Während des Aufenthaltes in Kathmandu war unser Schwerpunktthema: wie geht es nach der Schule weiter? Hierzu haben wir uns mit Vertretern von zwei Organisationen getroffen, die auch aus Deutschland kommen und bereit sind, mit uns zusammen zu arbeiten. Zum einen ist es die Organisation von Klaus Meyer „TheNSST“. Dieses Projekt versucht, nepalesische Jugendliche in das […]
Ein großes Problem ist nach wie vor die ärztliche Versorgung. In der nahegelegenen, staatlichen Healthpost gibt es keinen Arzt. Auch die Medikamente sind knapp. Zahlreiche Kinder und Erwachsene kamen von dort in unsere Erste Hilfe Station. Wir waren erschüttert über die vielen sog. „alten Menschen“ zwischen 36 und 75 Jahren, die sich vor Schmerzen kaum […]
Ein Highlight war die neue Küche im Untergeschoss des Speisesaals. Es wird mit Gas gekocht, was der Abholzung des Dschungels entgegenwirkt. Hier gibt es jetzt auch eine Bäckerei. Bis zu 30 Brote können auf einmal gebacken werden. Nicht nur die Kinder lieben dies, alle freuen sich auf den Backtag in der Woche.
Was das Essen angeht, ist die Sherpa Schule jetzt fast autark. Unsere Treibhäuser werden mit immer neuen Pflanzen bestückt, das Gemüseangebot ist vielfältig und sehr lecker! Wir haben Eier und Milch, Kartoffeln, Tee, eine Kiwi Plantage, eine Vielfalt an Gewürzen, Honig und Mais. Gekauft wird vor allem noch der Reis, der in diesen Höhen nicht […]
Endlich war es so weit. Nach drei Jahren Coronapause sind wir, Jutta Schaut und Gaby Drüppel, im Herbst 2022 wieder nach Nepal gereist. Wir waren sehr gespannt, wie sich das Projekt in dieser langen Zeit weiterentwickelt hat. Es war eine beeindruckende Reise mit vielen schönen Erfahrungen und Überraschungen. Wir wurden von unserem Partner in Kathmandu, […]
The health situation of children in Nepal is still very serious, with the child mortality rate comparatively high. Since 2017 there has been a hospital with reach. But, very often, there is a shortage of medication and the doctor is not always there. On our school premises we have installed a first-aid post, where there are medication and bandage materials. So we are able to attend on site to our children, staff and also the inhabitants of the surrounding villages. In the case of severe illness or injuries we can have the children taken to hospital in Kathmandu. We sponsor the training of individual girl leavers to become nurses. In return, they consent to three years employment as nurses at our first aid station.
In order to prevent illness as much as possible, we lay emphasis on clean drinking water, washing of hands, flush toilets as well as hot water in the showers. In corona times, protection consists of regular washing of hands and children being out in the open air as much as possible.
Fruit, vegetables and protein are seldom available to the poor families in the Himalaya highland region, which means that the children often have an insufficient diet. At our school, each child gets a warm lunch every day. Increasingly, eggs from our chicken house and produce from our garden with its glass-house ensure a varied menu and, above all, the necessary vitamins and protein.
Some of our German colleagues work with children who have physical and multiple disabilities. That is why the situation of disabled children in Nepal is a particular concern of ours. The people in the region know about our project. Parents come to us from far away with their disabled children to ask for help. For lack of care and information, broken limbs are often not treated or do not grow back together properly. Children and adults suffer from illnesses that nowadays are easily treated. We provide medication, finance transport to hospital and arrange referral to specialist clinics. Now and again, we provide aid such as wheelchairs, orthopaedic shoes or instruct parents how to apply physiotherapy themselves or how to improve coping with these children in everyday life.
2020 was also a difficult year for the Sherpa School. In February, we still managed to get food, school supplies and our aid delivery through to Bamti. Then in April, came the nationwide shutdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We had to close the school but were able to maintain emergency supplies. Food for the young boarders was assured by transport deliveries in February. It was not until December that classes 5 to 7 were able to resume lessons. At Christmas we started collecting for people in Nepal who were suffering from hunger as a result of the long lockdown.
We celebrated 20 years of the Sherpa School in Bamti Bhandar. The teachers’ building has been finished. While we were there we started on a project to explain the importance of vocational training.
We also tried to throw light on the enticing offers of work abroad. Again and again, mainly in Kathmandu but also higher up, we came across job recruiters.
We have expanded the agricultural sector by means of a kiwi fruit plantation combined with tea plants and beehives for the extraction of honey.
We have established contact with the “School for Nepal” (reg. association), which runs a vocational school. It offered our school leavers training courses for technical and craft occupations. Our final year class visited that school and its training facilities for a week in order get a picture of what it is like there.
Both boarding-school buildings are ready – one for the girls and one for the boys. The schoolyard can be used again – the building materials have either been used or put to one side. A chicken house and crop cultivation have increased our range of self-produced foodstuffs. They also form part of our agricultural training schemes. Other workshops, too, for tailoring and woodwork have got going again
The winter of 2015/16 has been hard for our children. The boarding-school building is in danger of collapsing and the children are sleeping partly in large, provisional tents. Every effort is being made to rebuild the school. In spring it can be partly used again. But at the start, classrooms will be used as dormitories for our boarders. The older students will continue to be taught in the rooms made of straw mats. In spring, the reconstruction of the boys’ building will begin. Some of the teachers are still living in provisional wooden huts through which the wind whistles. In March, when a delegation of our team is visiting there, the new school will be officially opened. It is hard to believe that, under such difficult circumstances, the school building is standing there again. Parents and local people were later able to finance the reconstruction of their own houses with what they had earned from their active involvement. This has contributed to greater solidarity on the part of the local populace with our school.
The Memmingen Allgäuer Tor Rotarians have made it possible to tackle the drinking water problem. An underground spring capture and the new pipes leading to the project were already in place in April. In addition to the new drinking water system, there was to be a hot water system based on solar energy. But then came the earthquake: the second severe tremor on May 16th 2015 hit our project very hard. Four buildings were so badly damaged that they had to be demolished and rebuilt. That included the school building, the boys’ dormitory, the utilities building and the head teacher’s house. All the other buildings had to be renovated. Initially, the school was closed as it was too dangerous to use the rooms. From the 8th August it was possible to resume lessons. During the rainy season the houses that had collapsed were demolished and materials that could still be used were sorted on the school yard. Reconstruction began in the autumn. In order to make the houses earthquake proof they were built using reinforced concrete and at ground level only.
We have added four classrooms to our school, which we will continue to expand year by year up to the 8th class. This means that in three years the Nepalese secondary school-leaving qualification will be possible at our Sherpa School, which corresponds to the German 9th year secondary school qualification (Hauptschulabschluss), a prerequisite for occupational training. A third greenhouse is being built to guarantee a healthy diet for the growing student numbers. In addition a large chicken house is being built. The money for this is being provided by the “Kindermissionswerk”. This is now enabling our students and staff to have a protein-rich diet.
The hydropower station was inaugurated. It provides us with up to 10 kw output. The heavy monsoon rain caused many landslides. In our region, too, many families were affected. We gave them 5000 € aid.
The “Kindermissionswerk” in Aachen donated 18.600€ towards the construction of the new hydropower plant. As a result, we are now able to cook using electricity. In particular, the huge amounts of rice (20 to 40 kg per day) are now being cooked in electric rice cookers. That appreciably reduces deforestation. One of our school leavers was given a grant to train as an electrician. When he finishes his training he will work here at our school. Which means we will have a “qualified employee” on site.
This year the main focus was on the maintenance and preservation of the existing buildings. It is important to make people understand that it is not always only a matter of extending or erecting new buildings. Just as important is the appropriate maintenance. The building of greenhouses gives us hope that we will be able to offer our children and staff a vitamin-rich diet over the whole year. In addition, this provides the 4th and 5th year students with hands-on experience.
Swarsoti, an orphan, who has grown up with us in our project, has been given a grant to train as a nurse. It has been agreed with her that when her training is finished she will work at our First Aid facility.
This has been a year of “stability”, in which 230 students attended our school. The expansion of the workshops was also the focus of attention. Meanwhile all the students in the upper classes are attending a course in sewing or woodwork in order to gain experience in skilled-trade occupations.
Our project partner Nuri Lama has got married. His wife Lapka, a trained nurse, is involved in many important aspects of the project. Our school now has 240 students, 25 of which are boarders. From the third class on, woodwork and tailoring are compulsory subjects, thus making every student acquainted with a skilled-trade occupation. And many of the participants really appreciate these lessons.
Our school has grown – over 200 children! An anonymous donor in England has made it possible for a three-storey building erected. It serves as a dormitory for girls, the administration and also as visitor accommodation or for when the Tsering family is there.
In order to introduce our students to the world of work, we are offering sewing and woodwork. In doing so, we are guided by how vocational training is structured here in Germany. This is much more difficult to implement than we imagined. On the one hand, skilled-trade occupations are the domain of the lower castes, while on the other hand, our students dream of becoming a doctor or a pilot, or of going to Kathmandu or even abroad
The maintenance of the drinking water system is proving difficult. The sandfilter has to be regularly backwashed. In addition, the source is only covered with one sheet of corrugated metal. Our measurements unfortunately show that there is a continuously high level of pollution through bacteria.
Nepal finds itself in a civil war. The Maoists are trying to expand their influence. And in so doing, they keep the entire country under pressure. It is very difficult to gain access to our project but with Ang Tsering’s help we have managed to do so. Our school has been spared from attacks.
We have been able to build a toilets extension to the dormitory, so now they do not have to go across the big school yard at night to the school toilets. In addition, we have renovated the entire drinking water system from the source right up to the water taps and provided it with a filter. We very much hope that this will bring lasting improvements to the quality of the water. For the schoolyard we have acquired playground equipment, which is something very special in Nepal and which is used with great enthusiasm by the children. Swarsoti, one of our school leavers, has been given a grant to train as a nurse. After three years she is under contract to work in our First Aid facility.
Our dormitory building has been renovated. To do this it was dismantled down to the wooden basic structure. The rotten wood was replaced and the dormitory rebuilt using the same stones. We can now accommodate 30 children in the boarding school.
The storehouse was built this year. In the meantime, we have 180 children who need to be fed. A shed roof was added to the building, thus enabling the washing to be dried. Something very special happened in 2004 – the first seven children passed their final primary level exams. There was a tearful farewell.
Our 3 kW hydropower plant was built. It is very effective, as the dark school rooms with their small windows are now bright. And in the evenings there is light in the dormitories. For the school we have set up a small library of sixty books to which there has been very enthusiastic response.
We were able to renovate the school roof, which had been leaking in several places. Now it is a shining bright blue and can even be seen from away in the pass. In a neighbouring valley a severe landslide occurred during the monsoon season. Many people died, including 20 children. With the money from a special collection Ang Tsering was able to buy food, tents and vital equipment, which he distributed locally. The people of Thapa were very grateful for this help.
This spring, Jutta Schaut, together with a team of two colleagues, once again made it to the school, which, in the meantime, caters for 8 teachers and 158 children. For the first time we brought teaching materials, medication and a wheelchair to the uplands. The team focussed on in-service teacher training, as lessons in Nepal mainly consist of students repeating what the teacher has said.
In addition we have been setting up a small first aid post, as there is not a single doctor in the vicinity. Basic medication and dressing materials are important aids.
This year the boarding school was opened. 20 children are provided for there, mostly orphans or children threatened with neglect. The dormitory rooms are located in the former home of the Ang Tsering family. A shower house has been built using solar panels to produce hot water. This was financed by means of many slide-shows, attracting sponsors but also through very generous individual donations.
It was on a hike that Jutta Schaut reached the village of Bamti Bhandar. There she came across the Sherpa School, where a teacher was teaching 25 children in a cold, dark room, whose windows were only partly glazed. This school had been built many years before by Swiss Nepalese, who, however, could no longer support that project. Granted, there were some rooms but there was no money to run the school properly. But, on the other hand, there were plenty of children eager to attend classes. Jutta Schaut had become acquainted with Mr. Ang Tsering Lama and his family in Kathmandu. They are the owners of the land and the house on it. They were very excited at the idea of getting the school up and running. This led to close relations and reliable cooperation over many years.
Back home again Jutta Schaut began collecting for the school. “Kinderhilfe Nepal/Indien e.V.” made the Sherpa school an affiliate as a further project in its association. This greatly facilitated the start of the Sherpa school, as it meant that the school’s non-profit status was recognized.
In the following months the school took on more teachers and we developed a sponsorship system. In Bamti the first 100 children started coming to the school. There were pre-school groups with a nursery, lower and upper kindergarten as well as five school classes. The school offers full primary education. This corresponds to the Nepalese school system, which is similar to that in England.
In addition to school education the children can acquire practical experience in sewing/tailoring, woodwork or agriculture. Corresponding workshops were set up and teachers engaged. In addition to occupational training for the young people, the workshops offered them the possibility to make furniture for the classrooms and the school or to sew parts of the compulsory school uniform. The school possesses two glass-houses and a chicken coop. In 2020 a tea- and a kiwifruit-plantation were added. This improved the provision of our children with a vitamin- and protein-rich diet.
Clean drinking water, even in a country abounding in water like Nepal, can’t be taken for granted. After many efforts the Sherpa School now has its own source that provides sufficient water. We check the quality once a year in conjunction with the Dr. Lehmann Biological Laboratory in Lautrach, Germany. Unfortunately, the water is repeatedly contaminated by Coli bacteria. The improvement and purification of the water is a project that is difficult to achieve in this almost impassable terrain. We continue to find a solution.
Large areas of Nepal have either no or only poor electricity supply. Based on the plans furnished by our association member Bernd Zäh and the construction by a Nepalese firm, we were able to bring our first own power plant into service. The 3 kW output is sufficient to provide light for the school building, the two dormitory buildings and auxiliary buildings. For additional energy, which is necessary e.g. for the rice cooker and the workshops, we built a 10 kW power plant. We thank the “Kindermissionswerk” for the Catholic Church in Aachen for taking over a major part of the costs. Meanwhile, we are also using energy from the sun – solar panels on the roofs of the shower facilities are providing hot water.
In our boarding school there are orphans or children who, on account of difficult family relationships, no longer have a home. There are also children who come from very remote areas and whose daily path to school would take more than two hours.
Since 2017 we have put up two new buildings for girl and boy boarders. Both were built using the same layout. They contain dormitories with bunk beds, sanitary facilities with toilets, showers, sinks and hot water produced by solar energy. Both buildings have a courtyard where the children can wash and dry their clothes.
