This is how we became voluntary development aid workers

In 2002, we - Nicola Vahsen und Gero Peters – were travelling through Nepal. While staying in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, we got to know a children’s home, in which 30 children were living under dreadful conditions. We were visiting the children every day to teach them some basic English sentences and songs in a simple and joyful way. However, very quickly we realized that these children are in need of far more important things than a language course.

Ignorance and greed at the expense of the children

The children had to sleep on the floor in dirty, windowless, and empty rooms. A pump in the courtyard served as a shower as well as the only source of drinking water. Because of this, many children were suffering from diseases like mange, lice, fungal decay and worms. The manager of the children’s home completely ignored their misery. He did not care about the fact that the children only received one plate of rice as their only daily meal, either. Donations from neighbours, like meat and vegetables, were consumed by the manager himself and his family. The children were not even allowed to go to school.

Something had to happen

When dealing with us, the manager of the home was very polite as he was hoping for donations from us. We didn’t react to his efforts, because we were already busy taking the children to hospitals and clinics and buying new clothes for them. In addition, we tried to cheer them up with games and stories and that way lighten up their daily life. Of course, we knew that all this would only be only a drop in the ocean and that we - once leaving Nepal - would leave the children in this dreadful situation. This is why we decided to extend our stay in order to provide the children with a new home.

Light for Nepal - Bringing light into the dark

Together with a few members of the previous home, who disagreed with the way the manager was running the place, we founded a new children’s home: Light for Nepal. At first, we were living with only a few of the children on one floor of a house, which was still under construction. Almost every day, more children were running away from the old home. They wanted to join Light for Nepal. The manager of the old children’s home started to lock up the children. In the end we managed to get almost all children out of the manager’s control. Unfortunately, we lost track of four children and never found out what happened to them.

In Light for Nepal, the situation improved from day to day: due to generous, spontaneous donations from Germany we were able to buy essential things like mattresses, blankets, clothing and dishes. After a few weeks, we enrolled the children in school.

A smile counts more than 1000 words

With a heavy heart we had to leave the children after three months. However, we were happy to see that the situation for the children had already improved considerably and their future in terms of basic needs was secured: the children had left behind the diseases, they were provided with sufficient food each day and soon moved to a new and better house.

Just the looks on their faces glowing of excitement while playing football, showed us that all the efforts were well worth it.