1) Love – The most desirable items by the orphans is your time and loves.
We suggest you to visit the orphanage every week, or twice a month minimum. You can accompany the kids on their homework, preparing the foods, do the washing (clothes, dishes, shoes etc) together with them, bring them back to orphanage from school. You can read them a book and help them to complete their homework.
For example, you can bring a set of Monopoly Board Games, teach the kids how to play, and sit and play withe them during the school off day. It will takes hours and hours to know who is the winner. However, at the end the games, kids will learn some mathematics, skills of tradings – buying and selling etc. If you can’t spend time with the kids, then don’t buy any toys for them. It will be wasted and useless as kids won’t know how to play it. They need an adult to act as their parent to teach them.
They will remember and felt the love when you spend times with them.
This is the most valuable gifts to the orphans.
2) Stationery – Orphanage needs pencils, papers, pens, writing books, erasers, color pencil, school bags and anything you can think of using during your schooling days.
As the orphanage is operating based on donations, and these items are daily needs for the orphans, thus, you can bring boxes of pencils, colour pencils, erasers , writing books when you are visiting the orphanage house.
Let me make a calculation here: A kid aged 7 will finish a pencil in 3 days, and an eraser in 3 days in the school.
These two items if to buy by the orphanage will cost them USD 0.20 every 3 days. In a month will need to spend USD 2 for only pencil and erasers for a orphan. In SCIF Nepal we have 13 kids. We will need to spend USD 2 x 13 = USD 26 just to buy pencils and erasers. Thus, we appreciate a lot when visitor/ volunteers visit us with stationery items. It will help a lot. USD 26 is a huge money for us as we have many other expenses for the daily needs.
3) Kitchen needs – rice, potato, vegetables, tea, milo, coffee(for workers), cooking oils, spices for cooking, soya source, tomato ketchup, chili sauce, eggs etc.
SCIF Nepal’ kids are vegetarian. Thus, we need any food items you can think of to eat as a vegetarian.
Our food and kitchen expenses will cost us USD 500 to USD 800 a month with 13 kids and 2 workers. Thus, food items for the kitchen is really needed the most as in a day, we eat as many as five times. Please refer here for our time schedule.
What do orphanage needed the most? Beside the 3 items mentioned above, we would like to highlight “Cash” is the most needed in any orphanages.
Let me briefly list down what could be the monthly expenses in a small orphanage house in Kathmandu – SCIF NEPAL which consist of 13 kids like us.
NOTE: Please note is based on average calculation as every-month’s expenses vary.
Averagely, in a month, a small orphanage like SCIF Nepal needs to spend USD 2170 as basic needs.
Thus, by giving cash as donation will be the greatest help to the orphanage.
This blog is written by Angie from Eyes on Nepal Tours and Treks and Nice Tour Bali
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