Author: Stella Deetjen

Dreams come true – lessons up to high school graduation

School building is a focus of our project work in Nepal. We aim to create new grades where there is a lack of secondary schools. Back to Life already turned to the school in Thakaltar (Chitwan) after the earthquake in 2015, as they could no longer use part of the building for school lessons due to the damage. We added a large, two-story building with … classrooms to the two smaller, undamaged buildings. Built earthquake-proof and equipped with tables, benches and monitors to enable modern and effective teaching. At that time, 292 students attended the school, the only one far and wide...

Expanded – the path is free up to 8th grade

Back to Life has been supporting the Janajyoti School in the Chitwan District, near the Chitwan National Park in southern Nepal, since 2010. The school is located in a village that is characterized by deep poverty. The Chepang people who live there are among the poorest minorities in Nepal. That is why we support the families with, for example, scholarships for school children, school meals, health care, access to clean energy and income generation. In 2016 Back to Life rebuilt and equipped an earthquake-proof school building with two classrooms, which was previously destroyed by the severe...

School clothes make the man

Steep and dusty trails, protruding branches on the long, winding paths through the mountains, muddy holes in the ground, snowfall, downpours and high mountain sun – there are many challenges for the school uniform of the children in our project areas. Often the uniform is their only intact set of clothing and is also worn after school. On all important occasions anyway. The families are too poor to buy summer and winter uniforms and shoes for their children. In the past, the requirement to wear a school uniform prevented countless school visits. Back to Life changed that. The students...

How to wash properly has to be learned – our baby bath training

Back to Life supports the mothers with various training courses so that they can care for the newborns in the best possible way. This also includes the “baby bath training” that was developed by our midwives for the young mothers. It shows them how important regular hygiene right from the start is for a healthy growth. They learn which diseases they can actively prevent through hygiene, such as diarrhea, skin diseases, ear infections. Regular bathing of babies has simply been neglected so far, due to lack of water, because of the cold or because it was not perceived as important. The mothers...

Solar lighting systems for 520 households

The night grows lighter in Gamtha In March 2017 we reported on the delivery and installation of solar lighting systems for over 500 families in Gamtha, Mugu. From the beginning of our activities in Mugu, we have also focused on ecological and clean energy sources in our on-site projects. In addition to our smoke-free stoves, which gradually replaced the usual open fire – with the resulting toxic smoke development – in the houses, we also opted for simple but very effective solar light systems. Resource protection in the barren mountains of Mugu is not only a practical side...

High school graduates

Our first high school graduates – we are very proud of you! Stand on their own two feet and finance themselves, that is the goal of Rita and Sarita from Chitwan – and they are well on their way there. You are our first high school graduate! We have supported them since they started school through school sponsorships, their parents could not have afforded their daughters to go to school. Rita and Sarita passed their secondary school leaving certificate at the Thalkatar School in 2018, so far they had finished after the 10th grade. The schools that offer the Abitur are so far...

Protecting the environment through the hands of children: interacting child clubs

Sometimes the youth clubs we have initiated in our project schools exchange ideas or meet for sports competitions. The best ideas can come from this. Ideas become more when they are shared After a visit to Piple, Chitwan, southern Nepal, the girls and boys from the neighboring Thakaltar were deeply impressed. The village of Piple and its paths were so much cleaner than theirs! So one child club sat down with the other. The people from Piple presented their solutions for a clean village. And the youth from Thakaltar asked a lot of questions. Back in Thakaltar, the plan was quickly established....

The magic of letters

IT’S NEVER TOO LATE – ADULT ALPHABETIZATION We are improving the school and learning conditions for over 4500 schoolchildren in Nepal. But we don’t want to stop there, we also want to take care of the literacy of adults in remote areas. According to the “Nepal Human Rights Year Book 2019” (INSEC), the literacy rate in Mugu is only 51.25 percent. This includes all school children, which means that the adult illiteracy rate is significantly higher. But how do you go about giving the already hard-working adults extra hours of learning? First, we set up a varied program to...

With us, teachers also go to school – further education

A teacher in Nepal is respected in the village but earns little. In the remote areas in particular, teachers are often not well trained, not only professionally, but also pedagogically. They also have no access to the latest teaching materials. Back to Life carries out targeted training courses for teachers in Mugu, Chitwan and Nuwakot. We will introduce you to optimized teaching methods and show you various options for interesting and informative lesson design. Action plans are drawn up together, which you can implement directly in your own lessons. The preparation of descriptive teaching...

Because it can happen again and again – earthquake safety training for teachers

30,000 classrooms collapsed during the devastating 2015 earthquake. The devastating earthquakes of 2015 claimed almost 9,000 deaths in Nepal. But it could have been hundreds of thousands more: The first quake was on a Saturday – the only day off of the week from school. On any other day, the schoolchildren in the 30,000 collapsed classrooms would have been killed by the masonry and the number of victims would have skyrocketed. The earthquake safety training courses aim to ensure that teachers and children are prepared in the event of another disaster. That is why it is important for...

Olympic champion with a heart

Fabian Hambüchen donates a school Fabian Hambüchen broke all records in his sporting career – today the Olympic champion is one of the most successful athletes in our country. In spring 2016 he was a participant in the ZDF show “I can do that” and won there too. In front of the cameras, he announced that he wanted to donate his prize to Back to Life. We were thrilled and agreed with him to use the sum for the reconstruction of one of the schools in Nuwakot, Nepal, which was destroyed by the 2015 earthquake. In autumn 2017 Stella Deetjen was able to inaugurate the rebuilt...

Understanding the world in a playful way – our preschools

In addition to the diverse projects for school children, Back to Life also promotes the early development of children of preschool age We have set up preschools at 33 schools and are funding a teacher for early childhood development who paints with the children, plays games, reads to them, sings and dances with them, but has also started teaching lighter material such as letters and numbers. We have equipped the rooms with blackboards, posters, writing pads and play materials for early childhood education. Learning is fun this way. We pay particular attention to practicing the important...

Child marriage prevented!

The best day in life … sometimes has to be prevented When a wedding takes place in Nepal, it is a big celebration. Even if it is actually a sad day for child brides, which usually ends their chances of a better life from now on. But we are more and more successful through our educational work. We have courageous allies – the children themselves! FearlessSirjana is an intrepid young girl who internalized our anti-child marriage education and acted correctly. When her 13-year-old friend Rakshya confides in her that her wedding to the 14-year-old boy next door is imminent, she worries...

Reading time

Education is one of our central development topics and the basis for a self-determined life. That is why we promote literacy in our project areas beyond the normal curriculum. We have now set up 30 libraries in 30 schools: 5 in Chitwan, 6 in Nuwakot, 19 in Mugu. More than 3,500 children have access to books every year. We were also able to equip a community library for the adults in the village of Loharbada in Mugu. We have provided more than 7,000 books in total. We have founded reading clubs in our project schools so that students can deepen their reading skills after class. After the official...

Cook cleanly with sunlight

Innovation with a great effect for people and nature: solar cookers and solar water heaters In rural Nepal, it is common to use firewood for cooking. The open hearth is usually in the middle of the room where the family lives, cooks and sleeps. In the evening the smoky wood is burned to have light. It also serves as a heating source. It is estimated that a family consumes between 30-40 kg of firewood per day. The wood is usually collected by women, who often have to walk several hours a day, depending on how far away the nearest forest is. Back to Life has been providing clean energy for...

For people and nature

The people in rural Mugu are predominantly smallholders who practice extensive agriculture (low capital and labor input in relation to the area). The soils in Mugu are not very fertile, and the farmers’ harvests are not particularly productive. The people there are both producers and consumers of the crops they grow, but the harvests are usually not enough to adequately feed the families. FRUIT TREES AS FUTURE SOURCE OF INCOME I 2019 we asked the farmers in our project villages Jiuka, Hyanglu and Nakharji about their situation and how they can be helped to stand safely on their own two...

Micro hydropower plant – light and future for a village

When night came, our project village Thakaltar in Chitwan (southern Nepal) was in the dark. Wood fires or kerosene lamps only shone sporadically for people. Five hours’ walk from the next major street and the local markets, the residents decided to take their fate into their own hands. 187 households saved a total of 60,000 rupees (around 460 euros) over two years and built their own small hydroelectric power station with a small subsidy from the state, which generated energy for a maximum of one to four lamps per house. The joy lasted only a few months, then the monsoons came. The rains...

Sher Singh, on two legs into the future

The door of the small shop in Loharbada village opens. A child asks about sugar, Sher Singh stands up and goes to the shelf. This would not have been possible just a few years ago. Because Sher Singh only has one healthy leg. As a school child, the boy fell in the mountains, broke his leg and knee and, without proper medical help, lost the leg above the knee after a while. The prosthesis for the prosthesis When Stella Deetjen met Sher Singh in Loharbada in 2012, he was already wearing an extremely damaged prosthesis. He could only slide on both hands and one leg with it, the sight was heartbreaking....

A real growth industry: Nuwakot’s greenhouses

The harvest is ripe and the owners of the greenhouse, Kamal Tamang and his wife Khasmaya, can hardly believe their luck. The result is remarkable: the very first harvest yielded 80 kilos of tomatoes. Eight more harvests are possible until the early monsoon. After that, new seeds need to be sown. In the next 5 months Kamal can earn around 20,000 rupees (approx. 150 euros) with the tomatoes. A lot of extra money for the poor farm laborer. “We are now planning to plant cucumbers, pumpkins, cauliflowers and other vegetables …”, says Khasmaya and calculates that the family will...

The chances grow with the plants

With vegetable gardens, Back to Life helps the families in our project villages simply and effectively to improve their income and at the same time improve their nutritional situation. As soon as the parents have noticeably more income available, they also allow their children to attend school, which is important. Our income generation measures therefore ultimately serve the well-being of the children. How it works | Back to Life provides the families with the material for the greenhouses. The cover is made of plastic sheeting. The families take care of the wooden beams for the scaffolding...