When we wrote to our donors mid-2015 to report on the successful completion of the 2015 earthquake aid work, we said that the Tamalabot community were tireless in helping the school to recover and in helping our team to complete our work.

The school was recommended to us by the District Education Officer because the community was predominantly composed of Barhamu people, a highly marginalised indigenous group and one of 59 indigenous peoples recognised by the Nepal government. Although they have been strongly influenced by Hindu culture, they have their own original animist culture and have traditional Shaman who perform rituals and treat illnesses.

The school was completely destroyed except for one building which was being used as the Principal’s Office and pre-primary classroom. This building was condemned by the government as structurally unsound and requiring demolition despite its ongoing use.

Chandra Kala is located at the end of a road that was difficult to traverse and only accessible by tractor. It took over three hours to travel around 40km from the town of Gorkha Bazar where we collected the materials for delivery to the school. During our first visit, we installed a water filtration system that would service the school and nearby households. There was also a lack of stationery and the children had never owned a school bag to carry their materials to class. So we decided to return two week later to deliver school bags and stationery for the students and additional teaching materials for the school.

We wanted to help the school with metal trusses for temporary classrooms similar to the ones we installed in the other Gorkha schools, but there was no space available at the time to install the structure. In 2016, we were able to secure permission from the Gorkha District Education Office to commence a reconstruction project and help build a permanent four-classroom building. The reconstruction was started in 2017 but put on hold while another building funded by the Japanese Aid Agency JICA was completed. The building was completed in September 2019.

Go to the Chandra Kala school rebuilding project entry (September 2019)
 
 
Project Summary

Stationary & school supplies
We distributed 500 notepads, 750 pencils, 250 erasers and pencil sharpeners, 250 pens and 250 school bags to the children. We supplied five whiteboards with markers and erasers and ten chairs to the school.

Water filtration system
We commissioned the installation of a slow sand water filtration system with a 1,000 litre holding tank and 500 litre filtered water tank which provides clean drinking water to the school community. The system was delivered and installed with plumbing, metal fixtures and a concrete base to support the tanks.
 
 

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