In the Keshwa Gurukul School in our Keshwa Child Welfare Center in Sonbhadra, the 2025-2026 school year ended on March 31st, and the new 2026-2027 period began immediately afterward.

The last school year was very successful. A total of 222 children took part in the final exams. This is the first time we have exceeded 200 participants.

We now offer classes from Lower Kindergarten up to grade 8. The number of students in each grade was as follows:

LKG:         38
UKG:         27
Grade 1:   49
Grade 2:   30
Grade 3:   26
Grade 4:   24
Grade 5:   18
Grades 6, 7, and 8: 10 each

The decrease in enrollment from grade 4 onward is due to the fact that our school only opened in 2022, and students in the higher grades joined our Keshwa Gurukul School from other schools.
We expect to see an increase in the number of children in the upper grades in the coming years due to the natural progression of students to the next age group.

Naturally, there are also significant differences in the marks achieved in the exams by students in the individual classes. This is partly due to the fact that we were able to persuade many parents to send their children to school, even though they were not necessarily keen on doing so. The school’s positive development is primarily thanks to the persuasive skills and persistence of our Headmaster, Mr. Satyendra Bahadur Singh, and our Program Manager, Mr. Hariom Tiwari.

The new academic session started on April 1st, before the long summer break beginning in May, due to the intense heat.
Finally we are very happy that the Government paved the bumpy road to our Keshwa Child Welfare Center.

We are well prepared and look forward to continued positive development. We will not be able to increase the number of students much because we first need to purchase land and then possibly build two more classrooms.
This will take us two to three years, as it is also a question of financing. However, we will purchase two Biswa plots of land this year.

Thank you so much for the tremendous support that makes the operation of this school possible.

Upper Dolpo is one of the most socially and culturally diverse communities in Nepal. The region comprises three rural municipalities. Medical facilities are virtually nonexistent in Upper Dolpo. Everyone in the region suffers from deprivation and physical limitations. Just to reach the district capital, Dunai, people in Dolpo have to walk for at least five days.

Healthcare is extremely inadequate in the remote areas of Upper Dolpo. Especially among younger people, attitudes are shifting from traditional healing methods to scientific medicine. Nevertheless, traditional healing methods still play an important role.

To improve medical care, we have also been funding an outpatient health clinic (so called health post) in the village of Karang since 2024. This health post is open from April to October/November for up to seven months and provides care to those in need in seven villages: Karang, Tiling, Lhuri, Sungjer, Nyisal, Kyi, and Musi. The health service at the “clinic” provides free, 24/7 medical care for people with health problems. Trekking tourists and travelers passing through are also treated.

The health center in Karang treats many patients with more serious illnesses, such as respiratory and digestive problems in adults, colds, diarrhea, dermatitis, ear, nose, and throat infections, and dental problems. Musculoskeletal disorders like arthritis and uric acid hypertension pose further health challenges for the population.

The overall objectives we are aiming for are as follows: we provide holistic care for patients who previously had no access to medical services and who visit the facility or are treated during visits to their villages. Equally important is counseling on family planning, menstrual hygiene, oral hygiene, environmental hygiene, and personal hygiene practices.

In 2025, our nurse, Njma Lhazon Baijee, treated a total of 526 patients, 99% of whom were successfully treated on an outpatient basis. Family planning, toothaches, and the treatment of children under 5 years old are roughly equally represented, with around 100 patients treated in each category. Immunization programs are implemented, as are education and preventative treatments.

More than 100 children received outpatient treatment for ailments such as diarrhea, colds, upper respiratory infections, and other illnesses. Upper respiratory infections were the most frequent, affecting 32 children, followed by diarrhea (25), colds (28), and other ailments (18).

However, challenges remain in our daily work. Some residents are still very skeptical and weigh the different treatment methods. We do not want to influence the locals and therefore offer both treatment options. Of course, the distance between the villages also plays a role.

The Dolpa-Pa people are grateful and happy that this work is improving medical care year after year.
Thank you so much for your great support.

In October 2023 — 18 months after planning began — our major water project in Nigeria went into operation. Today—more than two and a half years later—we look back with gratitude, pride, and also humility at what we have created together.

Thanks to winning an award, we were able to build a water facility in Afikpo, Ebonyi State, which now produces clean drinking water almost every day. The water is drawn from a well approximately 80 meters deep and treated using modern filtration systems. The electricity required comes from our own photovoltaic system — a crucial prerequisite for making the project economically viable in the first place.

The water is delivered to surrounding villages using three trucks and a van. In total, we have provided more than 10 million liters of clean water to date. For many people, this means far more than just water: it means health and hope.

85% of the water is sold at fair prices to cover ongoing costs such as personnel, diesel for vehicles, and packaging materials. We donate the remaining 15% to particularly impoverished families who would otherwise be unable to afford clean water.

And yet, we carry on.

For we see just how desperately this project is needed. Many families cannot afford medical care when illnesses arise from contaminated water. Our water helps prevent exactly that. At the same time, we create jobs for 20 local residents and offer people a sense of hope and a future.

We are particularly grateful for the tireless efforts of our local partner organization, Better Place Africa, which has supported this project with immense dedication and, together with us, consistently finds solutions to new challenges.

When we opened our Keshwa Child Welfare Center in India in January 2020, we had big plans: We wanted to give girls and women the opportunity to complete a vocational training and thus shape their own lives more independently. A few months later, the pandemic forced us to pause our plans.

Despite all the setbacks, we did not give up. As life around the globe slowly returned to normal, we opened a school that continues to successfully educate children. However, the financial support promised by the Indian government for our training programs never materialized.

So, in the spring 2023, we took matters into our own hands: We launched our own Skill Program. Initially with courses in tailoring and fashion design – today, we train around 120 girls and women in these programs each year. Since the spring of 2025, we have also offered a second training program: Beautician. There, participants learn everything from henna tattoos and facial care to basic hairdressing techniques. Four dedicated instructors accompany them on this journey.

What effect does this training have on women?
For those women, it means far more than a new profession. It means freedom. The opportunity to earn their own money. The hope of building an independent and dignified life – for themselves and their families.

After their training, the women take an exam and, if successful, receive a state-recognized certificate. This allows them to officially register and often start working independently shortly thereafter. Microloans help them finance essential initial purchases, such as a sewing machine.

Each of these women follows her own path. And each of these paths begins with an opportunity – one that we make possible together.

We conduct regular surveys among our graduates to understand their goals from the training, their positive experiences, and our potential for improvement. It is always moving to hear that the most important success stories (the core messages) are consistently the same: the independence gained through their own income and the ability to support their families.

2025 was again a special year for our work in Upper Dolpo. For the first time, we were able to support a fourth school in this remote, high-altitude region of Nepal. Today, we would like to show you the impact of this support – and why education here is so much more than just lessons. The focus is on the summer school in Lhuri and the year-round school in Yarle. A report on the winter schools will follow mid-year after the winter season concludes.

Lhuri – A Safe Place to Learn, Grow, and Dream

Our school in Lhuri has gradually developed into a safe and secure learning environment over the past few years. Following the opening of the new school building in 2023, two additional large rooms were added: a kitchen where meals are prepared daily for the children and teachers, and a dormitory for those who have to stay overnight at the school during term time. Today, there are six classrooms available for instruction.

A central concern has always been the children’s safety. A sturdy fence protects the schoolyard from the steep slope now, and an entrance gate prevents animals from entering the grounds. At the same time, an expanded photovoltaic system provides reliable light and electricity – and the first computers are now available for use.

A significant milestone was the collaboration with the state school principal, Mr. Anga B. Rahut, which officially integrated the school into the state education system. The team is supplemented by three private teachers and a cook, funded by the HUMAN Foundation. School uniforms, learning materials, meals, and transportation expenses are also covered.

In 2025, 23 children successfully attended Nursery classes and grades 1 through 4. In addition to regular classes, they participated in many activities that fostered community and self-confidence: projects for World Environment Day, dance and games, creative competitions, and hygiene training. Here, school is a place where children can feel safe.

Yarle – Education Takes New Roots

In Yarle, a neglected place of learning was revitalized in 2025. Founded in 1977, Shree Saptakoshi Primary School was closed for many years. Today, it is once again a hub for children from four surrounding villages, home to a total of approximately 335 people.

Thanks to the support of the HUMAN Foundation, classes resumed in April 2025 with an expanded team: two government teachers, two private teachers, and a cook. A total of 23 students attended preschool through third grade. For many of them, this is their first opportunity to attend school regularly and close to home.

A particularly important step: Four classrooms in a dilapidated school building have been rebuilt; three more rooms are still needed for complete renovation.
Our thanks go to the myidol Foundation from Switzerland for the funding.
In addition to the government curriculum, sports, art, dance, community village activities, and health programs have been integrated into the daily school routine. All children successfully completed the school year. An application to expand the school to include sixth grade has already been submitted. There is still much to be done to bring the school up to the level of the other three schools. But a start has been made.

Why is all this so important?

These schools are more than just buildings. They are places of hope, stability, and a future – in a region where education is often only possible through great hardship.

All of this is possible thanks to your support. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for giving children in Upper Dolpo a chance.

Five heartbreaking stories

Thanks to the generous support of our donors, we were able to provide urgently needed medical assistance to many people in Nigeria again this year. We would like to highlight five cases as examples – they show how much your help has changed lives.

Anayele – Finally pain-free again

Anayele (65) successfully underwent surgery in January to remove a large lipoma from her neck and mouth. The operation was uncomplicated. Today, Anayele is strong, mobile, and active again – a completely new chapter in her life.

Faith – A Major Tumor and a Long Road to Recovery

Faith (55) desperately sought help in September. A massive tumor on her face was affecting her breathing and vision. After intensive preparation, she was able to undergo surgery within 72 hours – four doctors worked on her face for eight hours. A few weeks later, she received a prosthesis. However, the biopsy revealed the devastating news of a malignant tumor. Since November, Faith has been undergoing chemotherapy, which will continue until 2026. She bravely continues to fight and attends regular check-ups.

Kingsley – Healing After Six Years of Suffering

Kingsley (44), a single father, had been suffering from an open leg wound for six years. The doctor diagnosed severe cellulitis. After intensive wound treatment, a successful skin graft was performed. Kingsley is grateful and relieved – and continues to come for weekly checkups.

The photos above show the patients who underwent surgery. From left to right: Anayele, Elisabeth, Faith, Ogochukwu, and Kingsley.

Your contribution makes a real difference!

In 2025, we were able to provide medical support to 36 patients – many of them with serious illnesses, long hospital stays, and extensive follow-up treatments.

Thanks to your donations, we were able to allocate over €10,000 for emergency medical aid. €10,400 were transferred to Nigeria.

Thank you for making this life-changing assistance possible. Together, we are giving hope – and real prospects for the future.

Or do we have to manage everything yourself? Since the beginning of this year, we have been asking ourselves this question. What is behind it?

We have been supporting a children’s home in Nigeria for 18 months. However, we are not the project owner. The home is operated by a very large international organization.

The reason for our support is that the children in the home live in very poor conditions and are often sick. Therefore, with our cooperation partner Better Place Africa, we built a playground, made the home more welcoming, and provided donations in kind to improve the children’s living conditions.

At the beginning of 2025, our partner noticed that donations in kind were disappearing and that the equipment and food in the home were getting worse. Our contact with the national organization of the home’s operator in Abuja was ignored.

In January, the president of the HUMAN Foundation informed the global headquarters of the operating organization about the conditions. After repeated discussions, an investigation of the home was ordered. Unfortunately, some children had died in the meantime. A number of measures were decided: Employees were laid off, and improvements to food, medical care, and equipment in the home were promised.

Today, six months later, only a few of the promised measures have been implemented. Because we are concerned about the well-being of the children, we are not giving up. Unfortunately, our further inquiries and status reports have not been responded to. It is important to us to help the children, but the situation is difficult because:

• The responsibilities between the government and the international organization are not clearly defined.
• The international organization does not consider such projects to be its core mission.
• Our hands are generally tied. We could end up being banned from the premises.

We are now contacting the local press. We do not want to criticize large organizations in general. They are capable of carrying out large projects that we could never manage. However, it is clear that monitoring and review do not properly work, if the people in charge are not managed. We see this as one of our strengths, because we are closely involved in day-to-day operations with our own social workers we can rely on.

We believe that with these kinds of projects, “small” is actually better than “big” – for the benefit of the people we’re helping. That makes us a little proud.

After successfully running three school projects in Upper Dolpo since 2016 (Saldang, Nyisal, and Lhuri), we were able to launch our fourth school project this year. Saptakoshi Primary School is located in Yarle-4, in the rural municipality of Chharkatangsong, Upper Dolpo.

Background Information

The school was founded in 1977 specifically for children from four villages: Dhu, Yarle, Thimnyar, and Punghak. Although the school was founded 47 years ago, it was not in operation for a long time until 2022. The total population of the four villages is approximately 335 people living in about 60 households.

As is common in most villages, the state only partially funds the school’s operations – in this case, two teachers and some of the support staff. The additional teachers needed have been paid for by the villagers for the past two years. Because Upper Dolpo is a very poor region and people have few opportunities to earn a living, they will not be able to finance private teachers in the future. For this reason, the school was again threatened with closure.

In the long term, a total of 3-4 privately funded teachers will be needed, as the school is to be expanded to include grade 5 (currently grade 3). The goal of this expansion is to retain existing students and attract new ones by addressing problems that often lead to dropouts after grade 3. This means that children have to move to Kathmandu or neighboring villages and are separated from their families.

The school in Yarle is a year-round school, which is also not a given in Upper Dolpo.

Pre-conditions for support through HUMAN Foundation

In the summer of 2024, our partner organization DTCF in Kathmandu asked us whether we could cover these costs. We have been working together excellently on a wide variety of projects for 10 years. Therefore, our reputation in this region is very high.

After a thorough review of our financial situation, we agreed to the request. It is always important to us that we support projects long term, i.e., for at least 20 years, as it is not easy to find new sponsors. We are committed to a five-year agreement while monitoring how the school develops and will extend the agreement in case of positive results.

What happens in 2025?

Initially, we have been funding the school operations since January 2025. By a fortunate coincidence, a partner organization in Switzerland (myidol Foundation) provided us with the funds to rebuild a building in very poor condition. This will provide four new classrooms. A small part of the old building is still to be renovated.

This helps the children and villagers greatly, and we are all confident that the school will develop positively. Currently, 35 children attend the school.

We are happy that we can give the children in Upper Dolpo the opportunity for a good education, as there are simply no alternatives as long as the families in these villages are happy and want to live there.

A huge thank you to our donor community for their tremendous support.

In the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where we operate, child protection plays an important role. Nevertheless, it still happens again and again that children run away from home or are abandoned by their parents.

For this purpose, there are social institutions that must operate according to the “JJ Act 2015,” officially titled “Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015.” This law consolidates and amends laws regarding children in conflict with the law and children in need of care and protection and focuses on a child-friendly approach to their basic needs, treatment, and social reintegration.

One of the institutions run by our partner organization in India, in Samastipur, Bihar, cares for these children aged 0 to 6. There are three types of children in need of protection and care: orphans, abandoned children, and surrendered children.

• An orphan means that both the father and mother have died.
• An abandoned child means that the child has been placed by their parents somewhere on the side of a road, at a train station, etc.
• A surrendered child means that the parents do not want to care for the child.

In all of these cases, the child (assigned by the local authorities) ends up in this home. Unfortunately, there are also many cases where the children are seriously ill and sometimes even die because they cannot be helped despite the best medical care.

There are many different reasons why children end up there: parents feel unable to raise a child, whether for financial reasons or because the child is seriously ill; children are mistreated or abused in the family environment; alcohol and drugs are involved, and many other reasons.

In the facility, the children initially receive round-the-clock care; seriously ill children receive special care. At the same time, attempts are made to find relatives of the children where the children can be rehomed. This is particularly difficult if the child has been sexually abused by an older family member within the family.

If the search for a family is unsuccessful, or the child is not taken by the relatives, adoption proceedings can be initiated. The decision whether the child is released for adoption or placed with the family is made by the Child Welfare Committee. The children’s home manages the adoption process until a successful conclusion. If a child is over six years old and is not adopted, the child must be transferred to another facility.

Since 2018, we have been able to place children with adoptive parents annually (a total of 36 children). These are often Indian families living either in India or abroad (26 children), and occasionally foreign parents from Europe or the USA (10 children in this period). An adoption in India costs approximately USD 5,000 for foreign couples. This does not include any fees in the home country.

It is always a wonderful feeling when children find foster parents, especially when the children are sick or disabled. Then these children have a real future again. Thanks to a lot of educational work, the number of children in need of care has declined somewhat.

Under the leadership of our overall program manager, Mr. Hariom Tiwari, and the school’s principal, Mr. Satyendra Bahadur Singh, Keshwa Gurukul School has become a model of success. The majority of the children come from low-income villages outside of Robertsganj, and they enjoy attending our school.
We would like to thank our principal, Mr. Singh. He has been with our school since June 2022 and previously served as principal of other schools.

The planned expansion of the school to accommodate up to 250 children required the purchase of a third school bus, which can transport more than 40 children. We now have a total of three school buses, which we use to pick up and drop off all children who do not live in the immediate vicinity of the school.
The 2024/2025 school year was successfully concluded with the exams in March, and all children were granted permission to advance to the next grade. The year always ends with a teacher-parent-student meeting. The new school year has now begun.

Our principal, Mr. Singh, knows all the families and succeeds in winning parents to send their children to our school. He has managed to build a well-coordinated and motivated teacher team. Without him, the Keshwa Gurukul School would not have developed so positively in such a short time.

“Honesty is the best policy” is a principle that I have always admired and lived by. I will continue my path in education and social activities and work daily to improve society.
— Satyendra Bahadur Singh

Our principal, together with the ten teachers and social workers, finds the right balance between consistent adherence to the most important rules and loving appreciation for all children. In addition to the curriculum, the focus is on play, music, hygiene, sports, and fun, all while being considerate of one another. This balance and the high quality are the recipe for success that both the children and the parents appreciate and love.
Many thanks to the entire team at Sonbhadra.