Theo Gouwerok, Secretary/treasurer, Foundation VONK Projects, The Netherlands

I come from a far-flung country-The Netherlands.

I live in Dinem which is about three miles from Amsterdam. I have a small but very good-looking family. It’s a packed together and lovely family unit. I have two daughters, Ganga and Jamuna, both close to my wife and me.

Yes they are Ganga and Jamuna, both from Nepal whom I legally adopted some twenty years ago. Now they have become purely Dutch citizens and studying there.

The day my wife and me got to know that we could have no child of our own, we jointly decided to go to Nepal and adopt small babies and provide them with the care they needed. I recall, Ganga and Jamuna were both a year old then when I took them to Amsterdam.

I love Nepal to the extent that I can’t explain in terms. I at times become automatically sentimental when I think of Nepal and her people. Frankly speaking, Nepal is my second homeland, which is only but natural for my two heart-beats come from Nepali soil. This is a singular bond that keeps me tied with Nepal and her smiling energetic citizens.

It was this very relation or say connection that prompted me to think on how to be of some support to this country though in my own modest and small way.

It is not me only who has adopted Nepali children but a few more are there already in my country. My own rough approximation would be that about fifty Nepali kids are at the moment in my country getting parental care from about thirty Dutch parents.

It is this figure and the proclivity of the Dutch parents adopting Nepali kids that played a role in the formation of a sort of National Association which felt the need to serve Nepal in any manner that we the parents can. So we decided to take care of the needy small babies, the girls specially, and we began with our modest support with the kids housed at Nepal’s Bal Mandir located in Naxal.

Thus when a national association was formed in Amsterdam, we came closer to a similar association in Sweden. We knew that some Swedish people too were supporting Bal Mandir in their own capacity and abilities. We came together and began charting plans for the Nepali children housed in Bal Mandir. We both finance a certain amount to the NGCC-Nepal Girl Care Center. This center is eight years old now. It houses some fifteen girls at a time who get support through the NGCC for continual three years. During those three years of the girl’s stay there, they get trainings and obtain needed proficiency which makes them to stand on their own upon leaving the NGCC. The scheme at the NGCC is that every year five new girls are admitted which makes five previously admitted girls who have completed their three years stay at the NGCC leave. That is five in and five out on a yearly basis. The process keeps going on and on.

I tell you, the girls while at the NGCC are supported fully by our foundation in The Netherlands and Sweden. Pleasingly enough, one or two girls are at the moment studying Masters of Business Administration, MBA, on our support. However, don’t consider the NGCC a simple shelter only. It’s more than that. It is in effect a center that provided skills and trainings to the girls who could manage their lives after retiring from the NGCC.

The funding that comes to Nepal from our side is self-monitored. We trust that our money is best utilized that goes to the needy ones. Of late we have our own Country Director, Madhur Sharma, who once worked at the Bal Mandir. He is our man in Nepal and we trust him like anything. We come out with a financial report each year, which is an audited one. Finally it is submitted to the Social Welfare Council.

We support one more NGO other than the NGCC. It is the EGGS-Emerging Girls Getting towards Self-reliance. The EGGS takes care of those girls who regrettably are left out by the NGCC on its scheme of five-in-five-out on yearly arrangement. The care they receive at the EGGS is same with that of the NGCC except that the girls don’t live at the NGCC. So far, eighty girls have benefited from the support of the NGCC and the EGGS.

We also support Bal Mandir which is more or less like an NGO which relies more on donors from abroad. The fact is that the worse Bal Mandir looks, the more donation it receives.

The club which is in Netherlands is an internal process while Foundation is exclusively meant for Nepal.

Foundation VONK Projects is a non-governmental organization based in the Netherlands and works for Nepal as an international NGO for the underprivileged, destitute children. The Foundation stems from the association VONK that was founded in 1996 by a group of Dutch parents who had adopted children from Nepal. The organization initiated and actively supports various child welfare activities in Nepal for the betterment of the infants and the children.

At the moment we are working for a Baby Room Project at the Bal Mandir. As the place there is now congested for the small toddlers, we have already expanded it and added two plus rooms and considering for one more room addition. We have renewed the room. Now the room is a multi-color one. The room which is already there was inaugurated as back as in 2001. We have Aya’s there who are well trained in their job.

Let me make you clear one thing. All that we have been doing in Nepal is not to impose our own ideas and style in your country. We don’t want to impose on you the Western values. The other point I must tell you that what ever is coming from Nepal must not be taken as charity. I don’t believe in charity. Charity, for me and my friends back home, is replaced by the word responsibility.

The Westerners have luxury problem. We talk about our small houses, small cars, and small space where we live in and every time thinking on how to expand our facilities from what is with us now. But your problems are very basic ones. I consider the Westerners must take such endeavors as a responsibility and initiate actions collectively that addresses your basic issues.

Why Nepal? It’s very simple. Because my children come from Nepal. I think that mine having babies from Nepal was a predestined event.

Now the girls have come of their age. We do talk about Nepal quite often. They enjoy talking about Nepal.

Next time, if possible, I would try to bring the girls who could see the soil, which gave them the birth.

Finally, we have several plans for Nepal and her children in trouble. We will do it in whatever way we can. But don’t take it otherwise. It’s just our passion that we wish to support Nepal and nothing more than that.

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