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Bisaune
Bisaune (meaning 'a place to take temporary rest') is the house where VOC addresses the problems faced by the street children. It has 3 main components:
Children sleeping on the floorØ Street Work (day and night street visits) allows VOC’s social workers to establish an initial contact with the street children, rescue them from immediate difficulties, build trustable relationship, counsel them on various aspects of the street life, especially the risks (health and safety hazards) and gradually encourage them to renounce it.
Ø Welcome Center is a 24 hrs open Emergency and Drop-in Center where the street children are free to move in and out at any time. They benefit from day and night services: meals, which they prepare together with the educators, shelter and bed, clothes and basic medical service. They also learn the principles of personal hygiene, health and respect of environment.
Ø Preparation Center is a key point as it is a transitory place for the children between the free life of the street and normal social life. The children gain skills through daily re-socializing activities: cooking, cleaning, personal hygiene, taking care of each other. Homely environment is created thanks to the presence and guidance of a very special staff: Aama (meaning “Mother in Nepali”). Each child has a referent educator with whom he must prepare his own plan of action. On the basis of which he takes decision to go back to his family or, if not possible, to the children home of VOC.
Bisaune as a whole
 
 

In Bisaune, children share their experience about various aspects of their life before and when they were in street: family, sexual abuse, exploitation, drugs abuse. They also speak about their future plans. The educators and psychologist listen attentively to the children, which is also a basis to assess the possibility for each child to return back to his family.

The children are involved in educational and recreational activities throughout the day: non-formal education, skill-developing training, Taek-won-do, dance classes, external visits, swimming. Festivals like Dashain and Tihar are celebrated for enhancing their feeling of being a part of the cultural community and Nepali society. Children homes are set for the children who can’t go back to their family (orphans, deeply traumatized or rejected children) and/or the children who need more time for re-socialization. It is a real 'home', where the children learn to lead a normal family and social life. There they can develop the sense of belongingness, which will help rekindle their emotions and adjust with their families. With the daily contribution of the educators, they learn life skills through educational and recreational activities: respect of oneself and the others, school, home assignments, tuition classes, cooking and cleaning, games and sports (training and competitions), external visits. The children go to different private and government schools, which allow them to mingle with wider social circle. For the children who have the possibility to return back to their family or community, family visits are conducted frequently in order to prepare both the family and child for reintegration.

 

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