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| You are here: Home > About us > Circulars > June 2007 |
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| I
also remembered the other great German poet Theodor Fontane’s
poem from my childhood days: The ballad of the Lord of Ribbeck of
Ribbeck in Havelland, a story of a man who made all the children in
his village happy through the pears growing on his beautiful pear
tree after his death. This is the reason why we planned to plant fruit trees on this tree-bare hillside. They will retain the top soil und support our children with important vitamins at the same time. Our patients cannot buy fruit themselves – fruit costs too much. Many of our readers will know our tree project well; many among you planted fruit trees on the most different occasions: birthdays or marriages, funerals or jubilees, brief, whenever they wanted to make some loved one happy; and a sustainable joy not only for the person offered the present, but for many others for long decades, too. We were aware of that when we wrote on the tree certificate this sentence: “A tree giving you life in “Nepal”, and not “for Shanti”, because trees will grow legs overnight and settle at another place… Never mind: Nepal is so poor and threatened by erosion that the tree will be at the right place wherever it will grows. In the meantime, our tree project has produced a fine colourful orchard in Buddhanilkantha where bees fly from oranges to peaches, from guavas to pears and papaya trees. And I am happy whenever I see our seriously disabled children happy when we give them some fruit. Over the years, an inviting and pleasant village has grown like the orchard did. Approximately 200 children and adults are living here. Patients built the houses with bricks they formed themselves with the clay which we found on our property. The houses do not all have the same look. Their architectural styles tell tales of the numerous ethnic groups to which the families belong which are staying in the specific houses. By the way, a house built together will promote the feeling of togetherness in a fine way. We experienced this feeling some time ago when socio-political disturbances lapped over to our station in such a terrible way: But the residents of Buddhanilkantha did not let themselves be pulled into the maelstrom of unrest. They have expressed their solidarity with our objective to help those who need us. Our disabled children Help for everybody – the growing number of seriously disabled
children included. It is nearly hopeless in Nepal to find a good,
loving nursing place in Nepal for them. 15 years ago, we mainly
admitted adults at our place for care. During the last five years,
however, more and more children were entrusted to us who are entirely
dependent on our help. |
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