Frequently Asked Questions

"Dhoka" means "door" in Nepali. In the context of our project, this name points to the symbolic door that the project should be for our children and all those involved. A door to new possibilities and options. The article "La" was put in front for aesthetic reasons on the one hand, on the other hand it is the first letters of Laxmi, the Nepalese partner who is the real heart of the project.

In January 2008, Simone traveled to Nepal for the first time. The waves of the civil war (officially from 1994 to 2006) had calmed down enough to make a stay possible. The destination was Lubhoo, a small town outside Patan, where Simone stayed with a Nepalese man and his family. Soon after arrival, Simone started an internship in a school. The way to school took her past the Dhungel family home every day. The host brother introduced Laxmi and Simone to each other and a deep friendship developed. The chemistry between the two and their respective backgrounds were right, and soon the idea of working together on a small project was born.

By the end of 2011, we were financially stable enough to consider expanding our activities. It quickly became clear that Laxmi wanted to work especially for the women and through them for the families. After a few forays into the Balku neighborhood and many conversations with women from different walks of life, it became clear that we first wanted to offer a meeting place for more intensive exchange. This became our "training groups". From then on, these groups met regularly and were sensitized by our team to various topics such as hygiene, household finances, nutrition, etc. The first training groups were soon formed.

Shortly after the first savings groups emerged from the training groups and, in parallel, we included sewing and literacy courses in our offer.

The children initially came to us through contacts and relationships.  In Nepal it is unfortunately very easy to find children in difficult situations. No wonder after a 7-year civil war and the difficult economic and political situation.

In the meantime, we only take in children who are assigned to us by the official authority (Child Welfare Council).

The children all speak Nepali, the official language in Nepal. At the English Medium school, they all learn English as well. English is essential for future opportunities in Nepal. Meanwhile, all the older children speak English quite well.

The school system is hardly comparable with our standards. Most of the teachers are poorly trained, underpaid and not really held in high esteem by society. Those who can't find any other work "just" start teaching. Unfortunately, the offer of qualitative, pedagogical training is vanishingly small. In addition, the countless schools have to be divided into government schools and private schools. All parents who can somehow afford it send their child to a private school. These schools have to be paid for, but they are often only slightly better than the government schools. The respective owners want to earn money with his school. Thus, unfortunately, profit counts more than quality. Those who suffer are the teachers and, in a broader sense, the students and thus the educational level of the country.

In addition to the government and private schools, there are countless schools that are maintained by various aid organizations and foreign investors. These schools are generally of a fairly good standard in terms of infrastructure and quality, but are either firmly integrated into a project or are correspondingly expensive.

The first important milestone is the SLC (school leaving certificate) after 10th grade. This comprehensive exam must be passed in order to attend secondary schools.

La Dhoka is officially registered in Nepal and has a "Social Welfare Number".

We report directly to the Child Welfare Council (CWC) and the Social Welfare Council. These offices have enforced strict regulations and requirements for children's homes/orphanages. In principle, the CWC's regulations are very welcome; they represent the rights of children and strive to prevent possible abuse.

Every year we have to re-register the project (or projects, because the Narighar and the children's home have to be registered separately) and the relevant authorities send their staff to check on our implementation. This process is very time consuming and somewhat costly but unavoidable. Since we run the children's home as a joint home of Laxmi & family, we always get a very good rating.

The registration of the Narighar runs relatively smoothly in comparison.

There are countless aid organizations in Nepal. La Dhoka is a very small organization in comparison.

The situation is somewhat different with Narighar. In order for our target group to know about us at all, we need to be known to a certain extent. For years, however, positive word-of-mouth propaganda has been quite sufficient. Since we also organize publicity campaigns in and around Balkhu (sales booths, clean-up campaigns, women's demos, etc.), most of the locals know about our work.

But more important than a big publicity in Nepal is in any case that La Dhoka gets a broad support from Switzerland.

In Switzerland, the association La Dhoka was founded in May 2009. The association offers us the opportunity to maintain contact with the members and friends of La Dhoka in a targeted manner, to keep the accounts professionally and, of course, to offer tax exemption for the donations. In our annual report we summarize the events of the year and inform the members and the authorities about the use of the money entrusted to us.

We have set the minimum annual amount at 60 Swiss Francs. It is important to us that also younger people have the possibility to support us. In addition, it is possible to contribute a monthly amount of your choice to La Dhoka as an "active member".

If you are interested: Contact us under "Contact"

La Dhoka is a small, non-bureaucratic project that aims to provide some relief and new opportunities for some people. If you have always wanted to support a project in a developing country, La Dhoka is a good choice for several reasons:

• Your money goes entirely to the project in Nepal, as the board and all Swiss helpers are volunteers. The only additional costs that arise are the transfer fee, printing and mailing of the annual report (once a year) and sometimes rental fees for premises.
• You support with your money only local people. Be it the neighborhood shop that supplies us with 30kg rice bags, the neighbor's wife who does the laundry, the former apprentice who assists in the sewing classes...
• If you are interested, Simone is always available for information (see contact).