“Cars, motors, electricity are looked at here like aliens,” Dhurba Shahi from the Tanjakot community in far western Nepal writes to me. The 23-year-old works as a teacher at the Ramdev School in the village of Rama. With my new aid project “School up – far west” I am collecting donations for the construction of a new school, which is being realized by Nepalhilfe Beilngries. The existing building can at best be described as a makeshift building. “We hope that the new school will serve as a model,” says Dhurba.
Little infrastructure
Life in the mountainous region in the remote district of Humla is difficult, says Lalkesh Jaisi, mayor of Tanjakot: “More than half of the land is on slopes of more than 30 percent. Therefore, only two percent of the land is available for agriculture. There is snow for three months of the year, and it is extremely cold.”
Infrastructure is lacking at every turn, adds Gorkha Bahadur Shahi, chairman of the School Management Committee in Rama. “People are poor and uneducated. Agriculture is difficult because of the lack of irrigation.“ There are also frequent landslides, he said. “Almost all transportation is limited to footpaths. Recently, there has been a dirt road, but it becomes muddy in the rainy season and therefore cannot be used.”
No toilets
Some parents are unable to pay for school uniforms, books and stationery, so their children drop out of school, he says. Girls and boys also come from surrounding hamlets to the existing Ramdev School in the village of Rama. In some cases, they walk for up to an hour before reaching the current makeshift building. “The walls are cracked, the roof is full of holes, so it rains through. That’s why classes are often held outside,” says Gorkha Bahadur. “There are no toilet facilities. Children go to open areas or into the bushes near the school.”
According to the chairman of the School Management Committee, the people of Rama and the surrounding hamlets are “very happy and excited” that a new school is being built with the help of “School up – far west”: earthquake-proof, with sturdy walls and concrete ceilings, proper classrooms, a library, clean drinking water and sanitary facilities. In the meantime, the first floor of the first building has been bricked, the ceiling has been concreted – with many helping hands. Everyone is willing to invest time and effort in the project, he said. Around the school grounds, new trees have been planted.
Every euro goes into building the school
You can support the project with your donations. Every euro for “School up – far west” goes into the construction of the school in Rama. And so that you can see how your money is working, I will keep you informed about the construction progress here in the blog at irregular intervals. Here is the account number:
Recipient: Nepalhilfe Beilngries e.V..
Bank: Volksbank Bayern Mitte eG/Germany
IBAN: DE05 7216 0818 0004 6227 07
BIC/SWIFT-Code: GENODEF1INP
Intended purpose: School up – far west
