Elly and Mart, 24 April 2013
Netherlands , Alkmaar 12°

BACK TO BASE

April/ May 2013,
BACK TO BASE
Dear friends,

The time is passing very quickly since we are back in The Netherlands. We returned from Nepal on March 27th we have been busy on many things. But let us start with the Hygiene Training in March.

Hygiene round the clock, SGCP Nepal.
Started in November 2012 with basic knowledge about hygiene, we picked up the thread in March 2013 to complete awareness about hygiene. In 4 sessions staff of SGCP was trained in: bugs, bacteria, clean hand and body, environment, clean water and checking and making a schedule for improvement. All sessions were successfully translated by Rashmi Kafle. She also will help SGCP to implement the lessons learned. The staff was of very different levels and we adjusted the training in such a way, that everyone could follow it and get the message about hygiene. Hand washing and bacteria were made visible with silver dust and proved to be a real eye opener. The checklist was tried again and with more success this time. Also we sent samples to the laboratory again and discussed the results. Now everybody is busy finishing the schedules for cleaning and I am curious about the results SGCP donors will find by the end of this year.
In between I have reported to Nepal about the Hygiene Training and helped them to make a cleaning schedule. Next week we will be having a meeting with the Dutch donors to round off.

Back at base!
The first part of April was spent enjoying seeing our family again. We all together went on a swimming outing on our first Sunday home and had a great time together. We went to see Elly's mother of 88 who lives in an old people’s home and was happy to see us back healthy and save.
We went to see Marts sister, who also lives in a care-home as her health is not very well and she is alone. She is doing fine as well.
Then we went searching for a car that would not be too expensive and found one a week later. The car is 12 years old and we hope to be able to drive it for some time still.
The weekend of April 6 [Marts birthday] we went to one of the Dutch islands where Mieke and Eric hired a holiday home. We enjoyed bicycle riding and playing with Bram and Jonas very much.

Moving back to Alkmaar.
Last week we started to paint the inside of our house in Alkmaar. It has been rented out for over 7 years now and looks shabby and very dirty. By the end of this month we plan to move in there again and have our old HOME back!


In between Mart and I are taking care of Jonas and Bram and I went to their school [Laterna Magica] to give a workshop.
With 16 interested children we made Bengali chapatti and vegetable curry [like all the times Mamtaz made for us at Shoula] and also ate it. The children were enthusiastic and also gave the money they collected for Eyanur and which we already spent on the toys when we were still in Shoula. It was the fantastic amount of € 114!
It was a very nice morning. The school received the posters and other items we bought for them in Bangladesh and seemed very happy with it. The teacher and I are going to do another workshop with painting henna on the kids’ hands! And I also have to show them the film we made of Eyanur and her friends skipping.

Enough to look forward to…
Enjoy reading and until next.
Elly and Mart