Supporter Update Dec 2017
Hello and seasons greetings. It’s been over two and half years since the assistance fund was established following the devastating April 2015 earthquakes in Nepal. During that time, thanks to your kind contributions, great progress has been made in rebuilding the lives and homes of numerous staff. Our trip itineraries have evolved, as has the nature of our work, becoming more diverse as further needs have been identified and assessed for support. These have variously included providing school scholarships, purchasing flued kitchen stoves, and supporting a range of spirit-lifting activities over four or five days at Thulo Bhotang school. These include professional service clinics in dentistry, general and gender specific health services, and new for this year, eye examinations with required prescriptions. In the classroom, challenging practical science experiments, music and drawing workshops have been conducted. On this trip we were fortunate to be accompanied by Peter, who gave fascinating classroom insights on the world-wide importance of bees, keeping the children stimulated, wide-eyed and curious. Last but not least, there were always plenty of games and hand craft activities on the go.
Also new for this trip was the realisation of an exciting collaboration with the primary school teacher training department at University of Notre Dame, Sydney. Two students, Bek and Maddy, were sponsored to visit Thulo Bhotang school where they ran remarkable around-the-clock teacher training workshops for the primary school teachers, many of whom have had little or no formal teacher training. Their resources included bringing over 60kgs of teaching materials, prepared by two groups of students as part of their curriculum. Bek and Maddy were encouraged by the experienced input from Del, a trained teacher and part of our group. The reception by the school teachers was one of wonder, total focus and absorption.
The buzz from all of this school activity was preceded by our great trek. This time we began in the foothills of Kathmandu (1400m) at Shwapuri Nagarjun National Park, and proceeded northwards into the vast Helambu region. We enjoyed clear skies with no rain (or snow!), typical for that time of the year. It never ceases to amaze us how each trek can offer so much variety. Very quickly, the full sweep of the central Himalayan landscape stretched out before us, from the Annapurnas, through to Manaslu and the Langtang range. Midway at ~4000m we slipped through Thadepati Pass and for the next several days were treated to Nepalese undulations, ancient rhododendron forests clinging to hillsides, the usual vast array of flowers, rapidly flowing rivers, snowline meadows and fascinating village and monastery life.
One thing that stood out wherever we went, was the greatly increased level of rebuilding activity, though sadly this often includes smashing rocks, usually by women, to make gravel used in the making of concrete. Unsurprisingly, eye injuries from splinters of flying stone are common (so we are looking for a donor of a large quantity of safety glasses).
Last year we called in to the school at Dhap village where two of Nireka’s regular staff live. It became clear that the school was in need of science equipment which we were able to provide during our visit last April. Since then, the school has a new qualified science teacher but with negligible experimental experience. On request, a small group of us called in again. A half day was spent training the teacher, followed by a full day running continuous experiment workshops for 105 students.
From earlier updates you will know about Master’s eldest, Manuka, who has recently completed Year 12 in the general education stream at Dhap school. Of the twelve students who sat the final exam, she was one of two who gained passes. She has now commenced university studies at the nearest local town, which will require payment of both education and boarding fees. We were persuaded to assist her after discussing her aspirations and goals.
Meanwhile, Singe's two sons Maikal (14yo) and Rinjin (11yo) have done really well in their exams as a result of the arranged tutoring, and have been promoted to the next class level.
There will be another trek and visit to the schools commencing mid November 2018, for three weeks. The format of the school visit program will follow the previous ones. If you are at all interested in coming along, please feel free to get in touch with us at this early stage with any questions and we'll do our best to answer promptly and candidly (and hopefully convincingly!). Your participation will be warmly welcomed.
The Nireka Staff Assistance Fund continues to operate. Further donations from you, family and friends can be credited to Beyond Bank, BSB 805-022, account number - 03563264, account name – Nireka Staff Assistance Fund; please reference note the donation with your name. Every donation is receipted. Sincere thanks to each and every one of you over recent and past times. See you on a trip sometime!
