Partnerships Manager, Jane Quelch, updates on the latest from Project Nepal, now in its eighth year, and how our students' service learning is helping students in the country.
In 2019 ,we began to work with Shree Bhunwaneshwari school in Panchkal, 48km outside of Kathmandu. We are building new facilities for the expanding student population of the school. During the Spring break, 36 ACS Egham students from Grades 9, 10 and 11 travelled to Nepal to work on the construction project and teach English to the young Nepali students.
While at the project, our students planned daily lessons and taught twice a day. They worked on construction of the next phase of the building project, working alongside local labourers to mix sand to make cement and brick laying. Another task for students was doing domestic chores for the team, such as preparing food and cooking, washing clothes, cleaning toilets and the shower room.
Project Nepal also has a legacy scholarship programme. We support 23 Nepali students in their pursuit of a degree. Our students visited Sarabamangala College where many of our scholars study for their degrees. It was lovely to meet the scholars and see how they are getting on with their studies. We gave them reconditioned laptops that were donated by the ACS community to the college, which were gratefully received.
Another aspect of the trip was trekking in the beautiful countryside of the Kathmandu valley. Each team did a three-day trek, which was challenging with them trekking for up to seven hours a day. We trekked through villages and the countryside and crossed rivers via suspension bridges. The tea houses were a welcome relief in the evenings!
In Kathmandu, we explored the cultural and heritage sites as well as doing some souvenir shopping, a cooking class to learn how to make the traditional Nepal dumplings momos and finding out more about the Gurkha’s knife, the Kukri.
Project Nepal will continue its work with Shree Bhunwaneswari school next year. We plan to build a boundary wall, render, plaster and paint the new building as well as level the ground to make a space for the children to play.
All the work and support that Project Nepal offers is totally reliant on fundraising. We haven’t been able to have a major fundraising event in three years, although we are planning one for February 2023.
