My Adventures in Nepal and the Schools I Visited

I have written this article for the Newcastle Justice and Peace Group and the Nepal Schools Trust. So I also thought I'd post this on my blog for you too. It was to report back to these organisations on how the money was spent and how the Schools' reaction was. I've also added some extra bits for you to read. So here's my side of the story.

I went on holiday to amazing Nepal at Easter 2012, with my family - mum, dad and my 10-year-old sister, Aanya. We combined adventure travel with some charitable work. So why do it? I think there's nothing wrong with going on holiday and doing whatever suits you best. We went on: a 5-day trek through the Annapurna section of the Himalayas; white water rafting down the Moudi Cola River and on safari in Chitwan National Park spotting rhino, exotic bird life, big cats and deer from the back of an elephant and jeep. Some may believe these are all once in a lifetime experiences and the only person it benefits is you and you alone. What about the outside world and the people you meet along the way? Most may never get these opportunities or even have a decent quality of life.

Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world after the 10-year civil war they experienced (ending in 2006) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepalese_Civil_War

crippled their infrastructure. 10% of the population takes 50% of the wealth, the bottom 40% takes 10%; 85% of Nepalese don't have access to health care; Nepal has the 3rd highest infant mortality rate in the world - 45 deaths/1,000 live births (2011 est.)

http://www.indexmundi.com/nepal/infant_mortality_rate.html

http://www.nepalvista.com/realnepal/poverty.php. Load shedding (rationing of electricity) is a part of Nepalese life in almost every home, daily. Travel is slow and dangerous due to badly damaged roads and crazy drivers. Bribery is the only way to stay out of trouble with officials e.g. policemen fine drivers for going too fast (there is no speed limit) and pocket the money. Most Nepalese live on less than one US dollar a day. Poverty is in every average Nepali home. The schools we visited had almost nothing and relied heavily on the Nepal’s Schools Trust http://www.nepalschoolstrust.org.uk/ (the charity we decided to work with) for basic resources.

Should Nepalese people suffer all this whilst we take nice food, a warm home or even basic hygiene for granted? I believe this is not right or fair. People like us who have should help people like them who don’t have. So that’s why I went to Nepal not only to enjoy the scenery and interesting culture but also to help the citizens of Nepal in any way possible.

We visited the Daldale region (a farming region of Nawalparasi at the foot of the Himalayas) to visit and donate to five of 22 schools, helped or funded by the Nepal Schools Trust in some way. Our guide Mukunda, a trustee and a real warm hearted Nepali who ate Dhal Bhaat (the local rice and lentils dish) every day (!), took us to 5 schools within the Daldale region. Each village we passed through, children would wave and smile. It was obvious that Daldale didn’t usually see many foreigners. The government has not done a lot for this district and the community is independently helping themselves. The hygiene was terrible and life in the district was very basic. There was no rubbish collection so the villagers burnt their waste every night in the street. The community helped in the schools to give the younger generation a better chance at getting a job so they could support their families and give themselves a better life. Teachers often lived in the village, and volunteered but were paid a very low wage. As resources were scarce we raised funds and awareness through the Newcastle Justice and Peace Group based at St Aidan’s Church in Benton http://rcdhn.org.uk/social_concerns/justice_and_peace.php. We bought a laptop and digital camera with the money raised. Our Scout group provided memory sticks, a web cam and Newcastle United football tops. Oliver Williams, a kind scout dad and I.C.T. teacher installed free computer programmes. Shree Narayani Primary School were elated to be given the computer as the pupils were learning about them through textbooks. We gave the other four schools the football tops. The Nepal Schools Trust founder, Chris Dickinson, has promised to ensure that the computer equipment and football kit are put to good use.  When a neighbouring school heard of the laptop they asked if there was any chance that they could have one too! So that got us thinking…

Daldale is a community that we want to continue to help. Our future aims are to fund raise for the second laptop (total required £250) and roofing materials for a community medical centre (total required £300). During our trek through the Annapurnas I got really sick with trekkers tum and a nurse, who coincidentally came from Daldale, treated me in Ghorepani. She was a long way from home and was looking forward to working in the local medical centre but that can’t happen until it gets a roof. Our Scout group (West Gosforth Scouts) is concentrating on raising funds for the medical centre roof through sponsored activities planned for summer term 2012.

Any contributions, towards the laptop or the roof, would be gratefully received. You can contact me for further details on how to donate. Nepal Schools Trust trustees, several of them based in Newcastle and Spean Bridge in Scotland, visit the area regularly and I will ask them to hand-deliver the laptop and roof funds in person, ensuring that these much-needed resources reach the community as quickly as possible. I will keep you posted of the fund raising activities.