Earlier this month Kate attended the official opening ceremony for a new classroom block at the Shree Bigyan Prabha Lower Secondary School, in Ikudole, rural southern Lalitpur.
Although only about 25km from Kathmandu as the crow flies, by road, it’s a long, windy, bumpy 3+ hour journey along dirt trails in a 4WD vehicle, into what feels like the middle of the middle of nowhere. Ruggedly beautiful, this area is made up of steep wooded hills and deep valleys, with homes perched on ridges that look impossible to reach.
This 52 year old school saw damage to two of its classroom buildings, rendering 4 classrooms unsafe. Unicef through its local partners provided a temporary learning centre made from bamboo and tarpaulins post earthquake, designed to last a maximum of 6 months, but in reality, sufficing for almost 2 years. No support, financial or otherwise was provided by the Government or other NGOs, to this or any other schools in this area, mostly due to its remote location and the perceived difficulty of managing such a project.
This school provides an education for about 110 kids aged from approximately 2 years old – 12 years old, with many walking for as long as an hour each way as there are no buses, public or school in this region. The Head Teacher, Jitman Lama, supported by the School Management Committee and parents were 100% invested in getting these new classrooms built and their children into a warmer, weatherproof structure and without their support, this project would have struggled to get off the ground. Despite the difficult logistics in getting materials delivered from over 45kms away, the poor state of the roads and the need to hand carry some supplies as the trucks couldn’t get up the final hill to the school, the new school building was completed in just 2.5 months and is the envy of all the other schools in the region, resulting in a flood of requests for help to rebuild their broken buildings!
Seeing the kids in their new classrooms with big smiles on their faces, knowing they no longer have to learn in a cold, draughty, dilapidated bamboo structure made the 7+ hour return journey totally worth it.
A Himalayan thank you to Hari Bhusal, who coordinated this project for us, but especially to the Wishner Family, collectively know as the Wishner5 and all their supporters for funding this school rebuild. You have touched the lives of many and have created an amazing legacy for years to come.