Climb for Children of Nepal : 27 Dec 10 to 8 Jan 11

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G'day & Namaste from Nepal J

We (Ross and Brenda, Secretary and Vice-President of NAFA and I) have recently arrived back to Kathmandu from the 12 day NAFA trek to the lower Solu Khumbu (Everest) region of Nepal.

We re-visited the three schools that have been helped by the funds raised (over $11,000 AUD) from the "Climb for Children of Nepal" challenge in September 2009 - Kophu (two classrooms, skylights, whiteboards & Room to Read library books), Lumsa (library fit out with shelving, tables & benches, skylights, whiteboards & classroom desks/benches) and Patale (toilet block & skylights).

At Kophu School the two classrooms have been completed and the school is looking very nice.  The nursery class has moved into one classroom and the other one just has a couple of minor things yet to be done inside and then it will be used as well.  A plaque has been attached to the outside of the classrooms ... “This building was constructed with funds from NAFA Nepal Australia Friendship Association February 2010” … we were very proud and we all had our photo taken next to the plaque J  We did a tour of the older classrooms and the skylights and whiteboards are making a huge difference for the students in these classes.

The students and teachers of Kophu gave us a really warm welcome with masses of Katas and flowers and the students danced and sang and there was also a martial arts demonstration.  We all made speeches and we each received a special gift of a Traditional Rai shirt along with thank you letters from the school.

  

We were at Lumsa School New Years Day, which was also the first day of Nepal Tourism Year 2011, so this made the day even more special.  The students & teachers of Lumsa School put on a day long program for us with singing and dancing and we were treated to the Sherpa women of the village doing the traditional Sherpa dance & song.  This is mesmerising and you just don’t want it to end!! 

We received masses of Katas and flowers again ... this is the best part of the school programs for me as it shows how appreciative and excited the students and teachers are for the help.  NAFA also donated hand knitted jumpers and beanies to all the students so we had fun handing these out to all the kids.  At the end of the program we were presented with a Happy New Year cake … Brenda cut the cake and every child (there were over 100 kids) had a little piece of cake … and then we ALL danced to celebrate J … our Nepali dance steps are not so good!

During the program, I had the honour of cutting the ribbon to officially open the school library.  WOW what a library … beautiful shelving and the desks had “NAFA” painted on them.  Room to Read had donated a set of books for the library … we displayed these on the shelves and Brenda did a quick lesson with the students on how to enjoy these colourful bi-lingual picture books.   We did a quick tour of the other classrooms to have a look at the skylights and whiteboards.  They had painted a dedication to NAFA at the bottom of each whiteboard which again showed their huge appreciation for the help.

Patale is one of my favourite villages in lower Solu Khumbu.  We arrived at the school early (9am) so there weren’t many students/teachers there but they had decorated the school yard so beautifully for our visit.  They put on a short program and the students danced and sang.  The toilet block is finished and looks great … the school did not have a toilet at all previously and the students and teachers have had to use the surrounding bush so it’s easy to imagine how much better daily life at school will be!  We checked out the skylights in the older classrooms ... they have made the rooms a lot lighter and brighter.

We were only able to stay at the school for a couple of hours and we were absolutely mobbed by the students with Katas and flowers when we were leaving … made it very hard to leave L but really looking forward to visiting again one day!

 

Well this is the end of the Climb for Children of Nepal fundraiser … it has been so much fun and a privilege to visit the schools (in Feb'10 and just recently) with the NAFA Executive to see where the money raised has been spent and how it has helped so many students and teachers in these remote villages of lower Solu Khumbu. They all understand where the money has come from and they greatly appreciate the support from all the overseas sponsors.  There are a lot of VERY happy kids living in Kophu, Patale and Lumsa! 

Thanks from the bottom of my heart J for everyone’s support, financially and in other ways, to make the Climb for Children of Nepal fundraiser such a huge success.

My Speech at Kophu School

Namaste.  We are very happy to be here and thank you for the wonderful program and heartfelt welcome.  It is very exciting to see the finished classrooms and we look forward to having a tour of the classrooms and seeing the whiteboards, skylights and library books.  Thanks to all the teachers, parents, community and students for the hard work which was put into the building of the classrooms. 

On behalf of NAFA, we are very happy to help and very proud to be part of the classroom project.  When I get back to Kathmandu I will email the sponsors and let them know of the finished classrooms and of the wonderful program & welcome and how nice your school is. 

I would like to say sorry that my Mum and I couldn’t visit back in April but unfortunately there was a problem with the flights.  I hope one day to bring my Mum for a visit to your school as she would very much like to meet all the teachers and students.

Thank you again for having us in your school today ... it is a huge privilege to be here.