Nelleke Alders is the driving force behind the foundation. Which she founded after traveling to Nepal. During a hiking excursion, she met Keshab (Nelleke’s guide). He told her that with his tips received from tourists, he bought things to help residents. For instance, he bought a sewing machine for a lady who wanted to set up her own textile business to sustain her own livelihood. During the trip, Nelleke experienced the miserable conditions these people lived in. “A warm, sturdy, and fully insulated house is something only the rich can afford here”. Nelleke decided to support Keshab from the Netherlands and in 2006 she set up a website for the benefit of aid projects in Chitwan, Nepal. In 2009, the Child Welfare Organisation Nepal Foundation was officially established in the Netherlands.
Of course, Nepal is not the only place in the world where there is poverty, and fighting all poverty in the world is not possible. During her trip, however, Nelleke noticed that a small gesture can bring great joy. She wants to do that by supporting projects which Keshab started. Keshab and some family members are achieving good results with few resources. They work in an organisation with the same name as Nelleke’s. The people they help do it all themselves with just a push.
Nelleke says: "My interest and enthusiasm for these projects were piqued because of this and I decided to get involved in cooperation with Keshab for those who desperately need the help. Here in the Netherlands, we try to raise money for the projects by approaching businesses and organisations such as churches, events, and companies for larger or smaller donations and through school projects."
Nelleke herself travels to Nepal every year to review completed projects, collect accountability and look at new projects. "We respond to where there is a need and don’t start just any random project."
In the course of the project, Nelleke met Marjan Makker, Michel Makker’s sister. Together they set up a health camp with Nepalese ear doctors to provide the people with hearing aids, batteries, and education on the devices so that the doctors there can also adjust the hearing aids themselves.
In 2023, two audiologists from OnlineHearingAids and an ENT doctor will travel to Nepal. Together with some local volunteers, they will organise a hearing week. During this week, they will visit a different village each day. The locals are urged to come forward if they have hearing problems. Our audiologists will then take hearing tests, fit hearing aids, and donate these hearing aids to the locals. All this is made possible thanks to the customers of OnlineHearingAids. In fact, we donate to the Child welfare organisation Nepal for every order that is placed in our webshop. This is how we support the following projects:
The foundation is now mainly building cottages with water pumps that provide villages with clean water. Children from some villages sometimes have to walk several kilometers to fetch water. This results in these children not being able to attend school as it can take hours. The government of Nepal saw what they were doing with the water pumps and also helped build a cottage.
In total, there are now about 60 water pumps. Nelleke hopes to make 100 of these in the next five years. Getting a pump made and installed costs about €500. So this means that over 20,000 euros are now needed to help the people there to a better life. We obviously can’t look into everyone’s wallet, but as Nelleke said in an interview with an employee of OnlineHearingAids “Every drop of water will make a puddle by the end of the day". In addition, for every hearing aid sold, OnlineHoortoestel donates a portion to Child Welfare Organisation Nepal, and over the past few years we have collected over 200 hearing aids that we will donate to the residents of a number of villages in 2023. We will also train the doctors here in audiology to ensure that they can apply hearing care themselves.
