Die gesundheitliche Situation der Kinder in Nepal ist noch immer sehr schwierig und die Kindersterblichkeit vergleichsweise hoch. Seit 2017 gibt es eine Healthpost in erreichbarer Nähe. Häufig fehlen dort aber Medikamente und auch der Health-Assistant ist nicht immer anwesend. Auf unserem Schulgelände haben wir eine Erste-Hilfe-Station eingerichtet. Hier gibt es Medikamente und Verbandsmaterialien, sodass wir die Möglichkeit haben, unsere Kinder, Mitarbeiter:innen und auch die Bewohner:innen der umliegenden Dörfer vor Ort zu versorgen. Bei schwereren Erkrankungen oder Verletzungen können wir die Kinder in Krankenhäuser nach Kathmandu bringen lassen. Wir unterstützen einzelne Schulabgängerinnen bei der Ausbildung zur Krankenschwester. Sie verpflichten sich dann im Gegenzug, für drei Jahre als bezahlte Krankenschwester in unserer Erste-Hilfe-Station zu arbeiten.

Um Infektionskrankheiten möglichst zu verhindern, legen wir Wert auf hygienische Maßnahmen, wie sauberes Trinkwasser, Händewaschen, Toiletten mit Wasserspülung sowie Warmwasseranlage im Duschhaus.

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.

Erstmals nach der COVID-19-Pandemie war es uns wieder möglich das Projekt zu besuchen. Wir waren beeindruckt, was sich in den 3 Jahren alles getan hat, wie z.B. die Renovierungs-arbeiten und die neue Küche mit Bäckerei. Das Projekt geht einen weiteren Schritt Richtung autarker Versorgung der Kinder und Mitarbeiter:innen.

Die staatliche medizinische Versorgung ist sehr schlecht: Seit den einschneidenden COVID-19-Maßnahmen gibt es keinen Arzt mehr vor Ort und auch die Medikamente sind knapp.  Wir können nur bedingt helfen, da wir auf diese Situation nicht vorbereite waren. Der Schwerpunkt unserer Reise lag auf der Frage, wie geht es nach der Schule weiter? Wir knüpfen Kontakt mit zwei Organisationen, die sich in ganz unterschiedlicher Weise diesem Thema widmen und eine handwerkliche Ausbildung in Nepal anbieten bzw. nepalesische Jugendliche nach einem Deutsch-Sprachkurs für eine Lehre nach Deutschland vermitteln.

Das Jahr 2021 steht noch ganz unter den Auflagen der COVID-19-Pandemie und zum Jahresbeginn ist die Schule geschlossen. Die unterrichtsfreie Zeit wird genutzt, um Renovierungsarbeiten an den Gebäuden durchzuführen. Außerdem wird die Küche erweitert und mit Gaskochern ausgestattet. So helfen wir mit, die Abholzung des Regenwaldes zur Gewinnung von Feuerholz zu reduzieren.

Durch unsere Sondersammlung aus dem Dezember 2020 konnten wir die bedürftigen Familien vor Ort mit Reis unterstützen und dazu beitragen, dass die Familien, die auf das Einkommen der Tagelöhner verzichten mussten über den Winter kommen. Ab April kann der Unterricht in allen Klassen wieder aufgenommen werden – vorerst mit Mund-Nasen-Schutz und in Form von Wechselunterricht.

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.

Wir haben 4 Klassenzimmer an unsere Schule angebaut und sie wird jetzt Jahr um Jahr erweitert bis zur 8. Klasse. Damit wird in 3 Jahren der zweite nepalesische Schulabschluss (Secondary) an unserer Sherpa Schule möglich sein. Das entspricht in etwa unserem Qualifizierenden Hauptschulabschluss. Ein drittes Gewächshaus wird gebaut, um die gesunde Ernährung der wachsenden Schülerzahl zu gewährleisten. Außerdem entsteht ein großes Hühnerhaus. Hierfür gibt wieder das Kindermissionswerk die notwendigen Gelder. Durch diese Errungenschaft ist jetzt auch eine eiweißreiche Ernährung unserer Schüler:innen und Mitarbeiter:innen möglich.

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.

In diesem Jahr stehen im Mittelpunkt die Pflege und der Erhalt der bestehenden Gebäude. Es ist wichtig zu vermitteln, dass es nicht immer nur um Erweiterung und Neubau geht, sondern genau so wichtig ist die angemessene Pflege. Der Bau der Treibhäuser lässt uns hoffen, dass wir das ganze Jahr über vitaminreiche Kost für die Kinder und Mitarbeiter:innen haben werden. Außerdem ist damit ein weiteres praktisches Angebot für die Schüler und Schülerinnen der 4. und 5. Klasse gegeben.

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.

Dies war ein Jahr der „Beständigkeit“. 230 Schüler:innen besuchten unsere Schule. Auch der Ausbau der Werkstätten stand im Mittelpunkt. Mittlerweile besuchen alle Schüler:innen der oberen Klassen einen Kurs in der Näherei oder Schreinerei, um grundlegende handwerkliche Erfahrungen zu erwerben.

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.

Das Vorratshaus wurde gebaut. Mittlerweile haben wir 180 Kinder zu versorgen. Dieses Haus hat ein Schleppdach bekommen, unter dem die Wäsche getrocknet werden kann. Ein ganz besonderes Ereignis war, dass unsere ersten 7 Kinder den Primary Schulabschluss gemacht haben. Mit vielen Tränen haben sie sich von der Schule verabschiedet.

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.

Im Frühling erreicht Jutta Schaut mit einem Team von zwei Mitarbeiter:innen erneut die Schule, in der mittlerweile 8 Lehrer:innen 158 Kinder betreuen. Zum ersten Mal bringen wir Schulmaterial, Medikamente und einen Rollstuhl mit ins Hochland. Das Team bemüht sich um Lehrer:innenfortbildung, da der Unterricht in Nepal meist durch Vorsprechen und Nachsprechen abgehalten wird. Außerdem bauen wir eine kleine Erste Hilfe Station auf, da es in dieser Gegend überhaupt keinen Arzt gibt. Einfache Medikamente und Verbandsmaterialien sind wichtige Hilfsmittel.

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.

Bei einer Wanderung erreicht Jutta Schaut den Ort Bamti Bhandar. Dort trifft sie auf die Sherpa Schule in der ein Lehrer 25 Kinder unterrichtet. Sie sitzen in einem dunklen, kalten Raum, die Fenster haben nur teilweise Glas. Diese Schule wurde vor vielen Jahren von Schweizer Nepalesen gebaut, die dann aber dieses Projekt nicht mehr weiter unterstützt haben. Nun gibt es zwar einige Räume, aber kein Geld, um diese Schule wirklich zu betreiben. Dafür jede Menge Kinder, die gerne zum Unterricht kommen würden. Mr. Ang Tsering Lama und seine Familie, der der Grund und das dort befindliche Wohnhaus gehören lernt Jutta Schaut in Kathmandu kennen. Sie sind begeistert von der Idee die Schule wieder zum Laufen zu bringen. Mit ihnen entwickelt sich eine herzliche Kommunikation und eine zuverlässige Zusammenarbeit über viele Jahre.

Wieder zu Hause beginnt Jutta Schaut für diese Schule zu sammeln. Die Organisation Kinderhilfe Nepal/Indien e.V. Würzburg ist bereit die Sherpa Schule als weiteres Projekt in ihren Verein aufzunehmen. Dies erleichtert den Start ungemein, da die  Anerkennung der Gemeinnützigkeit verhältnismäßig schnell und unkompliziert verläuft.

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.