Projects
Welcome and hello from our Nepal orphanage!
The project we are currently running is in the ‘Innocent Children’s home’ a non for profit orphanage that requires the help of volunteers to provide the love and support that is necessary in the development of every child’s life.
We have eight kids aged between the ages of 4-12, three of whom are former street children and five are orphans from mountain villages. They all come from very varied and distressing backgrounds, but their needs are all the same; love, care and schooling. All our kids are healthy and happy (as you can see on our ‘Gallery’ page) but need a lot of love!
The orphanage was founded to service and house displaced children from remote farming villages that surround this picturesque area. We have many children on our waiting list who need our help, but urgently need help from volunteers to support our organisation and help us look after even more children. We receive no government or charity funding and all of the money we receive in volunteer fees goes directly to help our project, with no middle men taking their cut or expensive administration fees.
The orphanage is situated in beautiful Pokhara in Nepal. Pokhara is the gateway for most trekking trips in Nepal and is set on a lake, surrounded by beautiful mountains. Previous volunteers have found it a relaxing, friendly and fascinating place to stay and explore Nepal from and have volunteer with us before or after their trek to get to see more of the ‘real’ Nepal.
We have more details about the Innocent Children’s home at www.teachnepalikids.org
As our children are here mainly due to distressing circumstances, we really need loving, caring and compassionate people to volunteer in our children’s home.
The children are looked after by a house mother, along with the volunteers and a tutor who visits twice a day. Many of them attend school for at least part of the day, giving the volunteers some well earned time off!
Volunteers act as a big brother or sister to the children, helping them with everyday life and showing them a lot of love and care. We are also really happy when our volunteers can help teach our children English, math, games, personal hygiene, drawing, painting, music and many more skills. Many volunteers find just spending time with the children really rewarding.
Once volunteers arrive in Kathmandu they will be picked by one of our members from The Love Company Office. The volunteer be placed one night in hotel and transfer the next morning to Pokhara, where volunteers will be taught the Nepali language. We have 1-week programs for teaching basic language and volunteers can continue with lessons for the duration of their stay.
To become accustomed to the Nepalese culture, we are offering our volunteers the opportunity of a true Nepal farm stay in a remote village in an area where majority of our displaced children call ‘home’. This will enable you to understand and better relate to our children and therefore be of more benefit to their needs. Not to mention a fantastic opportunity to meet real Nepalese people in their surroundings in areas that are off the tourist trail as well as accessible only by foot.
After this orientation into the Nepali lifestyle, you will be accommodated with a local family or in a private room in the orphanage for the duration of your stay.
Please have a look at our volunteer testimonials for more information from previous volunteers on what they did during their time with us.
A typical day for a volunteer would include the following:
- Breakfast with Nepali family then short walk to orphanage
- Teaching and playing with children
- Helping to prepare food (the children eat at 09.30 am)
- Helping with chores and getting the children ready for school – washing, brushing teeth etc
- Back home for lunch with family at 12
- Afternoon free to explore Pokhara, boat on the lake, relax
- Nepali language or yoga lesson in the afternoon
- Return to orphanage to play games, teach English, singing (the children have a drum!)
- Dinner with local family
Our home is in a quite location, 20 minutes walk from the popular Lakeside district of Pokhara. Pokhara is easily assessable from Kathmandu by bus, or 5 minute taxi ride from the Pokhara airport.
From the orphanage garden the magnificent Machapurchata and surrounding Himalayas are clearly visible. Pokhara is the gateway to the Annurpuna region of the Himalayas, providing a wide range of trekking adventures. Pokhara is also well renowned for adrenalin sports, from white water rafting to paragliding. Pokhara offers a full range of services, including excellent restaurants, cafes and shopping on the Fewa Lake.
Our orphans have mainly come from the surrounding areas of the picturesque Pokhara. Although rich in natural beauty with the Himalayas lingering, the area provides many dangers which has led to the children needing the support of our orphanage.
One example, is a brother and sister aged 4 and 5 years. Their mother passed away as a result of cancer and their father died falling from a tree in search of forage for livestock in the dryer months. The children were left to their extremely poor grandparents who could not afford to upkeep two young children at their tender age.
A second example is one of the older boys whose parents died as a result of a car accident. He and sister were left to their uncle who again could not afford the upkeep of two more children on top of his own. Therefore, the boy had to leave and fend for himself on the streets of Pokhara at the age of ten until the orphanage was opened two years later.
