We have been committed to helping rural communities access the resources they need to provide a quality education for their children. But there are exceptions, and we found one orphanage in Kathmandu city where we felt compelled to help.

Punarbal Plus is an orphanage that is dedicated to educating and providing care to children who are infected with the HIV virus or have been directly affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Punarbal Plus also tries to address the prevailing stigma and discrimination that HIV-infected people face in Nepal.

At present, 35 orphaned children reside at the Punarbal Home, of whom 30 are HIV infected. Those who are unaffected are siblings and the policy is to keep the children together as a family where possible.

All infected children are undergoing anti-retroviral treatment which is provided free of charge by the government, but when children are sick, Punarbal have to pay for medical expenses which can be substantial.

28 children are attending public school and four children last year took their School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examinations.

Punarbal’s commitment to helping the children lead normal lives is commendable. With Punarbal’s help, those who have passed their SLC are currently studying Health Assistant and Law and Sociology Diploma courses. Three youths from the orphanage completed Building Electrician, Bakery and Motorcycle Technician training. These youths, after undergoing six to eight months work, have been reunited with their relatives in their home villages.

Punarbal also supports members of the community who are infected with the virus, with vocational training workshops and social support services.

We installed five Lenovo laptops with external mice, Windows 10 and Microsoft Office software. The orphanage had three desktop computers but only one was working properly. The laptops were used to teach digital literacy skills to the children and for the older children to be able to access information on the Internet for assignments. The was discussions about using the facility to teach ICT skills to members of the Punarbal community and we will be pursuing this as a new project in the future.
 
 

 
 

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