What Orphanages in Nepal Are Like – Part II

I’ll begin by telling you what the children that stay in the orphanage are like.

Not all the children in the orphanage are orphans. They’re only 30% orphans in most orphanages. Almost 70% of the children have either one or both parents living. The reason the children are there is because their parents are not able to raise them. The orphanage provides the children with good food, education and provides them decent clothes to wear. These are things their parents won’t be able to provide.

In rural villages of Nepal, where people are still illiterate, many have large families and they have many children (up to 7-8). Family planning still hasn’t caught on with them. Because of this, the children grow up malnourished and they toil in the field for long hours instead of attending schools as they’re parents are unable to afford them education. When one of the parents get injured permanently and is not able to earn anything, the situation gets even more worst. The children can die of hunger also.

Usually, a head person of the village or relatives sends the children away to orphanages in this situation. The orphanage however needs a recommendation letter from the Village Development Committee before admitting the child to their orphanage. Without the letter, the orphanage has no right to raise the child.

The Food at Orphanage

Nepalese love dal, bhat (rice and lentil soup). They eat the meal twice a day. This is often out of necessity as dal and bhat is cheaper to eat than other food. Along with dal, bhat, they will have some vegetable curry and pickle. This is what the children at the orphanage will enjoy twice everyday. When volunteers will stay in the orphanage, you’ll enjoy the same kind of diet.

In the afternoon, the children will enjoy tea with biscuits, maybe noodles or beaten rice (called cwura) with curry. In the morning, they’ll just drink tea, with maybe an egg. It’s not a very protein packed diet, but it’s something that’ll keep them going.

The Children and their studies

The children at the orphanage must all be enrolled in a school and must be attending it regularly. The orphanage must find funds for children’s education. Often, many schools provide scholarships to the children of the orphanage. Many give them discount on tuition fee.

Besides the tuition fees, the orphanages also has to provide for the school uniform, books, copies and pencils.
The volunteers can help the children a great deal by providing them private tuition when they come back to the orphanage in the evening from schools. Speak to them in English not using difficult words, teach them nursery rhymes, play games with them and help them finish their homework. The children often become confident as result of all these activities and many strive to work hard at their studies.

Without good command over English and a college degree, the children will never find good jobs in Nepal. You should help them dream of a good future by giving them hope and turning them into confident children.

The staff of the orphanage

Besides the director who runs the orphanage, you’ll find several other staffs (part time and full time) working in the orphanage. This depends on the size and the budget of the orphanage. But the orphanage hires at least one or two staff.

Ayah

Or the caretaker. I’ve often found a middle-aged women working as a caretaker in orphanages. She stays in the same building and helps the children remain clean and tidy. The caretaker is often overworked as children demand attention all the time and the orphanages cannot afford to hire another caretaker. This is where volunteers will contribute, in easing the burden on ayah and taking even better care of children.

Teacher

Usually you’ll find a local teacher (either hired or a volunteer) that comes in the evening to teach children English and other subjects. The teacher is overwhelmed most of the time as there is only so much that one teacher can do to improve the children. Volunteers will help the teacher teach the children. This is as important as taking care of the children.

Cook

You’ll usually find a cook who will prepare all the meal. As I’ve written already, Nepalese people mostly enjoy dal and bhat, so it’s dal, bhat twice a day, with maybe tea in the morning and tea with some snacks in the evening. It’s not easy however to make meal for large number of people. If you want, volunteers can learn the cooking, even experiment and take over some of cooking jobs. It’s not easy though to learn to cook Nepalese food, especially the curry.

Your Stay

In many orphanages, you’ll stay inside the orphanage. You’ll have a room for yourself, which you might share with other volunteer/s. In some cases, you will live outside, usually with a host family and eat most of your food there, instead of in the orphanage. Make sure if you’re staying in a host family that it is not far from the orphanage as you’ll have to get up early to come to your orphanage.

The summary

So this is a brief summary of orphanage and how it is like in Nepal. A foreigner volunteer can contribute a lot during her stay if you buckle down and really bridge the gap between you and the culture of the orphanage. You must not be fussy while working and you must take things in your stride. There will be times when you won’t understand the whole rationale behind some of the things happening in the orphanage but you’ll have to understand this is Nepal, not back home.

For instance, in Nepal it’s normal to beat children up when their naughty. You’ll might think such a thing is inexcusable. It’s simply not allowed back home. But in Nepal, everyone will turn a deaf ear when you complain. The children are used to the beating - the staffs beat them to bring some discipline in them, and even Social Welfare Council approves of milder form of beating.

When you volunteer, you’ll face many issues like that.

Good luck!

And oh, if you’ve got any questions regarding this, leave a comment.

My next post will be about the kind of volunteers that come to Nepal.