A working partnership

During our recent visit to Kathmandu we reported many times on our growing partnership with ECCA, the NGO that supports schools through it’s environment programme. At this time each of our five schools was tasked with setting up nature clubs with ECCA help and the first two schools have just completed the first phase. This involved a one day workshop for students from Bal Bigyan and Himalaya schools and the photo shows a discussion amongst the participants.
The next stage will be for these children who form the Executive Committee of their respective Clubs to start a specific programme at their schools and we will report on this as we receive news.
For those of you wondering where this fits in with Nepal Schools Aid strategy it is a part of our curriculum development stage and follows on from the teacher training on “Hygiene, water and sanitation” we provided last may.

A tale of two schools

Our final two school visits today before flying home for a well earned rest. One was more pleasant than the other and involved Bal Bigyan school. The visit to Sramik school was altogether different and included a bit of laying down the law about school hygiene and cleanliness as well as wanting to see a bit more effort on THEIR part to bring about school improvements. Unless we see some tangible efforts it could be curtains for further support from us.
The Bal Bigyan visit was to give them a start with their new library via a gift of around 75 books, mostly reading books for the children but also a small number of reference books for the teachers. The photo shows Champa handing over a selection to Parashu Baral the Head Teacher.
Once that had been done I managed to get myself persuaded to run a class for a while, my fame is spreading after the science lesson I gave last week! This time it was about the UK and I had a class discussion about the differences between the UK and Nepal, physical, cultural, religion etc. All in English thankfully.

Something for us, something for you.

Well that's just about the end of our month's work here and we are leaving with a new partner in ECCA, a better understanding of our schools and their needs, and with each school now understanding Nepal Schools Aid's focus and approach. We have had numerous meetings with Head Teachers, Staff, Management Committees, mostly amiable, sometimes "inter-planetary"!
Our next visit will be in April 2010, hopefully with some UK teachers running some skills workshops over several days. In anticipation of these visits we are leaving each school with some specific improvement objectives we would like them to work on. All are action based rather than outcome based so they are all within the means of each school provided they motivate themselves, which is quite a problem in Nepal anyway.
Firstly each school has two common objectives, first to develop a working relationship with ECCA as a means to influence their local communities to support and contribute to any improvement plans, and second to create a Nature Club within the school as part of the Water, Hygiene & Sanitation curriculum.In addition each school has some objectives specific to that school such as Bal Bigyan and Bal Kalyan creating a UK studies syllabus and space for a library which we will fund. If anyone would like to know more details then please email us.
In summary the schools know that we are now entering a phase of self development where we expect to see signs of self improvement as a condition of continuing and growing support from ourselves.

Nepal continues to suffer

Image by izahorsky via Flickr

In the middle of all our scurrying around schools and offices it's easy to forget that Nepal is still in the throes of a political crisis. Without boring everyone to death with the full background our regular readers will remember that the country is ruled by a 21 party coalition which currently excludes the Maoists who are the largest party with 30% + of the vote. Last April the Maoists were in power but a constitutional crisis led to their resignation from government and our leaving the country quickly in the face of a possible military coup.
Since then the Maoists have been a thorn in the side of government with daily blockages of parliament. Now they have announced a 12 day programme of protests using their youth organisation the Young Communist League (YCL). Starting on November 1st through to November 12th they have organised a schedule involving a torchlight procession, blockage of parliament, street protests, rallies, blockage of municipal offices and a blockade of the airport on 10th November, one day before we travel home!
Marvellous!

Videos and visions

Just back from another visit to Bal Bigyan school, initially as part of our plan to make a number of educational videos for some schools in the UK. The plan includes four specific videos related to Buddhism, Shopping, Schools and Kathmandu Central. Today's video included a "tour" around the school and a specific maths class taken by Bashu our sponsored teacher.
In addition we had an informal more relaxed chat with the Headmaster about his vision and plans for the school. He has been teaching at the school for 20 years now and cares passionately about it's performance. Specifically he has a vision to make the school the best in the district to which the permanent population will send their children and this includes:
1. Increasing the number of children attending, a big issue in Nepal
2. Enhancing the quality of education with a shift to child centred teaching as opposed to teacher centred
3. Building a new extension to the current school on their existing land which would allow them to include classes up to year 10 therefore becoming a secondary school.
In the case of this latter element the initial costings for the two storey extension are for about £20,000 of which they currently have found £3000.

 

When a PhD in chemistry comes in handy .....

Yesterday paid a short visit to our fifth supported school, Himalaya Secondary School in the centre of Kathmandu. This school is different from our others in that we support only 65 children out of the full 300 since these are the poorest with little or no personal support from anywhere else. The Head of the school takes in this many impoverished children in additional to those from the permanent community.
During our visit we entered a science class, Year 8, and I just couldn't resist having a go. These kids all spoke good English which was the medium used for their science lessons, which now includes a session on the periodic table of the elements from Dr B! (Sorry about the blurry picture, it was taken by the regular teacher who was presumably having a good laugh!)

A new partnership?

We have spent most of today with Yogendra Chitraker, Director ECCA, and one of his staff Sidhu visiting three schools they provide support to in Patan together with our own two schools also in Patan. Basically ECCA are a large Nepalese NGO who develop schools through helping them to network better within their own community and assisting them to set up nature and environment clubs and studies within the school.
Essentially we have much to gain by working together at no cost to each other. ECCA have 2000 "counsellors" employed around Nepal helping the poorest schools to achieve more through self motivation and we have realised today just how much we can work together without stepping on each others toes. Initially they will take Sramik and Bal Bigyan schools under their wing to help them maximise their potential withing their respective communities.
On our part we have access to a different network of professional teachers and volunteers from the UK and again we can work together to maximise efforts. For example a group of teachers from the UK could come to Nepal to run a skills programme attended by groups of their counsellors who in turn pass it on across the whole of Nepal!
More next week, its back to videoing tomorrow.

Tihar

Image via Wikipedia

Today is the last day of Tihar, or Diwali the festival of light as it is known in India. Comprising five days of fireworks, lit up buildings, feasting, and a series of special days to worship/pay respect to crows, dogs, cows, ones self and brothers.
Towards the end of this festival is Nepal Sambat, which in the Nepali calendar is New Year's Day in the year 1130. That was yesterday and in central Kathmandu was celebrated by the Newar people with a variety of programmes of music, dancing and feasting.
Today is Bhaia Tikka, or brother's day in which sisters respect their brothers with a small puja (religious ceremony/blessing) and food. In turn the brothers give their sisters a gift. We will be visiting one of Champa's sisters houses today for this event which according to the astrologers cannot take place until after 11.53 this morning.
On the schools work front it's back to work tomorrow with the schools opening again after the break. We have a visit scheduled with the help of our friends at ECCA, the education NGO, to a government school they have helped to influence the local municipality and is therefore now thriving. It should be a good benchmark for us and we will write up news of that visit tomorrow.

The last school

Kesh Chandra school in central Kathmandu was visited today, its the smallest school we support with around 100 pupils. As usual they are the children of migrant or itinerant workers so are extremely isolated from the permanent community.
They are housed in a community group owned building connected to a temple area and the owners want them out. Mind you, they have been trying for 20 years and not succeeded. However they have made life extremely uncomfortable for the school with a refusal to allow the connection of running water to the site or the building of a toilet.
Their needs apart from this are virtually identical to the three other schools we have visited and a few patterns are emerging. I will spend a few days thinking about all the data we have collected and create a summary report posted here for those who are interested.
So, at 1pm today, temperature 89 degrees, Champa and I ended a fairly intense three days of questions, questions, questions. I'm not sure of the UK equivalent but we have basically carried out an assessment on the management and teaching of four schools plus held a lengthy meeting with people connected to the Nepal Ministry of Education. To celebrate we dragged ourselves off to the renowned Fire & Ice restaurant for pizza and ice cream. The festival of Tihar starts tomorrow so it's a few days of relaxing and family socialising before we start again. Tomorrow it's barbecue night at Dwarika's to thank our family for all their organising of Sharon's wedding.

Education, education, education!

This afternoon's meeting was with Dr Chitraker (Chairman of ECCA) and Mrs Shrestha, the recent Under Secretary for Education. For our non regular readers, ECCA are the organisation who helped us to run the 5 day training programme on Water & Sanitation Education for 12 teachers in our schools. Unfortunately Dr Poudel, the current Under Secretary was called away to the Ministry so we are arranging a further meeting with him.
Our primary objectives were to develop understanding of the education system in Nepal and to seek influence to facilitate further State aid for our schools.
We spent some time outlining our background, our broad strategy and our current processes before making a summary of what we see our schools receiving and ..... what they appear to NOT be receiving from the State.
Much to our amazement Dr Chitraker explained that it was NOT the government's fault if the schools weren't receiving their full dues!! But, he explained that in Nepal the onus is on the schools to directly seek out government support based on a clear understanding of what they are entitled to. So, part of what ECCA do is to "educate" school heads about how to engage with government and work their way through Nepal's labyrinthine bureaucracy!!!! Amazing.
But, he immediately offered to show us some schools as examples who they have helped to help themselves AND to begin a programme of educating the Heads in our schools to do the same.
In addition we talked at some length about professional development for teachers and that despite having a National Teacher Development Centre outside Kathmandu and having 30 Regional Centre, the teacher development programme is "a pile of crap"! Well, Mrs Shrestha didn't actually say that but that was what she meant.
So, here's a possible deal: Can WE help to facilitate some UK Heads/teachers, maybe backed by their Education Authority, who would like to work on such a programme?
Are you there Janice, Nerissa, Stella? Anybody on Skype?

Words fail me ....... almost.

This morning's visit was to Bal Kalyan school in Balaju, twinned with Hook Norton school in Oxfordshire. Pupils are from the shanty town community along the river banks at Balaju which means these children are living in tin roofed shacks with the chickens, ducks, goats and pigs. The photo here is from above the township but doesn't do it justice. The next time I visit after the Tihar festival some of the community have invited us for a full tour which we were very pleased to receive, and to accept.
The school building was provided by a combination of funding from the township people themselves, the Municipality, and the Coca Cola corporation who have a bottling plant close by. Our sponsored teacher here is KKrishna Thapa, a civil engineering graduate who is from the township but who wants to teach. We had a very thorough meeting with the Head teacher (Mahdav), Krishna as well as four members of the management committee and we will report on our findings later as a summary with the other schools.
Once we had finished the meeting we were given a tour of the school to each of the year groups where we were given flower garlands, drawings and personally created poems and songs which told of the children's gratitude for our support. It was quite overcoming really and "got worse" when Krishna decided to tell each class about Champa being at one time the most educated woman from Nepal and the first Nepali woman to gain a PhD. The effect was remarkable and the teachers have no doubt that this will be a real inspiration to these children.
As a parting shot we encouraged Krishna to work with Bashu in creating a UK studies syllabus so, Hook Norton ......... you may get some questions and requests by email!
Must dash as we have 30 mins before our meeting with two people from Ministry of Education. Champa is worried I'll blow my stack .... more later today.

Here we go!

Arrived, ate, slept, and slept, and slept. That's the first time I have not slept a wink overnight to Kathmandu but also the fastest I have ever got through Kathmandu airport from visa control to baggage collect to car park. 20 minutes ..... yes Andy, 20 minutes.
Two hours later it was just like someone had flicked a switch at 6pm and I didn't wake up till 5 am.
We have created a fast start schedule with visits to four of our schools scheduled for the first three days. Our purpose is to conduct a thorough fact find on the school's situation to help us plan future strategies. Today we have visited two schools in Patan, both just off the royal (Durbar) square. Patan is an ancient city, one of the three cities of the Kathmandu valley and the home of the original kings of the Malla dynasty. Mostly renowned for it's teracotta architecture and brass statues.
Our first visit was to Sramik school where Rajendra is our sponsored teacher. The building is community owned, very dark and with virtually no facilities. The pupils are NOT from the "local" community who send their children out of the area to better schools. So the pupils are the classic low caste children from migrant or domestic workers mostly. They have been trying for 10 years to get access to land so as to create a purpose built school! We will certainly try to help with our own influence if we can. The teachers are dedicated but struggling. NONE of them have any teacher training in the sense we would understand it, maybe we can help here too.
Our second visit was to Bal Bigyan school where Bashu is our sponsored teacher. Chalk and cheese when compared with Sramik. They have a purpose built school funded by the local community but surprisingly they also send their own children elsewhere. Well educated teachers, a switched on head teacher are both features of this school. Since we began supporting them their roll has increased by 65 children and each year they hold an Open Day to advertise the fact that they are supported by a UK charity who provide ........
The sponsored teacher Bashu has taken up the challenge of creating a UK Studies programme to add to the curriculum so Janice you can expect some emails seeking information.

That's enough for today. Tomorrow we visit the Bal Kalyan school in the Balaju district where Krishna is our sponsored teacher. Then in the afternoon we have a meeting with Mrs Laxmi Shrestha who was the previous Under Secretary of State for Education. The current Education Secretary we will meet with in about a week's time after the Tihar festival.
It's Carlsberg O'clock, enough!

Adopted by Shakespeare!

Well, Shakespeare House at Beechen Cliff School, Bath that is! This is their logo on the left, a boys school with a Maths teacher who was a friend of our son Mike and who played a major part in our fundraising group, Mike's Appeal.
Lee is the Head of the newly created Shakespeare House with around 180 boys from all years and part of their extra curricular activity includes some charitable work. They have decided to adopt ourselves together with Julian House, a local hospice for single men and women. Any funds raised will be shared between ourselves and Julian House (40% each) with 20% used for any needs arising within Shakespeare itself.
However, it's not just about the money, as I told these boys on my visit yesterday. There are learning opportunities and adventure opportunities by associating with ourselves and judging by some of the enthusiasm afterwards it wont be long before Nepal is a popular Google search topic along with the terms "himalaya, whitewater rafting, mountain biking, Buddhism ......"

A longer visit this time?

Image by andyw23 via Flickr

Well, here we go again, off to Kathmandu next Sunday for a month's work in and around our five schools. As our regular readers will know our last attempt in May ended up with a hasty retreat back home in the face of a potential military coup. That risk has now faded but there is till political upheaval creating a level of instability that just wouldn't be tolerated here. Anyway, we're off so we will just have to put up with it.
We have an enormous amount of work to do which can best be described as a major fact finding mission. We have been supporting these schools for 2 full years now and have seen our impact and achievement steadily growing. However the time has now come to "benchmark" these five schools against a range of standards (all Nepali) so as to judge what we do next to help them.
First, we have a round of formal meetings with each school to determine issues around school resources, infrastructure, community support, direction/leadership etc. Second, we have meetings fixed with the current and previous under secretaries from the Ministry of Education. Third, we intend to explore facilities and resources available to develop our schools professionally such as The British Council in Kathmandu and to provide some further professional training during our visit.
Plenty to do, as well as the Tihar/Diwali festival for a week to enjoy with our family. So, all news can be followed on a daily basis via this blog.

Nepal: Education AND healthcare a priority!

There are times when our own perception of the work we do in Nepal seems less than a drop in the ocean. The previous posting gives a flavour of the overall problems facing Nepal as a nation, and this is on top of the political and security issues resulting from a 10 year war with the Maoists, the removal of the monarchy and government via a 22 party coalition.
However it is when a “personal” situation arises that we question the focus and value of what we do. A recent email from Krishna Thapa, our sponsored teacher at Bal Kalyan school greatly disturbed us: In Krishna’s own words:
"One day last week, Year 1 pupil Deepa Koirala was carrying her nursery class little brother, Dilen, down a flight of stairs when she fell and broke her arm as well as dislocating her elbow. We immediately took her to the nearby Jana Maitri hospital where a doctor confirmed that an operation would be necessary. We could not meet the cost, and neither could Deepa’s parents. Deepa’s father earns 3000 NRs per month (£25!) from which they must pay their rent and purchase food. Next we wrote a letter to the government funded Bir Hospital in Kathmandu seeking help and thankfully they agreed to perform the operation for free. However the cost of medicines was 6000 NRs which we raised from teachers, students and Dr Madan (Nepal Schools Aid Ops Manager). Since then we have had printed 1000 copies of a letter pad in the name of Bal Kalyan Health Fund which we will sell to create a fund for such future emergencies.”

Makes you think, doesn’t it, especially when you realise that Bal Kalyan school is NOT in some remote Himalayan village but in the centre of Nepal’s capital city!

Nepal: A few things you didn't know

A recently published report, Nepal Labour Force Survey 2008, has highlighted a number of facts about the population that even we didn’t know. Most of the facts we publicise ourselves are concerned with education, literacy and malnutrition, but this survey is somewhat wider. Here are some of the key facts:

• Only 66% of Nepal’s workforce is “working” with 17% employed and 83% self employed
• Across the entire workforce, 74% work in agriculture which is the major contributor to the nation’s GDP but often involving only seasonal work with subsistence wages
• Literacy rate is now 63%, a 14% increase over 10 years
• Firewood is the main fuel for cooking used by 68% of the population
• Only 56% of households have electricity
• Only 45% of the population has tap water with 39% using hand pumps

These figures once again emphasise the low standard of living in Nepal overall with such low proportions of the population having an income, having electricity, being able to read, having piped water.

What’s needed is a “pop star” to go on a trek and become affected by the plight of this forgotten land.!

Joanna Lumley puts Nepal on the map

Joanna Lumley has rightly been lauded for her tireless efforts on behalf of Nepali Gurkhas. She has won a moral victory for those Nepalis who served in the British Army and now have the right to settle in the UK with their dependents, and with a pension commensurate with their “service”.

The star of AbFab is now also being feted in Nepal itself and is visiting Gurung and other communities who provide a high proportion of Gurkha recruits from the regions around and above Pokhara in the Annapurna Himal.

However Ms Lumley has done something else which many of us who work to help Nepal and some of the poorest children in the World have singularly failed to do; she has put Nepal on our TV screens and placed it “on the map”. During her recent visit she has been seen visiting a range of village communities, especially schools with relatively poor children who may have a school building, but not much to go in it. You know the sort of things …… books, pens, pencils …… teachers. Forget the computers, not much point without electricity! On a wider basis Nepal is one of the bottom 15 or so poorest countries in the World. Infant malnutrition is the HIGHEST in the World!!

So, thank you Joanna, we may just get a few more coins in the tin, or donations, or grants to help this impoverished (but deserving) country as a wider spinoff from your Gurkha campaign.

Eclipse of the sun seen from Nepal

People observing the solar eclipse using x-ray films and capturing the spectacle using their cell-phone cameras at Swayambhunath in Kathmandu on Wednesday. The Kathmandu Valley this morning witnessed a partial eclipse, while 14 districts in eastern Nepal saw a total eclipse, which is said to the longest of the century.

Being unaware of the fact that a solar eclipse is a natural phenomenon, many Nepali people perform tough rituals related to their religious beliefs.Click here to read about them.

Hathway Analytics-another corporate grant

With perfect timing to support our recent posting on “Sustainability” we have once again been extremely fortunate to receive a sustainable grant from Hathway Analytics, an Oxfordshire business analysis consultancy. Our main supporters here are Nancy and Simon Hathway who have been personal supporters for some time and they have now committed their company to an annual grant which in this first year funds the salary of a teacher at Kesh Chandra School.
Nancy takes up the “story”:-

“In the UK we are incredibly fortunate with the provision and availability for our children’s schooling. Having personally gone through the free UK education system I have been given opportunities that many people around the world cannot even dream about. Fifteen years after leaving secondary school I am now running my own business analytics company. I chose to support Nepal Schools Aid because I believe that it is every child’s right to receive an education. This small charity enables some of the poorest children in Kathmandu to access educational material and schooling.

Often I have felt powerless to make any impact on events that I have seen in the media, however this is changing through charities like Nepal Schools Aid. I can help a little bit of the world and see something really positive happening with my donation.

As a parent it is important for me that my children are educated about the world outside of our small Oxfordshire village. Our local village school has started on the route of linking with Kesh Chandra school in central Kathmandu. As my eldest daughter starts year 2 in September her class will have Nepal studies on their curriculum. I am very proud that as a family we are able to support the school with a teacher, Malika Shakya. I hope with this personal family commitment and our planned trip to Nepal in 2010 that our children will learn it is everybody’s responsibility to take action to make our world a better place. We really can make a difference, people need to take personal action whether it be with time or donations to change our global, but not so equal world.”

The Search For Sustainability

A little while ago I wrote about the concept/issue of sustainability as applied to Nepal Schools Aid, especially important given the current economic climate.

At the turn of the year there was a number of reports in the media of how charities were struggling to maintain their previous level of operation due to reduced donations. Understandable? Yes. Acceptable? No, not in our opinion anyway! Now this may sound a bit "high and mighty", but as a young and immature charity we have no sympathy with any large charity who live beyond their means taking their donors for granted. In the good years you save, in the lean years use some reserves. You owe it to your beneficiaries to act responsibly and manage your "business" sustainably.

Let's be a bit more specific. In 2008 we raised around ₤12,000, but the core of our work in Nepal needed a budget of only ₤6000, so what should we do? We could expand our work to spend more (₤12,000), or save ₤6000 in a high interest account to give regular interest. Maybe unsurprisingly, we chose to save ₤6000 and to live/work within the planned budget. So, most importantly, saving the excess has contributed to our sustainibility and in a worst case scenario we have capital to fund a whole year's work even if we receive NO donations in 2009!

Now, there is a second way of looking at sustainability and this concerns the TYPE of donation received from supporters. One-off donations are wonderful but even more wonderful are the guaranteed repeat donations as typified by monthly standing orders or annual repeat grants. This year we have had a real breakthrough in each area. Firstly, at the half way point in the year we have received ₤3,500 from annual repeat grants which are specifically targeted on our Value Added programme of textbook provision and teacher salaries. Secondly, we are being most generously supported by 11 donors via monthly standing orders to the value of around ₤1,700 per annum. This means therefore that we are receiving sustainable donations to the value of ₤5,200 which is almost sufficient to fund a whole year's work.

In summary then, sustainability is a combination of what WE do, and what YOU do:

We promise to uses our financial resources responsibly, spending within our means each year, saving extra funds during the good years.

What we ask of you, is to consider making regular donations by monthly standing order or an annual grant for larger sums. Please contact us at info@nepalschoolsaid.co.uk if you can afford from as little as ₤5 per month.

Nepal lurches towards "Failed State" status

Picture this scene: at 7am you take your son to college on your motor bike, on your way back you drive into a road block erected spontaneously by student political activists affiliated to one particular party NOT getting their own way in parliament, they threaten to burn your bike but you talk your way out of it and drive in the opposite direction. Meanwhile across the road a milk delivery van is attacked and torched by the activists, a few yards away a group of police stand around and watch. Later in the day the Constituent Assembly (parliament) proceedings are disrupted by the elected members of the disaffected party for the twentieth successive day with no business being conducted, the new Prime Minister who lost his seat at the national election (!) but who heads the party of government doesn't seem to know what to do.

All true, with the "man on the motorbike" being a Nepal Schools Aid official. Not only true but an example of what are becoming everyday occurrences in Nepal making the country's descent into Failed State status almost inevitable. A recent report from the Fund For Peace confirms this:
Meanwhile, Nepal has slid several points below its Failed State Index (FSI) this year compared to the previous year, the Kathmandu Post said citing a report released by a leading research organization.
In its fifth annual FSI released recently, the Washington-DC-based Fund for Peace has listed Nepal among the worst 38 countries, ranking it 25th.
The level of statelessness in the 38 countries sends “warning” signal, according to Fund for Peace.
Nepal stands in the category that includes countries like Somalia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and North Korea, which make up the list of worst governed countries reeling under conflict, corruption, poverty, impunity and statelessness.
Countries like Norway, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland, which ranked 177th, 176th, 175th and 174th respectively, are seen as best governed.
The only solace for Nepal probably is that it fares better than Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, ranked 19th and 22nd in order, the Post said.
Weak and ineffective government, economic decline, poverty and widening inequality, impunity, deteriorating rule of law, violation of human rights, corruption and external intervention have been attributed as the reason for Nepal’s worsening condition. nepalnews.com June 29 09
Certainly as a charity with no form of political alignment we would not pass any comment or opinion on government, specific parties or state institutions, but the rising levels of violence, strikes, blockades and a general breakdown of law and order makes our work all the more important. Schools are frequently closed and parents are increasingly afraid to send their children to school especially following a recent spate of child kidnappings.
We must continue to reassure all our schools and the most vulnerable of children that our support to them will NOT be affected by the political or security situation. As long as we receive donations and grants we will be there for them.

Drinking water for Sramik School

The photo is virtually self-explanatory, but not of the background to this delivery of 2 months worth of mineral water to Sramik School in Patan, Kathmandu. After St James school in Millom raised money to pay for a range of books to be provided to the school, around £50 remained. Thanks to the insistence of one little boy at St James with his question "do they have clean water", this money was allocated to buying as much as we could, and today ......... delivery!

Just goes to show how far a little money will go!

Welcome to Hook Norton School

We are pleased to report that we have been joined by Hook Norton C of E Primary School in Oxfordshire. A meeting with Head Teacher, Stella Belgrove, confirmed their commitment to being our third supporting UK school and they are now planning their approach to include:
1. Year 2 children incorporating elements of Nepal Studies into their curriculum
2. Year 5 children incorporating Nepal into their focus on water availability around the world
3. The school adopting and twinning with Kesh Chandra school in the Itumbahal district of central Kathmandu
We will do all we can to support them in their work to educate some of Oxfordshire's children in the culture, history, geography and the needs of Nepal.

Their website: Click here

Half-year Review 2009

Image by jmhullot via Flickr

This NewsBlog entry is a half-year review of our activities and achievements so far this year and covers UK and Nepal operations as well as financial and non-financial work.

The financials
So far this year we have raised £9500 which compares favourably with the half year point in 2008. However this is a little misleading since in the latter half of 2008 we had our Everest Base Camp trek which boosted our income significantly. Despite this we are on track to equal last year's fundraising of around £12,000. Specifically this year we have had a fantastic corporate grant from Enterprise Learning (£5000) and now receive monthly donations of £123 from 11 supporters. From a spending viewpoint we transferred £5770 to our account in Kathmandu to fund the whole operation in 5 schools until April 2010. This money pays for 4 teachers, 95 school bags, 964 textbooks and 21,112 exercise books! All this for 662 children from the lowest castes and poorest families, mostly in shanty towns.

Events
We ran our usual Easter trek in the Lake District which this year was The Shamrock Traverse, a route in the Mosedale Valley which ascends Pillar using a high level, rocky climbers traverse with an interesting short scramble near the top. We had a small group of 10 and raised about £700. We have a further trek scheduled for September, The Cumbrian 3 Peaks, but so far uptake is slow. A decision will be taken at the end of June as to whether this event runs or not.

UK schools
As everyone will know we have great support from two Cumbrian Schools, Haverigg Schools and St Jame's School in Millom. However we have just found a third school to join us from Hook Norton in Oxfordshire thanks to the efforts of Nancy Hathway one of our supporters. We have a meeting with the school Head soon to discuss our relationship and potential links with Kathmandu.

Nepal Schools
The two main pieces of news concern the appointment of a new sponsored teacher at Bal Kalyan school and the provision of a one week training course on Water, Hygiene and Sanitation for 12 teachers. At the end of May our 4th sponsored teacher was appointed at Bal Kalyan school situated in the Balaju district with pupils drawn mostly from the shanty town community on the banks of the river Bagmati. Krishna Thapa is well qualified for this work in many respects both from his formal eduation as well as the fact that he is from the same community himself. It is very pleasing to report however that one of our donor-supporters is paying his full salary for 5 years!
As reported elsewhere on this NewsBlog we funded a five day training course in May for 12 teachers to help them learn how to implement an addition to the school curriculum on Water, Hygiene & Sanitation. This was an important step forward for us since it enabled us to influence what is taught in the schools AND to develop the teacher's delivery skills. The course was highly successful judging by the feedback and each school is now at the early stages of implementation.

Nepal Situation
Finally we must comment on the current situation in Nepal itself. As many of you will know four of us travelled to Kathmandu at the end of April primarily for the wedding of Sharon and Michael, but also to work for a couple of weeks with our five schools. We arrived at a time when Nepal was facing severe water shortages, strikes affecting fuel supplies, and power outages of 16 hours per day. On top of this the political situation was tense, mainly caused by the lack of consensus between the main parties in the coalition government and an ongoing row between the majority Maoist party and the Army Chief.

The day before the wedding we managed to visit one of our schools, Kesh Chandra, in the centre of old Kathmandu where we had some discussions with the teachers and Sharon led a short English lesson.


Then, the day after the wedding the prime minister sacked the Army Chief, who was then reinstated by the president, leading to the prime minister resigning and a walk-out by the Maoist ministers. In turn this was followed by violent street protests and there seemed a high risk of a military coup. Our family said "get out quick" ....... so we did, and flew home the day after that! Now, this was naturally a huge disappointment to all concerned, especially everyone at the 5 schools who were looking forward to working with us in a variety of ways.
The situation in Nepal continues to be difficult, there is now a new prime minister who didn't even win a seat at the last elections (don't ask!), a new coalition government without the largest party (the Maoists) and daily agitation on the streets.Thankfully the power outages are down to only 4 hours per day.
So, we soldier on, please keep your donations flowing, join in an event if you can, or run one of your own, and if you can manage a regular monthly donation .... no matter how small, this would be fantastic. Just email us and we'll explain how to do it.

Who are you?

If you run a website or a blog it's fairly easy to track the number of visitors and where they "come from".It's even better if they leave comments against various entries, hopefully positive ones!
In the case of this NewsBlog we regularly check where our visitors are accessing the site from in terms of their country and closest city and we can see that there appears to be some "regulars" from Sheffield, Kathmandu, Cheltenham, London, Cincinatti.
It would be nice to know who you are, so why not post a comment either in relation to specific entries or even to tell us WHO you are.
Don't be shy!

New teacher at Bal Kalyan

We are pleased to announce the sponsorship of a new teacher at Bal Kalyan school in the Balaju district of Kathmandu. krishna Thapa is our fourth sponsored teacher, and, thanks to a generous donation from one of our supporters we have sufficient funding for a teacher at this school for up to five years.
Krishna is a member of the local community who live mostly in a shanty town along the banks of the river Bagmati. He has "fought" his way out to get a diploma in civil engineering, a B.A., and is currently studying in the early hours of the morning before school for an M.A. English.

Bollywood comes to Haverigg!

Well, not exactly Bollywood but the music was from Slumdog Millionaire! The 30 min video of Sharon & Michael's wedding in Kathmandu went down a storm on the last day of term at Haverigg school with a great deal of interest from the children if their questions were anything to go by. "Why do they wear sarees, why do they wear red at a wedding in Nepal, what is the red scarf for, why did they walk around the temple three times, why was the bell ringing .........."

All good questions and it has prompted us to take our video camera on our next visit annd to film more everyday life in Kathmandu which can be arranged into small educational clips.

Sramik Links With St James School

Our aborted trip to Nepal recently still gave us a chance to deliver a package of letters and cards to Sramik School and they have already responded to St James via the internet with a scanned selection of children's drawings. 

Hopefully this will promote regular contact between specific children as well as large parcels on an occasional basis.

 

"Water" Training Ends

Reports from Kathmandu indicate a highly successful programme for all participants. Key points apart from the obvious content learning appear to have been the application methodologies learned and the motivation from a human values based approach. Teachers have now returned to their schools to begin implementation and we will report on this in a few weeks.

Good News From Nepal!

At last some good news from Nepal  received via my nephew Anuj in Kathmandu; the power cuts, called load shedding in Kathmandu, have been reduced by 50%.
So, as of now the power cuts are ONLY 8 hours per day!!

Perfect Timing

Yesterday we began a weeks training for some of our teachers in Kathmandu to help them add "Water & Sanitation" education to the school curriculum. Perfect timing as a report today from the charityWater Aid shows. Once again charities are getting the WRONG priorities ......

"Millions of children's lives are being put at risk each year because aid agencies and governments make wrong choices about health care priorities.
This is the conclusion of a new report from the charity WaterAid.
It says that diarrhoea caused by poor sanitation is killing many more children than HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria combined.
The report says the global spending on HIV/Aids hugely outweighs the amounts spent on providing better sanitation. "

Full report on the BBC here

Water & Sanitation Programme Launched in Kathmandu

Today is a big day for us in Kathmandu, the launch of the five day training programme "Water & Sanitation in the School Curriculum" for 12 teachers from our 5 schools. The programme is being run by our partners in this venture, ECCA, a long standing and respected NGO in Nepal.

Across the week these 12 teachers will learn how to enable values based education for their pupils in the issues of clean water, hygiene, sanitation etc to be added to the general curriculum. This addition to the school curriculum was piloted in Kathmandu for 10 selected schools at the end of 2008 and we have been "agitating" to get this applied early across our own supported schools well ahead of it being nationally launched.
Now, thanks to two of our supporters, Dave Moss in the US and Mark Townsend in the UK, their generous donations have made this a reality and we are extremely grateful for their direct funding of the programme.
The programme naturally focuses on the specific content of "water, hygiene, sanitation" but just as important is the professional education our teachers will receive in the five teaching methodologies of "silent sitting; painting, art & craft; role play; music & singing; story telling." In addition there are inputs regarding the wider context including a session from a member of the Education Ministry on the national curriculum, and further sessions on the role of the community and integration into the existing curriculum.
Further updates as the week progresses.

The Wedding Party

Definitely the final set of images from "the wedding". The top two speak for themselves as Sharon and Michael in more traditional British dress wait to greet guests at the evening wedding party. Held at the Kathmandu Radisson, drinks and snacks were served in the main banqueting hall before the Nepali banquet was served in the outdoor Waterfall Garden. The bottom picture shows Sharon greeting her cousin Hisila Yami who is the Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation in the Maoist Government. Her husband Dr Bhattarai, the Finance Minister, was unable to attend being involved in the meetings with the prime minister regarding the sacking of the army chief.

Nepal Erupts!

For those of you following our progress in Nepal this is the quickest way to advise everyone that we are all back home in the UK!
Just prior to the wedding political tension had increased due to a row between the prime minister and the head of the armed forces. The reason was that the army chief was refusing to integrate 19,000 Maoist "troops" into the regular army saying they did NOT meet entry standards and were politically indocrinated. The Maoist PM sacked him (unconstitutionally), the President reinstated him (unconstitutionally) and the PM resigned from the government as did all the Maoist ministers. Maoist supporters then began a campaign of intimidation, strikes, road blockades with a strong possibility of an army coup. Yesterday a video was leaked to the press showing the PM discussing with his senior advisors how he had fooled the UN into paying for 35,000 Maoist troops in holding compounds when in fact there were only 7000 and planning the next campaign of intimidation and violence.
By Monday morning our family were advising us to leave as quickly as possible, so we did!
If anyone wants to follow the news from Nepal the two best websites are at www.nepalnews.com.np and www.kantipuronline.com

Trustees Wedding-Ceremony Slideshow

As reported below the wedding took place of Sharon & Michael in Kathmandu last weekend and this is a link to a short slideshow and a short writeup on the ceremony:
The ceremony took about 2.5 hours and contained 5 stages. The first was "Purification" in which the Buddhist priest and Michael spent almost 45 mins in a ceremony to purify the temple space/area prior to the wedding ceremony itself. Next, the marriage lasting about 20 mins in which the couple came together in the centre of the temple for rituals and exchange of rings etc. Next a blessing by the Guruju/priest involving the couple taking about 15 mins. Then a lengthy "receiving" of the family and "respecting" the marriage as each attendee came forward to offer a token gift of respect. Finally a ceremonial departure down the temple steps with everyone following before circling the car three times for luck and transport to the lunch reception. The link to the web slideshow click Nepal Wedding-The Ceremony

Trustees Married In Kathmandu

Three photos from the millions that were taken during a very long day in Kathmandu when two of our young Trustees were married in a Buddhist ceremony at Swayambhu Temple. The ceremony itself took about 2.5 hours and was followed by a "small reception" at the Yak & Yeti Hotel for about 50 guests. Later that evening a larger family party was held at the Kathmandu Radisson for 150 family members and friends.
More pictures and news to follow once we've recovered! Keep watching and commenting.

News From Nepal

Been here for about a week now, flew out on Sunday after Sharon's first wedding on Saturday. Since then we have had a hectic mixture of second wedding arrangements, attempted school visits and partnership meetings. Tried to take 5 visitors today to BalBigyan and Sramik schools but a general strike/road blockage and a teacher strike conspired against us. Last minute change to Kesh Chandra where there was no strike instead.
Posting up photos at the moment is virtually impossible due to power cuts, slow internet and dodgy keyboards. This has taken 40 mins.
Will try more tomorrow.
Family party tonight. Thanks for recent comments Nancy & Trevor, keep posting.

Nepal Visits

Across most of May a number of Trustees will be visiting and working at our schools in Kathmandu and THIS is the place to keep up to date. Keep checking the NewsBlog as we will be posting up news every other day or so and "events" will include:

• Sharon's wedding
• Selecting a new teacher for Bal Kalyan school
• Opening and running the new "Water & Sanitation in the Curriculum" course for 12 of the teachers in our schools
• Meeting with the Heads and Governors of each school
• Conducting a detailed fact-find on two schools
  
• Observing some specific lessons in each school
• Distributing letters and cards from the children of Haverigg and St Jame's schools
• Allocating our budget for the production and purchase of 22,000 exercise books, 1000 textbooks, 100 school bags

We would really welcome visitors to the NewsBlog leavingtheir comments against/under each posting so, especially for our supporters, please click on "comments" and use the "anonymous" login but PLEASE remember to sign your name at the bottom of your message!

Shamrock Traverse in Pictures-Easter 2009