Nele Van Impe is a Belgian woman who has lived in Nerja for many years and, in 2004, asked her daughter what she would like for her 21st birthday. Karlien chose a trip to India, and the three weeks the two of them spent there at the end of that year were to be the start of Nele’s strong commitment to finding a way to help the abandoned and orphaned children.
After much research on the Internet for centres which had no regular income from charities. She chose two: both in Tamil Nadu, in the south east of the country.
The first was the Udhavum Ullangal Free home for Orphan Children & Helpless Aged Citizens, in a very poor, run-down area of Chennai. When Nele and Karlien visited the orphanage, they found that around fifty children and some thirty elderly people were living in what can only be described as something akin to a shed: temporary accommodation while work went on to construct a permanent building on land which had been donated to the orphanage by the Town Hall. The foundations were built, and the walls were up, but there was no more money to complete their new building.
The 600 euros Nele donated from the money she had collected back in Nerja allowed them to go on building. She promised that she would try to send more money to finish the work, which she managed to do in May the following year.
She managed to send around 3,000 euros, which allowed the centre to complete the construction, with enough left over to invest in starting a small printing business, and fund the supplies needed for the pensioners who live there to start a candle-making business. The orphanage is now self-sufficient.
The second she chose was the Children’s Home in Mamallapuram, fifty kilometres from Chennai. It was founded ten years ago and is run with the help of the church. There are currently thirty children at the Home, with ages ranging from three to eighteen: many of them were orphaned during the tsunami which hit south east India in 2004. The centre employs two young women to help care for the children and a cook with an assistant.
The Home has no hope of becoming self-sufficient and must continue to rely on donations for the money they need to feed, clothe and school the children in their care.
Nele basically decided after spending the afternoon of Christmas Eve 2004 at the Mariamma –– that, apart from money (she donated the remainder of the 1,000 euros she had collected in Nerja and bought gifts for all the children), what the children also desperately needed was love and affection.
That’s when she decided that she would return the following winter and spend several weeks at each of the two homes. When she arrived in November 2006, however, she found she was simply unable to tear herself away from the home in Mammalapuram and ended up spending the entire two months there.
Before that happened, though, Nele had managed to send more donations she’d collected from friends and local businesses in Nerja, amounting to around 1,500 euros, plus another 3,000 she collected to donate in person once she arrived at the Mariamma.
Some were unable to make monetary donations, and instead donated in kind: a local shop in Nerja T-shirts and shorts for all the children! She also took with her medicine, pens and pencils, and hair clips for all the girls.
The two months Nele spent at Mammalapuram involved getting up a six o’clock every morning (any attempt at a lie-in was interrupted by the girls bringing her a cup of tea in bed and wondering why she wasn’t up.) Cold showers in the open air were followed by the children getting dressed in their school uniforms, then all lining up for their visitor to comb their hair. (Some often mussed it all up afterwards, so they could have it combed a second time!)
Next came one and a half hours of study, where Nele would help the children with their English homework. Then it was finally time for breakfast.
After that, it was time for school, and each child lined up for a kiss before they left.
Nele spent her time while the children were away at school in doing any mending of clothes that needed doing, and taking the two little three year olds for a walk. She also chatted to the tourists who visited the orphanage, explaining the situation there, and why they were in such desperate need of donations.
The afternoons after school finished at 4 meant a walk to either the park or the beach, where Nele would buy a treat for each of the children. Then back home for 6 o’clock, and two hours of study, which included extra classes for some from the woman all the children now referred to as ‘Aunty’ or the little ones as ‘Ama’.
The children were devastated when it became time for Nele to leave, with the little ones simply unable to understand why she had to leave her ‘home.’ She promised to return in a year’s time. And so she did.
That year, she was able to take more money. This bought new clothes, school uniforms, lots of afternoon snacks and fruit – a rare treat for the children.
Last year on arrival the situation was very bad; the Home had run up debts and some shops did not want to deliver vegetables any longer. The result was the children were in a very bad state: ulcers all over their bodies and a lot of colds and coughs due to a lack of vitamins.
(Article by Gaile Smith)
This is an excerpt from a letter given to Nele by the Founder and President of the Home at Christmas 2007.
On behalf of our children and staff, we are glad to know you through our sister NELE VAN IMPE. We received your contributions with much gratitude. Once again, on behalf of our children and staff, we express our sincere and heartfelt gratitude for your kind loving support through her for the noble cause.
Hope you will continue extend your kind loving help and join your hands together with her in order to bring all success in the growth and development of our children.
The money which you gave through her was much useful.
We do not have words to explain her work with our children. We are proud to have our beloved sister once in a year for two months working for children. We and our staff are much privileged to have her during her holidays. We are being thankful to God and to her personally for using her precious times and full of energy in teaching our children good discipline, well guidance, treating them hygienic, showing them CDs and DVDs to teach them English, taking them to park and beach for relaxation, teaching songs and dances, teaching cleanliness, etc., which are more helpful to our children and staff. Also we are very impressed by her work to our little children.
We appreciate your generous mind joining with her for the Noble cause.
MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
With sincere gratitude
You can visit Nele's diary/blog to give you an idea of the situation:
