By Caroline Emlyn Jones | Fundraiser
After the devastating effects of the earthquake in April 2015, Nepal has been trying to rebuild itself. In Makwanpur, where we are currently working, the school buildings have now all been assessed and over 600 classroom have been condemned for demolition. The District Education Office has asked us to provide 10 temporary schools, which we have now completed. These are a bamboo construction with a corrugated iron roof and will have a life of about 4 years. They were erected very quickly with the help of the villagers and all are still standing after the monsoon winds and rain. The gaps between the bamboo have been filled in, to try and make them a bit warmer for the winter months.
We now have a team in the field assessing how many of the 41 primary schools we have been asked to rebuild by the District Education Office, we can tackle and which ones are in the most immediate need. The rebuild is starting in March and will be based on a new earthquake standard design produced by the government. It will cost approximately £9000 per school. Each school on average has around 100-200 children. We currently have funding, including Global giving’s grants and crowd funding for 30 of these school and we are now seeking support for another 11.
We have appointed a new Project Officer to monitor and supervise the work.The villagers will also help with the construction work. The border between Nepal and India has now opened and for the time being supplies are coming in. Cement and other construction materials are currently available in the market, which will help with the rebuilding programme.
It is imperative that we get children back into school. not only to educate them but also to keep them safe from traffickers. We now offer a midday meal to some of the poorest and most vulnerable children. Often children have to walk for over an hour to get to school, and probably they have not had any breaksfast. They arrive too weak to learn, so providing them with a meal, definitely encourages them to attend school daily.
Many parents are too poor to buy uniforms for their children and also are unable to afford paper and pencils, both of which are not provided by the school. Children often refused to go to school, if they haven't got a uniform to wear. We operate a bursary scheme for over 500 of the very poorest children, providing them with a uniform and writing equipment.
Our work is pincipally in primary schools as even young children are vulnerable to traffickers. Girls are most at risk, when they are about twelve years old and transitioning into secondary shool. We have found that if children find school enjoyable and attend, their aspirations increase and they are likely to go on to secondary school. This is especially important for girls who attend only for an average of 4 years in Makwanpur, compared with 6 years for boys.
Keeping chidren safe in school, is one of our aims. We encourage children to get an education, because when children are in school they are safer from traffickers, absence from school is likely to get noticed, and education can make a child more sceptical of traffickers.This is why your support rebuilding schools has been so important -Thank you from all of us and more importantly from all our children in Nepal. Without your support we could never have achieved what we have.
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