WELCOME TO THE STARCHILDREN FOUNDATION!
STARCHILDREN IN A NUTSHELL
Starchildren provides disadvantaged children in Nepal (HIV/Aids positive children and Aids orphaned children) with a home-like environment, health care and education, and gives them a second chance in life. Nepali staff and cooperation with local partners guarantee a cost effective and efficient program.
NEWS FROM NEPAL
December 2007: A little star is back with her mother!
In Nepal it is the habit that when the husband is deceased, the children are taken away from the mother by the family in law. To give a reason for this is not required. Tara was such a child. Her father was deceased as the consequence of Aids and Tara was not allowed to stay with her mother. Her little brother did stay with his mother, because the family was convinced that he too was infected. Tara's mother got a job with Starchildren and despite of a better future, the grief of her lost daughter still played an enormous role in her life. We have spoken extensively with the family in law and at last, after days of waiting and sleepless nights, they have given permission for Tara's return to her mother. Tara is now back with her mother and her little brother. The name Tara stands for Star in Nepalese. It could not be more beautiful and she shines like no other star in the universe!
Together again!
December 2007: Society Lunch
On December 10th in Hotel Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam, the Winter Wonderland Society Lunch was organized. Jacob Gelt Dekker has done tremendous work for Starchildren during this event, with a impassioned speech during the auction, that came to the benefit of Starchildren, he moved the people who were present to make a bid as high as possible to the sponsored items. This eventually resulted in the marvellous amount of 43.600 euro for the Starchildren Foundation. Een gigantic conclusion of 2007!
Therefore, our thanks go to Jacob Gelt Dekker for his enormous efforts and of course also to the suppliers of all auction pieces: Fred Verduyn, LG Compair Airconditioning, Otazu, Flying Diamonds Creations, Gallery Hallema, LG Electronics, Gallery Vermeer, Rovan Juwelery, Mr. & Mrs. Blokland en Hotel Krasnapolsky.
And of course not in the last place to all the spontaneous bidders and the initiative takers and organizers of this Society Lunch, Tony Tetro en Barbara Plugge.
foto societylunch shp-fotonet
November 2007: The new home!
The new home was already found in August, shortly before our return to the Netherlands. The rental contract was due from September. It's a beautiful house, far from the tourists centers and in a quiet Nepalese neighbourhood. There was a lot of work to be done though, before it was ready for the children to come. The whole house had to be painted from the inside, floor covering had to be laid, furniture ordered, the kitchen furnished, the playroom made, and a part of the garden had to be transformed to a vegetable garden to grow our own vegetables.
We have decided, in consultation with Harimaya, the mother of Sandhya, the girl who is deceased, that she is going to work as a housemother in the second Starchildren home, to start again and slowly start coping with her pain. She is attended by Janymaya, a whole new star on the firmament of Starchildren and she has much help from her. Janymaya has a four-year-old son, Bumi, and together with Seema, Harimaya's daughter, there are already two children in the second home at the end of September.
Bumi Seema
Then, when everything is ready, at least almost everything, because the vegetable garden demands many days of work, two children trickle in, Sandeep and Kamala. Sandeep is seven years old and Kamala almost six. They are both infected and too small for their age. They enter the house anxiously, but I know that will soon pass by the attention and warmth they get from the mothers. At the arrival they first get a warm bath, for they can use one. In the mean time I ran to the store to buy underwear and intact clothing for them. After that tea and cookies, and little Seema, Harimaya's daughter, takes care of them and it is incredibly wonderful to see how she does it and how quickly the ice is broken, how the tension disappears from their little faces and they start to shine. Sandeep has noticed me and from that moment he has become my human backpack. The whole day he sits on my back and it doesn't matter what kind of work you are doing, he doesn't budge an inch.
Seema-Sandeep-Kamala
Time flies through my hands and before I realise, it's December and the home is ready to be opened with a ceremony. Mik arrives from the Netherlands to witness everything and to help with the last steps. We cut a thousand yellow paper stars to decorate the house and the garden. Organizations in our network, all our friends and neighbours get a invitation. We hire cooks to organize a festive Nepalese Dalbat and then, when everyone has arrived, Jyoti, our problem child from the first Starchildren home, can officially open this piece of Brabant in Nepal. She is very proud when she cuts the ribbon and the applause is deafening. Misson accomplished!
The festive opening With attributes!
In the mean time, February 2008, the fifth child arrived, a girl, Santhoshi, twelve years old, her parents are deceased four years ago shortly after each other by the consequence of HIV/Aids, she lived in abominable circumstances with her greatparents and has been disowned by the remaining family. According to the mothers of the second home she found her place with the other children and she dances and sings a lot. In two weeks the sixth child will arrive, Sita, six years old, at this moment she stays in the hospital to adjust her medication properly. Sita's father has disappeared and her mother is deceased by the consequence of HIV/Aids. Sita lived together with her old grandparents in a cave which was carved out in the mountains. Her also we will give a warm future with everything a child, and especially an infected child, needs so much in life.
Santhoshi Sita Nepali
February 10th, today a brother and sister have arrived. The pictures are already there, more details will follow. Eight children, there's still room for two more, and then this home is also full.
Bishal Yam Kumari
Still mountains of work to do for all the children who are waiting for a place, but.......
The second Starchildren Home is there and it's going!!! Thank you, “Club of Five”, for this Brabantic Starpiece in Nepal!!!
September 2007: In Memoriam: Sandhya
Three weeks after we have left Nepal we receive the terrible message that one of our children is suddenly deceased, the dismay and the grief in the Starchildren home and here also, are enormous.
Sandhya suddenly got a high fever and after being examinated in the hospital in Pokhara, she was referred to Kathmandu. At her arrival there she was rejected by two hospitals because of her HIV infection. Soon after arriving in the third hospital, she is deceased. Sandhya came to live in the Starchildren home 18 months ago, together with her mother and sister.
1998-2007
Jacob Gelt Dekker fulltime philanthropist
In December 2006 Jacob Gelt Dekker and Roderick van Beem for the first time brought a visit to the Starchildren Home in Pokhara. They came, saw and, as usual with Jacob, the children conquered. Since then Jacob is applying himself to our project in Nepal, as a honorary ambassador.
"Philanthropy, acting out of love for others regardless of one self, remains the highest and most satisfying way of life"
In July 2007 Jacob brought Luuk Broos and Lucien Laros with him to Nepal, again for a visit to the project and the result was the beginning of the second Starchildren Home!
Jacob Gelt Dekker about his second visit to the Starchildren home in Nepal, 2007:
"I am still very impressed by the achievement of Starchildren in Pokhara, Nepal"
July 2007: A second home for Starchildren
On July 26th again on the way to Pokhara, to the children. An exciting time, searching for a location for the second home, that has to accommodate ten new HIV/Aids infected children, who are already waiting for a place for such a long time. After days of searching and negotiating, we found what we were looking for. A sweet house with a big garden in a quiet Nepalese neighbourhood on the outskirts of Pokhara. In a few months this new accommodation for ten children will start, then we will return to straighten everything out.
This second home is made possible by the "Club of Five" from Kaatsheuvel, the Netherlands. During our stay in July, Luuk Broos and Lucien Laros, on advice from and accompanied by Jacob Gelt Dekker, came a few days to Nepal to look at the project and they were so much impressed that they decided to expand the project with a second home and offer the same facilities to the prospective ten children as to the children in the first Starchildren home. Education, medical care, but above all love, a lot of love, until they are capable of taking care of themselves. Back in the Netherlands, they made great efforts to realise this second Starchildren dream and they founded the "Club of Five" in Brabant. This club is going to see to it that these ten children are also guaranteed of a life as "normal" as possible and a future. Thank you!
October 2006
The group photo is filled and right before I go back to the Netherlands, one more joins in, sixteen in total. Sunita, Jyoti, Sandhya, Seema, Punam and Raman have joined in during our absence. As latest two brothers would come, everything was made ready for them, but that story had an odd end, which can be read in the next newsletter.
June 2006: Herring Tour Katwijk
Wednesday, June 14th, the yearly traditional Herring Tour was held in Katwijk, the Netherlands. On the event, which was organized by the Round Table Katwijk/Noordwijk, more than 120 entrepreneurs were present. This year the benefit of the first barrel “Katwijksche Hollandse Nieuwe” ("Dutch fresh herring") went to the Dirk Kuyt Foundation. Before the start of de tour Dirk Kuyt had already decided that the complete benefit would go the Starchildren project, of which Dirk and Gertrude are patrons.
During the auction there was a video message from Dirk with the encouragement to exceed last year's amount of 25.000 euro. Gertrude, patron of the Starchildren home, did a 200% job that night to make the success as big as possible. And with all this effort of Dirk and Gertrude the end sum came to a fabulous 30.000 Euro!
Ramesh, the manager of the Starchildren home, who was present at the tour and for the first time ate a “Hollandse Nieuwe”, was completely stunned.
Eventually Hans Jongeneel was the last bidder and for a record sum of 30.000 euro, the first barrel of Katwijk Herring went to Jongeneel Transport B.V. This record sum is the consequence of the way of auctioning. That is, at an auction on the American way you only pay the difference of the overbid. That's why we want to thank the following entrepreneurs for their enthusiastic dedication:
Ouwehand Bouwgroep, Van Rhijn Bouw, Basis Bedrijfshuisvesting, Van de Geer & Partners, Meesterbakker van Maanen, Vishandel Schuitemaker, Rabobank Katwijk, Verhees Van der Plas Notarissen and all the others who made this night to such a success for Starchildren. And of course, not in the last place our thanks go to the Round Table Katwijk/Noordwijk and to Dirk and Gertrude. After the festive happening, the cheque to the value of 30.000 euro was handed symbolic by Gertrude to Ramesh.
The 30.000 euro goes to the account of the first Starchildren home to guarantee the future of these children. At any rate this means that we can go ahead for some time, making some extra plans. We will keep everybody informed about the situation of the children. Again, many thanks to everybody on behalf of us and all our children in Nepal.
Story of Abina
Teacher Deepti has the children write essays about their lifes as a task during the lessons, and she then sends the essays to us.
"I really don't want to remember my past, there were so many miserable things. Before we were born, our daddy worked in India. When he came back we were born. We went to school every day and everything went well. Then my daddy went ill. The doctor gave him medicines but it didn't help and he died. Very soon after that my brother and my mommy went ill. They also went to the hospital and only then we heard that our parents had Aids.
Before our daddy died he had confessed that in India he had slept with other women. Our grandparents were very angry at daddy because he brought this disease with him and also made our mommy and brother ill while they couldn't help it and now had to pay for his bad behavior. The people in our village soon found out the truth.
And then everything changed. Nobody wanted to help us anymore. Just grandpa and grandma looked after us. Then it turned out that my little sister also had the same disease. I don't, I don't know why that is but I am a normal healthy girl. I went to take care of grandpa and grandma and my ill brother and sister and for a while I couldn't go to school. And when I went to school again the teachers had found out why I hadn't been there for a while. But I was allowed to come in. My brother wasn't because he was ill.
On a day my little sister wanted to go to school so badly, so I took her with me. Very soon I heard her crying. Her teacher had told to everybody that my sister was infected. He said that she had to leave the classroom immediatly because she was ill and dirty and all children would get the same disease as her. We went home crying. The people in the village avoided us. We felt so alone! My grandpa and grandma took my brother and sister to an old priest. This man said that they had to lock them up behind a fence in a little dark room. They only got a little rice every day, they weren't allowed to leave the room because the priest said that then they would infect the whole village. They were so sad. Sometimes when I had the chance I secretly brought them something to eat. On a day my brother escaped and only returned days afterward. My grandparents brought him to a hospital in Kathmandu but already it was to late and he also died. I didn't understand because I thought that at least the three of us would stay together. Our grandparents couldn't take care of us any more, they are to poor to raise us and through an organization we came at Starchildren. And here I found warmth and people who love me and my sister and are not afraid of her because she is infected with HIV. Now I don't want to write anymore about my past. I want to stay at Starchildren forever, together with my sister and the other children, because here I am finally happy."
What did we achieve since 2004?
The help that Starchildren offers is not a drop in the ocean, but more like a fundament for a better future for the children. On February 13th 2004, the Starchildren home in Pokhara opened.
Sixteen children found their home there and also their way to a better future.
We also were able to help seventy other children and their families directly:
• Ten children and their families by counseling about HIV en family-integration.
• Eleven children and their families by bringing them to other organizations for education.
• Fifty children and their families in Pokhara and surrounding villages are reached by means of communication and visits in behalf of realization.
HISTORY OF STARCHILDREN
Starchildren, a home for children who are living with HIV/Aids or have been orphaned as a result of their parents’ Aids deaths, was conceived in the hearts and minds of a Dutch couple who went on to actualize this dream. This 20 year plan is being written to secure adequate funding to see it to its greatest potential. Mik and Margriet founded Stichting Starchildren (Starchildren Foundation), The Netherlands, recruited a Board of Directors, developed preliminary goals and beginning in 2003, personally financed the first year of the Pilot Home.
But perhaps a step backwards is warranted here. When Mik and Margriet began their family they made a promise to each other. If they could raise their own children to be safe and social adults then they could go on to devote their lives to other children in need. They traveled extensively and when they reached Nepal in 1996, they knew this was the place. In Nepal they could make the difference. Upon returning home, they took on extra jobs, saved money and planned for their project and return.
And continuing, closer to the present, by the end of 2004, their dreams and the needs of the children exceeded their resources and required them to begin fundraising. During this same period, as mandated by Nepali law, the Starchildren Foundation identified Starchildren Kaski Nepal, a non-governmental and non-profit organization, to be the direct service provider in Pokhara. They have been working together since 2003 to carry out the vision of the Dutch Board. The Pilot Children's Home designed to serve a maximum of twelve children was opened in February 2004. It functions as a test site to see if the envisioned model of care is viable prior to expanding the program to address the greater level of need in the region.
Starchildren prepared the first 5 year plan in December 2005. That plan described how one home would function to serve up to twelve children. As was known from the beginning and as experience has confirmed, this level of service is inadequate to really make a difference in addressing the problem of children affected by HIV/Aids in Nepal. This plan is written to describe the strategy for caring for a greater number of children and assuring their security into adulthood as Starchildren grows their capacity and influence in HIV/Aids awareness and programming over the next 20 years.
The Dutch Board demonstrates its commitment to the foundation’s goals through individual financial support, technical assistance, outreach and fundraising. Their work has been embraced by the Dirk Kuyt Foundation, which agreed to provide publicity and funds for the Starchildren Home. Additionally, Mik and Margriet, as founders and representatives of the Board, make annual trips to Nepal to oversee the work of Starchildren Kaski Nepal and assure that the program remains in line with the Dutch Board’s vision.
The Starchildren Foundation transfers funds to Starchildren Kaski Nepal quarterly based on anticipated financial need. Starchildren Kaski Nepal provides monthly financial reports to assure fiscal responsibility and accountability for funds expected. 
Organization
The Starchildren Foundation (Stichting Starchildren) is a Dutch registered charity that through its local partner Starchildren Kaski Nepal works to give HIV/Aids infected children and Aids orphaned children a home, love, education and the medical care they need.
Starchildren Kaski Nepal is a non-governmental and non-profit organization, formally established under the organization registration act of His Majesty's Government of Nepal government in February 2004. The organization is registered with the Chief District Administration Office Kaski and affiliated with Social Welfare Council, Kathmandu.
Starchildren is conceptualized on the grounds that there are HIV/Aids infected children and Aids orphaned children whose lives are in danger. Without education and skills, without a home and nourishment, they will spend their childhood on the street fighting for their lives. Together, we are able to help these children.
Through the efficient use of funds, the Starchildren Foundation empowers and enables its local partner, Starchildren Kaski Nepal to work with HIV/Aids infected children and Aids orphaned children to provide them a homely environment, health care and education, to give them a second chance in life.
The mission of Starchildren Kaski is to provide care that addresses the basic needs of children who are infected/affected by HIV/Aids in conformity with the UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989) and its four principles.
The UNCRC four principles are:
• Right to life, survival and development
• Right to be treated equally
• Right to participate in activities and decisions that affect them
• All actions should be based on the “best interests” of the child.
