User talk:Shanti4nepal

Welcome to the Nepal SATHI Foundation (http://www.nepalsathi.ws/)

Money given to an underdeveloped country often passes through many hands. Hands which often take a part of that money, so that not much is left for the people who really need it. But it can be different. Different by means of a relatively small scale help initiative, which works personally and transparently, making sure that all help arrives where it is most needed. And also takes the long-term effects into account.

Nepal SATHI Foundation is such a non-profit, voluntary entity, organized by multicultural individuals, to support rural Nepali people, especially children in the field of education, environment and health. SATHI (pronounced saathi) realizes various forms of learning projects to enable remote village children to seek a future by themselves as well as help empower/develop their own communities.

SATHI started from Amsterdam, and has branches, including bank accounts, in Frankfurt and Milton Keynes. It is also registered as Nepal SATHI Pratisthan in Bhaktapur, accredited by the Social Welfare Council, Kathmandu.

Origin of the NEPAL SATHI FOUNDATION

My (B. Raj) plan to personally help a few poor children to attend school started in 1999, but this small scale help initiative of mine has developed quite fascinatingly. In the year 2000, Karin Videc organized a sponsorship for Gita. In August 2001, I instituted help for Buna which Marieke van Vugt and Chejo Richards also took part in. Since then, both Gita and Buna have been studying at (different) private boarding schools. Next, Pramod joined an urban public school in April 2002, which is certainly much better than the school in Saping. Then, when I talked to Mira Poudel about it in March 2002, she showed an incredible enthusiasm. Next appeared, Alon Sadeh, an acquaintance of Mira, who also whole-heartedly backed the idea of helping poor rural children.

At first, just finding a suitable name seemed a milestone. I finally came up with the name Saping Area Three Help Initiative or SATHI, which means 'friend' or 'friendship' in Nepali. Saping village has a total of nine areas (called ward numbers) with 681 households or 3,956 inhabitants (Census 2001). However, Area Three is by far the most densely populated (in numbers: 78 households with over 550 inhabitants). This is why I thought that since we might only be able to help a handful of the poorest children, I should limit the scope to Area Three only.

When I actually told people about the SATHI initiative, I received a lot of positive feedback, and in 2002, we officially registered it as Nepal SATHI Foundation (see Registration). Today, SATHI also supports Nepali children affected by internal political unrest since 1996 (and although the government and the rebels signed a peace agreement in May 2006, a total peace prevailing in the villages remains to be seen; moreover, the effects of violent insurgency will remain for decades even if a lasting peace is established soon!). We have in addition started infrastructural projects, and in 2006, we completed the first major project: Sathisangi Children's Home (see Sathisangi), which hosts up to 40 students.

2002-2007 © and ® B. Raj Giri for Nepal SATHI Foundation