We celebrated 30 years of NAG!

It seems we’ve only just sent out the invitations for our anniversary and now that occasion is already part of the past. All of us at the foundation were very excited and curious about last Sunday. Not only were we allowed to hold our anniversary event in a new location, the weather was a big unknown. We didn’t know whether many people would make the journey to Spreitenbach in this beautiful summer weather. How pleased we were when the first guests showed up before 11 a.m. to visit the exhibition in the “Umweltarena” before our doors opened at 1 p.m.

The motto of this year’s event was “Time Travel”. Nicole wanted to take her guests on a journey to look back on the past 30 years. In addition, portraits of 30 children who live or grew up in NAG were distributed in the hall and foyer. It recorded where these children came from and what they have become thanks to NAG. This exhibition beautifully reflected the impact NAG has had on so many children over the past 30 years and leaves you deeply touched. In addition, you could see the various stations of NAG in the last 30 years in a short film.

Before the presentation began at 2 p.m., Bettina Schelker spoiled us with wonderful music, which we always enjoy listening to. Thank you Bettina!

Reto Brennwald moderated our event. With his relaxed, calm manner, he lead through the afternoon incredibly well and we thank him very much for that. As the first speaker, he invited Jamuna Khadka onto stage. Jamuna grew up at NAG herself, completed a bachelor’s degree thanks to NAG and has been working at NAG as a PR manager since 2016. Out of sheer nervousness, because a little more than 170 guests were sitting in the hall and everyone was spellbound waiting for Jamuna’s presentation, Jamuna forgot her words at the beginning. But little by little you could see how her nervousness subsided and how her joy and her pride in being a NAGer took over. Her story was very emotional and the audience really lived with her as she told us about her childhood in poverty and how she found her way into NAG thanks to her brother, Shankar, who was bitten by a dog just outside NAG at the time. Jamuna, thank you for captivating us with your happy nature and your story! It was incredibly impressive.

Our President of the Board, Sophie Winkler, took the floor from Jamuna and said farewell to Roland Melliger as a member of the Board of Trustees. Roland has managed the finances of NAG here in Switzerland for the last five years and has recorded all donations received. In addition, Roland had introduced a new software in NAG to handle and simplify the entire bookkeeping. We thank you, Roland, for your hard work for NAG and wish you and your wife good health for the future and time to travel the world.

If someone leaves, a replacement must be arranged. Nicole quickly knew who she wanted on board to replace Roland. Her suggestion was accepted unanimously by the Board of Trustees, so our new member of the Board of Trustees is not really “new”, because Michèle Wick has been with NAG from the very beginning. As Nicole’s sister, Michèle was the first godmother of a NAG child. She knows NAG and Nicole very well and brings with her a great deal of professional know-how and experience in finance. We are pleased to welcome you, Michèle, to the NAG Board of Trustees and we look forward to working with you.

Now Reto Brennwald asked Nicole to come on stage for the main interview. Reto Brennwald does not know NAG in detail, which made the interview all the more exciting. So he lured some subtleties out of Nicole from the last 30 years, which many probably didn’t know yet. One of them, for example, is the fact that Nicole is not just called Nicole in NAG, but Nicole Miss. Or that NAG started in an apartment with four rooms and six street boys and then grew steadily until 30 children lived in the apartment. The landlord then agreed, also thanks to the regularly paid rent, that the house could be increased by one floor. A total of three floors were added over the next few years, until the foundation was able to purchase the property with the old factory in 2006, on which NAG is now located. And here too, on Tokha Road, new ideas are constantly being developed, the school has grown and expanded considerably and now has room for 400 students and a little over 200 children living in the home. In the last 30 years, Nicole has experienced and achieved a lot that she and her team can be proud of. 30 years ago she herself could not have imagined that NAG would be as big as it is today. When asked by moderator Reto Brennwald where she sees NAG in 10 years, Nicole said: “Hm, I can’t say that. I’d rather just plan month by month.” Perhaps Nicole’s attitude is the key to NAG’s success. In Nepal, in a country where things seem to happen at a different rhythm than here in Switzerland, planning often cannot be implemented in such a foresighted manner and you have to be able to deal with many unknowns.

The interview with Nicole marked the end of the official part of the event. Before everyone could devote themselves to the donated delicacies, Nicole thanked the board of trustees and her mother, Judith. She did all the work in Switzerland for many years and was, together with Nicole’s father, a great help to Nicole to set up NAG in Nepal.

We wish a lot of continued success to the whole team at NAG and we thank you, dear donors, from the bottom of our hearts for your support over the years. It is you who has made it possible to implement and build many of the ideas “floor by floor”.