Rebuild Earthquake Resilient Schools in Nepal

Hello All Hands Volunteers Donors!

It has been an incredibly busy couple of months for our team of volunteers on the ground in Nepal. Monsoon season has hit with tremendous force and work has become increasingly difficult in the rugged Nepal terrain. Our volunteers are pushing through though and continuing to lift the spirits of the Nepalese families. The rebuilding of schools is critical in the process of beneficiaries returning to a sense of normalcy and we have teamed up with local organizations to construct 5 schools in different villages in Nepal. Three of the five schools are underway and work is being completed every day in order to provide the children the proper space to learn.

We are expanding to hard hit villages to ensure that those that are most in need are being assisted. As mentioned before, the monsoon is making it difficult to access certain areas but the issue has been solved by creating “mobile sites” that house about 20 volunteers and a team lead. These mobile sites operate separately from the base and allow the volunteers to cut out the long travel time to remote areas in Nepal. For 2 weeks the volunteers work out of the mobile site which keeps the volunteers safe and completes the work much faster.

At our Prithivi location the first floor of one of the four classroom buildings is nearing completion. Excavation for the second four classroom building will be finished in the coming weeks. At our Jalpa location the two classroom retrofit of the damaged Room to Read school is complete. The new three classroom building is nearing completion, with the brick walls complete up to the lintel band and preparation underway for laying the roof trusses. Door and window frames have been installed. Bricklaying has begun at our Bachchala location for the first four classroom building, and the site has been backfilled around the foundation. However, extreme monsoon activity at this location -- flooding and landslides – forced the team to spend significant amounts of time repairing road, campsite and worksite damage. Then, within days, new downpours have undone the improvements or created new issues, requiring more time away from school construction.

The progress being made in Nepal is outstanding and we are continuing to work with our amazing partners on the ground to assist the victims of this disaster. Your continued support is greatly appreciated and invite you to stay up to date with our work by visiting our website, many thanks!

Links:

• Nepal Project Website

It has been a full year since devastating earthquakes struck Nepal, and All Hands Volunteers continues to make measurable strides in the quest to recover and rebuild. To date All Hands has demolished over 80 unsafe buildings such as homes, schools and community buildings. The rubble from 359 collapsed buildings has been carried away to make space for rebuilding efforts. In the most vulnerable, forgotten, All Hands has created 100 earthquake resilient homes, 35 in an area near Kathmandu and 65 in areas in Sindhupalchok. Along the way All Hands has continued to involve the support of local men and women; one example is a program which trained 29 beneficiaries to become certified in resilient masonry techniques.

In the aftermath of the earthquake some 1 million children were faced with the challenge of continuing their education but with nowhere to learn. All Hands has built 16 Temporary Learning Centers and repaired 10 others which has allowed 1,820 children to move on with their studies and provides a safe area for them. In addition to the TLC’s we constructed 22 community shelters all outfitted with latrine systems and hygiene centers. Partnering with Room to Read we are currently building five permanent schools in Nuwakot District and another series of schools in Sindhupalchok.

Nepal is now facing monsoon season from June through September. This presents a new set of challenges in an already challenging landscape. The areas in which we operate are incredibly remote and are difficult to access in the best of weather, which is why they risk being overlooked by other humanitarian groups.  In order to combat this issue, All Hands  pioneered a mobile model whereby  teams of volunteers  go and camp within remote communities to  cut out the long commute time and fuel costs when traveling to and from base,  This model will be crucial to allowing us to continue reconstruction projects during the monsoons.

A year later the communities in Nepal are still trying to regain a sense of normalcy, and All Hands has been there every step of the way offering our services with a warm smile. We’re still hard at work on the ground today, and we’re committed to helping Nepal recover for tomorrow and the months ahead. This is only possible thanks to the generous donations from the people who believe in our mission. Thank you for your support.

Links:

• Nepal One Year Anniversary Page