About 8 years ago Carmen and I found out that we both wanted to do something different, make a change, start to move… We watched a TV coverage about a German run charity, called Back to Life working in India and Nepal and considered looking into the aspect of volunteering, but…. personal matters kicked in and our little „project“ was put on ice. In the meantime we started to support a Canadian charity called Sanctuary for Kids by participating in and organising our own little fundraisers.

We founded a Facebook Group called „Action For S4K!“, created @ActionForS4K on Twitter and launched our YouTube Channel. Facebook-Group: Action for S4K! Twitter: @ActionForS4K! YouTube: Action for S4K!

A lot of our old friends joined in and we found many new friends as well! International social-networking rocks for sure!

We felt and of course feel really happy and grateful that we had found ourselves this little niche of doing good.

But in May 2014 I had a really interesting chat with someone I admire a lot about Nepal, and that person tried to convince me to volunteer.

Hello, this was strange? Did Amanda realize she had hit the right button? That we had actually started thinking about volunteering ages ago? I must have stared at her as if I was seeing a ghost or as if I had lost all my senses… This was a real wake-up call! And probably fate! Anyhow, right after our return from the UK, Carmen and I started to put aside all excuses, like we’re too old, we have no holidays, our busy work schedules…

And here we are today, flying out to Nepal on Thursday (July 2nd 2015)! Just to be clear: We have been planning this trip for months now, and it has nothing to do with the quakes! When we learned about them our first reaction was: „Of course we will fly!“ But then our common sense started kicking in and we thought: „How can we be sure that we can actually help, without being professionally trained? Nothing will be worse than feeling useless and using up much needed resources!“ So YES, we requested updates and we were prepared to postpone! Thank God „our“ projects are still up and running and YES, we can be of use and will fly out!

Orginally we wanted to keep this trip very private, but with the quakes and all these – understandably – emotional reactions and coverages, we decided that it was time for an objective, yet personal view… We have never been to Nepal before, so we don’t know the „before“ the quakes; therefore we can look at things differently. And I am pretty sure this perspective will make things slightly easier for us! Emotinally I mean, coping with everything we will get to see… We will be staying with Volunteer Nepal.

Working on projects that are connected with / supported by Nepal Orphans Home.

I had asked friends and colleagues for much needed kids underwear and socks; and the response was amazing! Although ETIHAD Airways sponsored us with 60 kg of extra luggage; I really hope we can take all donations with us…. Take a Look 🙂 Amazing, right? And these photos do not show the other extra suitcase and course not our own luggage 😉