About Us

The mission of the Mitrata-Nepal Foundation, a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) founded in 2000, is to provide shelter, medical care and educational opportunities for underprivileged children in Nepal. Supported by donors from the USA, in 2002, the Mitrata children’s home was opened in Kathmandu Nepal. By the end of the year, there were 14 children. Now there are 71 children, supported by the Mitrata Nepal Foundation for Children, Inc., a nonprofit corporation (501C3) in the USA . This organization is dedicated to giving help to needy children through home sponsorship, school sponsorship and general donations. Because all USA board members and staff are volunteers, the donations go directly to the support of the children, not to administrative costs.

Mitrata, which means friendship in Nepali, was born out of the deep connection between Nanda Kulu from Nepal and Dr. Christine Schutz from the USA., people of different cultures but with the same heart. Traveling together in the mountains outside Kathmandu, they found a homeless girl and decided to find a way to bring her into the city and care for her. With only a few hundred dollars, they opened the Mitrata children’s home in Naya Bazaar, Kathmandu.

Mitrata-Nepal Foundation for Children, Inc has a solid reputation in Nepal by providing a good and loving home and quality care for the children. The organization also makes an impact in the community, by working with local Nepali citizens, single women, and has helped the local economy. The children are taught overall life skills in a warm and loving family atmosphere. After they leave Mitrata, they take with them valuable life lessons, education, and the ability to be self-sufficient members of the local community.

The plight of children in Nepal is serious. Many are without food, on the streets and/or unable to go to school because they are too poor. Fifty percent of the children are malnourished and only a quarter of them live with adequate sanitation. There are 2.6 million child laborers in Nepal. Many times medical care is nonexistent. Education too is difficult, as many children do not attend school at all or drop out before finishing high school equivalent. The country is economically very poor and recently in a civil conflict, resulting in an increase in refugees and the homeless.

The needs of children are great in Nepal and there is much to do to help. The Mitrata motto is “Children First, They are our Future”. Please join the Mitrata family and help save the life of a child in Nepal. You can make a difference.