Volunteering in Nepal: Soup kitchen and small medical tent

The Problem

During the three winter months, December to beginning of March, the poorest people in Nepal suffer the most. At night temperatures can drop to freezing. Many of the poor have no roofs over their heads and have no protection against the cold. Combined with malnutrition, contagious diseases, insufficient clothing and the severe air pollution the consequence is sickness and often death.

Although there are an increasing number of charitable projects in Kathmandu, many people in the lower levels of society do not benefit from social welfare. They sit and lie around the stupa, where they beg from tourists and pilgrims. They are marked by hopelessness and resignation. Many of them are sick, crippled or old and can no longer support themselves. There is no help from the government.

The Solution

In 1990 ROKPA established the soup kitchen in Boudha in a part of Kathmandu. Every day during the winter two meals are distributed. Breakfast consists of hot milky tea and warm bread, lunch mostly of the so-called Dhaal Bhaat, which is the national meal of Nepal containing rice, lentils and vegetables. On a crowded day up to 800 meals are served. Food and firewood are purchased locally. Warm clothes are distributed to people in need.

The work involved is accomplished by local people (e.g. cooks) together with volunteers from all over the world. Every year up to 25 helpers come to Kathmandu to work on a voluntary basis for at least six weeks.

At the small medical tent, which is included in the soup kitchen, first aid is provided by volunteers who have a professional medical education. Smaller injuries and wounds are treated there, but patients with severe illnesses or who need special treatments are sent to a hospital nearby where they receive medical treatment for free or on a very low price.

• First general information
• Information Sheet
• Questionnaire (form to fill in and return, MS Word format)

35 Days at the Soup kitchen in Kathmandu

by Roberto Saibene and Annemarie Kölliker

It's 8 o'clock in the morning in Kathmandu. The cold and foggy air coming down from the Himalayan mountains sets our teeth on edge. Three hundred people - sitting on bamboo rods - are waiting patiently for a mug of tea and a "roti" (little bun). Many tiny, cold children's hands are holding their mugs and accept happily the little bun. Only a few wear shoes or a warm coat. There're a great number of mothers, some of them with babies on their backs. Old people and beggars are frequent visitors. Distribution of breakfast is carried out by ROKPA volunteers. Every winter this Swiss Charity Organization brings some relief for the poorest people in Boudha. Boudha is a chaotic suburb of the capital of Nepal, built around of one of the most important Buddhist Stupas.

The same scene is repeated at lunch time. The national dish, "Daal Bhat", consists of rice, potatoes with vegetables and lentil sauce which gives the dish a spicy flavour. In the meantime it's somewhat warmer and the sunshine is on the orange robes of the Sadhus, the kind and dignified Hindu ascetics who wait for their meal squatting on the ground. The volunteers distribute not only meals, but give to these outcasts of the society also a smile and a warm look. Serving the food is by no means simple. Hardly anybody of the 350 guests owns a plate; they use plastic bags instead. Often the opening of the bag is small and one has to be very careful not to scald the hands of the children with the hot food. The food is eaten on the spot with bare hands; most of them turn their backs because they're ashamed.

A few steps off the dusty (and sometimes muddy) "dining room" a group of mothers with small children, scruffy old people and injured persons are waiting for medical treatment given to them by ROKPA doctors and nurses. The simple cases are treated at the Medical Tent, people with a severe diagnosis are sent to a hospital, accompanied by a volunteer. He also helps with the hospital's red tape and pays the treatment afterwards. In a Nepalese hospital one has to pay for everything on the spot, beginning with an X-ray up to a small vial for the urine specimen. If a patient has not the means to pay for a necessary operation, ROKPA foots the bill. It may only be 50 or 100 Francs, but in a country where the average monthly income is only 50 Francs, a bill that high is beyond the means of the poor.

Breakfast, lunch and medical care - this is only the tip of the iceberg. In reality the activities of ROKPA are manifold. In the 25 years since establishing ROKPA, Lea Wyler, a former artist from Zürich and founder of the organization, has taken care of hundreds of street kids and many, many desperate mothers. She has given them not only a warm "roti" and a compassionate "namaste", but has offered them a place to sleep, food and the opportunity to go to school with the possibility to learn a foreign language. She has given women the opportunity to work at the Women's Workshop where handicraft articles are made for sale and where their children are taking care of in the adjoining day nursery.

Lea is a personality full of strength and ideas who even after 25 years, has still an abundance of energy and compassion. About this anniversary she says: "We opened this new ROKPA Children's Home in March of this year. There's room enough on 4 floors for 80 children and 10 women. It is convenient, light and roomy. We support not only those who live at this Home or the newly accepted street kids, we also support children living with their families, but cannot go to school or to university due to lack of money."

As soon as the opening ceremony is over, Lea Wyler thinks of a new project. She doesn't think of resting on her laurels, but thinks about establishing an Old People's Home and a Health Centre for people who don't get medical treatment anywhere else.

An additional aspect of Lea's philosophy is the careful use of donations: "Many years ago I have decided to found ROKPA with the aim to be independent. Therefore I have complete control over the expenses and I can omit any waste of money". A true word! During 35 days working in the Soup Kitchen and visiting the Children's Home, I have proof that every Rupee is turned over twice before it is spent.

With US$ 100.- you can provide hundreds of destitute people with a warm meal.