The Orange Angel Foundation will cease operations at the end of March 2026.
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
Everything comes to an end.
Our Foundation, established in 2005, will cease its activities after 20 intensive years. In 20 years, we—as a small, private Foundation—have achieved a great deal with a wide variety of small-scale projects, such as our own successful sewing courses in Nepal and by providing microloans to our students to purchase their own sewing machines.
We converted slums into decent homes for the poorest in Sri Lanka,
no fewer than 66 in total. Throughout these years, we supported many small entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka and provided poor local fishermen along practically the entire west coast with fishing boats (700 catamarans
in total) to help them get back to work after the Tsunami.
We financially supported local organizations that provided all kinds of practical training and microcredit for the very poorest, even in remote areas of the Himalayas.
In Brazil, we helped underprivileged women from the favelas of Rio earn income by making jewelry, repairing houses (plumbing, electricity and plastering), and training as pet walkers for the wealthy there—a resounding success. Helping the very poorest on their way to a better life.
That was always our goal: To achieve results, see happy faces, and give people hope. We can look back with pride on what we have achieved.
We would like to thank everyone who has helped us realize our
projects and achieve our goals over the years. Our local
partners, with special thanks to Nihal Illuperuma (Sri Lanka), Yvonne and Ron Wilke (Care4SriLanka), and Anima and Yohesh (All Angels Nepal).
My sincere thanks to the Orange Angel board members, Fred Snelderwaard, Walter-Paul van Kleef, and Frank Wade, for their selfless dedication and fantastic work over the past 20 years.
Jos Neijenhuis
Founder & Chairman of the Orange Angel Foundation
Business and technical skills
Strengthening small businesses in the Favela to fight poverty and violence
In collaboration with Instituto Genesis and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Río de de Janiero Project "Jump" is launched. This is an innovative approach to support selected small business initiatives in the favelas.
With the help of gaming techniques and the internet, many more women, underprivileged men and families are being helped. Each new company employs local people and each startup manager of the company receives the requisite skills, resources and network connectivity from the Genesis incubator to grow. Orange Angel supports the development of a single trial into a multi-state program.
Nepal
Stichting Friends Netherlands Nepal
Orange Angel finances the 'Didi project'
The project focuses on the professional training of women in the fields of cooking, housekeeping, bakery and work within the hotel industry.
Danielle's Children Fund-Kathmandu
This organization is committed to helping underprivileged families in Jorpati, one of the slums of Kathmandu. The project that we financially support
is a tailoring training course for women, so that they can later earn a stable income
realize. With the help of our financing, the Training Center was started in 2022, where training courses are given daily. The intention is to also offer further training in 2023-2024.
Nepal Student Foundation
Orange Angels finances the Computer Institute in Kathmandu for 20 underprivileged students (between 16-20 years old, most with disabilities). During the basic course, the student learns to work with Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Students can also go there for graphic design, website design, etc.
HEAD
The HEAD foundation is active in the very remote Humla area in the Himalayan mountains. The organization is committed to helping disabled people through: computer courses and sewing courses.
All Angels Nepal
Our current activities in the field of providing micro-credits are still very successful. The amount of loans provided is approximately 570 euros per person. The current fund has remained intact. Most beneficiaries are self-employed as seamstresses. Some loans are used for other income-generating activities, for example in agriculture.
Household and business management
Brazil
In 2018, Orange Angel partner Aguas Doces with Olaa Elhaa started training projects in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro for very disadvantaged women. ;
Women learn practical skills to manage the household and others learn commercial skills to make products and offer them to the local market. From electrical and plumbing/sanitary maintenance, budget management for home and jewelry making and small business management.
Due to the success of these projects, Olaa Elhaa was chosen as a business incubator program "Genesis" to establish more projects in poor neighborhoods such as the largest 'favela' in South America, located in the southern zone of Rio de Janeiro.
Sewing project
Nepal
In 2010, All Angels Nepal started with various
sewing projects in the remote area of Chitwan for very disadvantaged women. Due to the success of these projects, more sewing training courses were set up and Orange Angel decided to support these projects.
On December 1, 2013, Orange Angel started a sewing project (sewing training center) in Lalitpur, a suburb of Kathmandu, with All Angels Nepal. A building has been rented here and set up as a studio, where 32 underprivileged women are trained for 6 months to make clothing, so that they can then get started themselves.
Most of these women really live in a hopeless situation. Hopeless circumstances, no means to provide food for the children, no hope whatsoever. Orange Angel is trying to do something about this together with All Angels Nepal (the local organization). By giving these women hope and respect again and the prospect of a better future.
After the training, the women receive a diploma/certificate with which they can try to find work.
From Krot to your own home
Sri Lanka
Orange Angel has built a total of 61 new houses in and around the town of Kosgoda - about a 2-hour drive south of the main city of Colombo - initially for Tsunami victims, later also for homeless families and slum dwellers. These houses are built for people who lived under harsh conditions, often in meager huts, sometimes made of cardboard and palm branches, without clean drinking water, without any possessions and often abandoned by their own population, government and international aid organizations.
Out of sight, often a few kilometers inland, where no aid organizations come. They usually slept on the floor on an old mattress, only had a pan to cook on a wood fire, no work, nothing at all. So hopeless. With all the wealth and opulence in the world, something like this is simply incomprehensible
Orange Angel has built a total of 61 new houses in and around the town of Kosgoda - about a 2-hour drive south of the main city of Colombo - initially for Tsunami victims, later also for homeless families and slum dwellers. These houses are built for people who lived under harsh conditions, often in meager huts, sometimes made of cardboard and palm branches, without clean drinking water, without any possessions and often abandoned by their own population, government and international aid organizations.
Micro credits
Sri Lanka
Dammika started his own company with the Micro-credit program... Orange Angel builds chicken corners for families without an income... Before a family gets the chickens, they must first visit Dammika. Dammika became seriously disabled a few years ago; He once drove a tuk tuk as a taxi driver, but when disaster struck he had a large tree trunk on his back, which suddenly fell off a truck. He now has a spinal cord injury and is forever confined to a wheelchair, but fortunately he is still able to breed chickens and instruct families how to handle the animals.
Own nursery
Sri Lanka
Fruit trees and flower nursery:
Rohan is the father of 3 children and built a beautiful covered plant nursery next to his house. He sells the plants and fruit trees that he grows here to people from the area. Business is going so well that he doesn't even have to leave the house anymore because people like to visit him. Rohan borrowed 40,000 rupees (approximately 300 euros) from Orange Angel and pays back 1,000 rupees per month. He has already paid off most of it early
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Own Goat
Nepal
In Nepal, Orange Angel has a very effective project for widows in remote areas. If a woman's husband disappears, there is no income and she is dependent on her family. By herding and breeding a goat or a piglet, we offer these women their own income and the path to independence.
In 2013, Orange Angel – in collaboration with Project Nepal – started supporting widows in the Chitwan area in southern Nepal. When a woman loses her husband, in most cases her entire income disappears and she becomes completely dependent on her family.
To support these widows, we have set up a very effective assistance program: the widow receives a small goat or piglet of her choice from us, which she can care for and fatten. After about 10-12 months she can sell it well on the local market and buy another goat or piglet with the profit and live off the rest. The goats and piglets are also purchased from private individuals, so that everyone is helped.
Widows are overjoyed with the support. Not only do they have something to do, they can hold their own. That gives them self-respect and some hope for the future.
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Own Eire
Sri Lanka
In 2011, Orange Angel started building chicken coops.
Building a good chicken coop costs about 250 euros, including a brood of a rooster and six hens. With the proceeds from the eggs, people can buy food and some clothing.
The chicken coops are built by our local contractor, who also builds our houses. The cages look nice with a perch and laying boxes. During the day the chickens walk outside, because Sri Lanka has very fertile soil and is therefore a paradise for the chickens. The eggs are sold at the local market or to local hotels.
Before a family gets the chickens, they must first visit Dammika. Dammika became seriously disabled a few years ago; He once drove a tuk tuk as a taxi driver, but when disaster struck he had a large tree trunk on his back, which suddenly fell off a truck. He now has a spinal cord injury and is forever confined to a wheelchair, but fortunately he is still able to breed chickens and instruct families how to handle the animals.
How can you help?
For an amount of 250 euros you can make a poverty-stricken family extremely happy and thus contribute to some improvement in their living conditions. For that amount we build a good chicken coop and buy a flock of 1 rooster and 6 chickens, so that enough eggs are laid.
You will receive a certificate with a photo of the family together with the chicken coop.
Street children
Nepal
Shelter for Street Children in Kathmandu
Orange Angel has provided the shelter with financial support since 2014 and pays the rent annually.
On April 25, 2015, the earth in Kathmandu shook in a way the Nepalese had never experienced before. A devastating earthquake with a magnitude of at least 7.6 on the Richter scale struck the city, which is already so used to earthquakes. But no, many had never experienced this before. Buildings collapsed like houses of cards, causing havoc throughout the city and killing and injuring people everywhere. Gerda Oosting, vice-chairman of the Kathmandu Street Children Foundation, was on the back of Temba Sherpa's motorcycle just outside the city at the time of the earthquake. “The first thing I thought was why am I getting so weird in my head, but Temba immediately shouted at me to lie down on the ground on the meadow. As soon as it was possible again, we immediately drove back to the city, or at least what was left of it, because we were very concerned about the children in the shelter. Thank God there were no casualties among our children, but the home was severely damaged.”
The foundation led by Lies Vink started almost immediately after the earthquake to build a new and earthquake-resistant house. With the help of a friendly contractor from Kathmandu, there is now a beautiful new home that was festively opened in May 2017. The home with the beautiful name Thiom Laura Marinka home now houses 91 children between the ages of 2 and 18. Fifteen members of staff ensure that everything runs smoothly in the home. At the time of my visit to the home, only around thirty children were present due to the school holidays. What is immediately noticeable upon entering is the open and positive atmosphere that both staff and children radiate. Everyone is happy and proud to be part of the orphanage. The children all have a group bedroom divided into boys' and girls' areas and grouped by age. There are relaxation areas where children can watch TV, play music or practice dancing.
WHO ARE WE?
Since 2005, Orange Angel has been an independent organization focused on improving the living conditions of the poorest, particularly women and children. We built strong partnerships with local and small-scale organizations. We proactively selected projects based on our own research. This approach allowed us to apply our knowledge and experience to make specific projects successful. Our support, therefore, went beyond just providing money. We guided these organizations and helped them make their activities even more effective in the long term.
Orange Angel as a small, private organization that operated entirely selflessly and with a strong focus on results—without intermediaries or agencies. With absolutely certainty that nothing was left unscathed, so we kept everything in-house as much as possible. Orange Angel also collaborated with several select ANBIs, including Street Children for Nepal, the Angel Nepal Foundation, the Sampath Foundation, and Microcredit for Mothers.
Orange Angel was a Public Benefit Organization (ANBI) recognized and approved by the Tax Authorities of the Netherlands
For the Orange Angel Foundation, success means that we support approximately 275 people per year. We have consciously opted for regions where people lack opportunities to further develop themselves socially and financially and where they cannot fall back on a social safety net.
PROJECTS
The Orange Angel Foundation was a small, private organisation that
operated entirely selflessly and with a very results-oriented approach.
Orange Angel focused primarily on small-scale, effective projects in Sri Lanka, Brazil, and Nepal to help the poorest of the poor provide for themselves. Our three main pillars were: building houses for slum dwellers, financing education, and providing microcredit to small, motivated entrepreneurs. Several examples are on this page...and more on the "Projects" page.
EDUCATION and TRAINING
In Nepal we had our own professional sewing training school for very disadvantaged women, who can now independently provide for themselves with their diploma.
In Sri Lanka we sponsored the art school providing education of 100 children.
Since 2022, also in Nepal, Orange Angel worked with four new training projects
In Brazil, Orange Angel worked with the Institute of Creative Impact, in the Olha Elaa and JUMP projects in the favela in Rio de Janeiro.
This work was over 5 years and provided one on one and online skills training and business start-up training.
