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.