Helping a rural community in Central Nepal
On Sunday 24 May, Bikram our project manager, went to the nearest town Satrasaya to visit Kumar Pariyar, the local tailor, to pay and collect 84 uniforms, and then went to the Aandhimul school to distribute to parents and children.
The Aandhimul Project paid 75% towards the price of the uniforms, on the basis that the parents supplied 25% first. We did pay the full amount for the 4 poorest families as agreed by the School Management Committee.
Below, two children wearing their new uniform.
Thank you to all those who have donated to help the village of Aandhimul. We have now sent across 150,000RS to cover the rebuilding of 6 houses (25,000RS per house).
Villagers Dhan Raj Bhujel and Gyan Bahadur Bhujel have started to demolish their houses for rebuilding. Due to lack of manpower they are doing this work turn by turn. Soon the other 4 families will start to demolish their houses. They are doing rebuilding work in morning and earning work in the day time. Bikram has told them that they will get money on an instalment basis on the condition they must finish rebuilding. When they finish the demolish work Bikram will pay 5000RS will then pay according to work progressed.
Bikram, our project manager (in the picture below), will keep us updated over the coming weeks and months. And we are in discussions as to where to help other areas who need it the most, and who have genuine projects that we feel safe to support. We will also update you on this soon!
First a quick update on the rebuilding of the earthquake damaged homes. We have now sent across 150,000 Nepali Rupees (RS), 25,000RS per house. The image above shows the owners of these houses in a meeting with our project manager Bikram about a plan of action. It was decided the first house would start to be dismantled on this coming Sunday. We will keep you updated as the demolishing and rebuilding take place.
Above, some village children on their return from buying some vegetables from a local shop further down the valley. Food supplies after the earthquake are running okay in and around the Aandhimul village. Though support from Kathmandu has been offered to the Bandipur VDC.
A meeting was held on 15 May to elect parents to form a new School Management Committee (SMC) for this school year – however they could not choose the SMC and PTA due to the following reasons :
a) There were not enough actual school attending children’s parents present in the meeting. According to the Nepalese Education Act, at least two thirds of parents should be present to choose the SMC and PTA.
b) The school sent a letter home to parents only 2 days prior to the meeting. Not giving the parents enough warning.
The plan to resolve this issue is as follows :
a) To send letter a week before to all the parents requesting for their compulsory attendance in the parent meeting.
b) To call only the parents of attending school children, to prevent long debates.
c) To invite school supervisor and resource person in the meeting to facilitate as suggested in the education act.
The new SMC and PTA is set to be chosen by the second Nepali month of Jestha, meaning by 15 June.
As there are now more students attending the school than the previous years, it is necessary to purchase more desks for Class 1 and desk benches for Class 4. The project will cover the cost of buying these.
Above is an image of Urmila, a Class 8 student being supported by Angela in Australia, buying some new shoes and a bag for school.
The school is now back and operational only one week later than originally planned. Of course, being disrupted by the earthquake, but as the area around the village was not damaged too badly, and water is still running, the school could begin its first week back.
Bikram visited the school twice last week. It is nice to welcome the new government teacher Rexsona, seen below working with children from Class 1.
The attendance was quite low in the first week back, which could be a mix of the recent activities or the start of the new school year. We have asked for more clarification on the reasons why. But we are just happy to see the school in working order, and the children learning again.
You can also see below, Kumar (school caretaker), fixing the partition in the new bamboo classrooms being used by class 3 and 4.
First, thank you to all those who have so far donated to our appeal. We appreciate very much your generosity.
We have another update from Bikram about the damaged properties in the village of Aandhimul. We have been made aware now that 6 (originally 5) properties will need significant repairs/rebuilds. We have images for five, and their owners, listed below:
1. Shankhaman Bhujel’s house – some of the worst damage as seen below
2. Dhanrash Bhujel’s house
3. Hari Chandra Bhujel’s house
4. Gyan Bahadur Bhujel’s house
5. Jaya Bahadur Bhujel’s house
6. Lal Maya Bhujel’s house – we do not have an image for his house as this was only recently added to the list.
We have also been informed that the cost of repair will be in the region of between 20,000–25,000 rupees (approx. £128–160 or AUD$248–310). The majority of the costs will cover labour and materials, though most of the stones used to build the houses will be reused.
Between Australia and the UK we have already raised enough money to cover these repairs. So we are now in discussion about where best to pass on the surplus funds. We will update you when we have any further news.
Thank you. The Aandhimul Project team.
Our Project manager Bikram has visited the village yesterday and taken some photographs of the village and the damage. You can see below some of the damaged houses.
We want to thank Sarba Shakti from Saving and Credit Cooperative, Chitwan, Nepal who has distributed 7 plastic tents in village on 1 May. This has allowed some villagers erect tents nearer their homes and away from the school grounds.
We were also informed that yesterday Tanahun Chamber of Commerece and Industry, Dumre Unit, has distributed some food stuffs in the village.
Luckily the village school only suffered minor damage, as seen in the photo below.
To donate please visit here www.indiegogo.com/projects/nepal-quake-aandhimul-and-nearby-communities, and please share with others. Thank You!
The Aandhimul Project Team. Angela, Jolana, Lou, and Lee.