Last week the Club was visited by Rotarian Allison Cowell following up on her visit regarding Skegness Rotary’s Nepal Project, which our Club supported with a £400 donation, and which has now been completed.
Allison travelled to Nepal to help deliver the project and gave an enthusiastic and informative talk about the trip illustrated with photos and video of footage of the school and village.
The school is free to attend but receives just £4.50 a day to feed 74 students. As a result the classrooms resemble farm buildings, the kitchen has neither water nor electricity, and the only sink is on the wall outside the toilets and again, has no water supply.
The project invested over £2,500 in the school including coats for the children, exercise books, bleach, soap, tooth brushes, toothpaste and more. Allison noted that items like toothbrushes were likely to be shared by the whole family.
A slide and swing were installed in the tiny play area and, happily, news of a visit by a westerner is thought to have promoted the government to install a water supply and sink. The sink by the toilets has also been made functional by running a hosepipe across the yard to the new supply.
A possible next step for the school would be to paint the walls (colour being so important in Nepal) and install suspended ceilings to keep the classrooms warmer and dryer. Allison estimates that project would cost around £2,600 but would raise the school to a level that makes it attractive to the local children, indeed six new students have joined since the project was completed.
