Netherhall House in London is an intercollegiate hall of residence for university students of all beliefs and backgrounds. Activities of a spiritual nature at Netherhall are entrusted to Opus Dei, a personal Prelature of the Catholic Church. Each year since 2002, the staff and students from Netherhall House have run social projects both in U.K and Overseas.


Watch a short video from our trip to Nicaragua.


Students from Netherhall participate in mentoring young schoolchildren under the Reachout scheme. Reachout! London is currently running a mentoring programme in a primary school in Hackney.


Students from Netherhall make weekly visits to day care centres for the elderly. Click here for more information.

Links


Click here to visit the website of Netherhall House.


Click here to visit the website of Opus Dei UK.


Children in the outskirts of Mae Sot, near the Thai-Myanmar border in Thailand. The objective of the project is to provide a nursery classroom and two toilets for 80 children. This would mean that the nursery class is separated from the main learning centre and that a more effective learning process is provided in a better environment for older children. Click here for further details.

The following is a summary of the project and artistic impressions of the planned building.

A group of Netherhall residents and friends will embark on a project this summer to help Burmese refugee children in Thailand.

The project, which will take place between July 11th and the 31st, involves building a classroom block to help migrant nursery children at the Good Friends Centre, which is part of the All Saints Thandiaw School in Maesod, Tak Province.

The children, who are mostly Muslims or Buddhists, are victims of the unsettled situation in their native Burma. Most of them are from poor families, and receive stationary, nutrition and travel to school free of charge.

Following five successful projects in Nicaragua and one in South Africa we have chosen this new project in Thailand for various reasons.

As Netherhall secretary and project organiser Alvaro Tintore explains, “The South Africa project went very well last year but there are real question marks over security in the Johannesburg area which make us hesitate to return in the short-term.”

“Having made a clean break from Nicaragua, though we could happily return, we feel the Thailand option is a better one for this year. Many people in Britain are not aware of the real poverty and needs in Nicaragua. But public awareness of the plight of Burmese refugees is much greater. This should make it easier for us to raise funds and attract suitable volunteers”.

We heard of this project through a sister hall in Taiwan whose residents carried out their own work camp in Thailand last year, led by Peter Herbert, a former Netherhall director who is now director of the student residence in Taipei promoted by Opus Dei.

Peter was full of praise for the dedication and professional approach of the Thai NGO, the Peer Chan Yan Foundation, which helped them organise their initiative and so far this has also been our experience in our dealings with it.

This foundation is a non-profit organisation, of Christian inspiration, registered with the Royal Thai Government under the Redemptorist Foundation of Thailand. Since 2001, the Foundation has been providing charitable social-welfare programs for Thais, hill-tribe people and un-documented Burmese migrant children, and has established expertise in such areas as education, medical care and shelter for children and youth. It now runs five schools serving some 745 migrant children.

All services provided are free of charge and are available regardless of race, religion or ethnic background. The NGO’s programmes are provided with the approval of the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand.

The Good Friends Centre is being established in Maesod as a new branch of the Foundation to address the needs of migrant populations in that area, especially focusing on the social and educational needs of Burmese children. The project costs approximately £12,000. As always, we will raise this amount through a whole series of fund-raising initiatives, including our now well established raffle. Participants are expected to share in these initiatives to help achieve this goal.

For more information, or if you wish to participate or contribute, contact Alvaro on ate.tintore@gmail.com