When at the beginning of October it turned out that the mandatory 10-day quarantine for visitors to Nepal would be abolished, a travel plan was quickly made and the trip to Nepal was booked for 3 weeks. On Friday 29 October, Jan Post flew to Kathmandu via Qatar. He was invited by Krishna to attend the grand opening of the school.
Krishna has met Jan at Kathmandu airport. It was nice to meet each other in person after 2 years. Krishna had brought a long shopping list for indoor and outdoor toys and various teaching materials for the next day.
The next morning they set out early in a 4 wheel drive Bolero with a driver who knows the difficult roads to Sailung well. The ride, 140 km, took about 7 hours, with the last 3 hours about 30 km being covered. The road in the mountains was still very wet and slippery here and there and almost impassable.
school opening
On November 1, the school was festively opened with much interest by the triumvirate Bal Bahadu Shresta, chairman of the local community, Makkar Bahadu Subedi chairman of the school board and Jan Post as a representative of the Ton Memorial School Sailung Foundation.
The site was beautifully decorated with flags, drawings and some images of “uncle” Ton.
After the necessary speeches, dances, readings and the distribution of the necessary plaques, there was a festive meal for all more than 250 attendees. A number of parents had spent many hours preparing the very extensive meal, which also included 1 large goat and 67 chickens.
Everyone is very enthusiastic about the beautiful building and the very colorful interiors.
The classes
The next day, the children were taught for the first time in their new school. The classrooms are very colorful and beautifully decorated by the teacher Basu. A world of difference compared to the corrugated iron huts that until then served as a school building. Carpet has been placed on the floor of the two groups of the youngest children.
The teachers are also very happy with the new classrooms. No wind or rain that can just blow through the classroom, more space, fresh and colorful interior and separate groups (except for the smallest).
As you can see in the pictures, some children are in the classroom with their coats and hats on. And now it doesn't even freeze during the day. There is no heating in the school. There is no heating at the children's house, so the children are used to it.
To make it a bit more pleasant, Krishna goes to see what it costs to lay carpet in all classes and to buy indoor slippers for all children.
the builders
The builders arrived a week after the school opened. Now with four. Unfortunately, they missed the bus in Kathmandu and the journey took 4 days. After they had arranged their living space a little better to protect themselves against the freezing cold at night, they started the next day. The first trucks of sand and cement had already been delivered. The ground floor and first floor were completed within a week. A new retaining wall has also been built on the edge of the site.
Sponsor children
It was great to see how the children have blossomed in 2 years. Certainly a number of sponsor children were shy and shy at the time and now happily follow lessons with their classmates and frolic about the playground. With the new addition, there are still more children from families who have hardly any income and are therefore unable to pay school fees. We have visited a number of these families and have also found that they often still prepare food with an open wood fire in the living room. The living areas have been scorched black and there is hardly any question of proper smoke extraction. Jan found a very inventive solution to put the LED lamp that hung there in a plastic bag, which can be replaced if it has become too black.
It would be nice if we could get even more children sponsored so that the school remains financially able to admit everyone. It was special to learn that one of the mothers herself is a teacher at a school in another valley. Nevertheless, she has decided to let her youngest child, 4 years old, go to the Ton Memorial school. Together with a number of other children from the neighbourhood, it is a walk of more than half an hour to get to the school.
Cooking stoves
For the holiday season, we would like to draw special attention to the donation of closed stoves to families in the community. This improves the health conditions in the families and halves wood consumption.
A cooking stove costs €135, a nice Christmas gift.
Sailung
After 2 years back in Sailung, it is noticeable that many new homes are under construction in the community in the vicinity of the school. There is also a new shop. The bus now comes once a day, if the road condition allows it. When departing by bus around 5:30 am from the outskirts in Kathmandu, the bus arrives after about 8 to 9 hours in Sailung, near the school. After a half hour break, the bus drives back to Kathmandu.
The architectural style is often the same as that of the school. A concrete base filled with local stones, bricks or white aerated concrete blocks, covered with a thick layer of concrete stucco. Locally manufactured windows and doors.
New project: medical support post
The Chairman of the Village Development Committee [VDC], Mr Rameshwor Upreti, was also present at the opening of the school and gave an extensive speech. He congratulated the community on the beautiful school but also on the quality that was displayed. He thought the English of the lectures by the children in class 3 was better than that of children in class 8 at the school he is involved in.
The VDC covers 8 municipalities [100 km2] with a total of more than 13,000 inhabitants.
Three days after the opening of the school, Makkar, Krishna and Jan visited mr. Rameshwor Upreti to view the medical center, in what we call Sailung mid-town, and to discuss the desired support for expanding the medical support post near the school into a full-fledged medical post. It will also serve as a birth center that will be occupied 24 hours a day, all days of the week.
The Health post in “mid town” (Sailungeshower) was donated by Unicef in 2018. A small hospital is currently being built to further expand medical care in the region. There's even a helicopter landing pad. The plan is to have 3 full-fledged satellite posts from the central medical post, with the post at the school being the furthest away from the central post with a 2 hour walk.
A piece of land is available and the VDC has formally asked if the Ton Memorial School Sailung Foundation can provide a building there. VDC will take care of the occupation and exploitation.
Commitment
The school board, community and construction team have indicated that they would be happy to commit themselves to the realization of the Medical Support Center if we can get the sponsorship of the project. The TMSS also hopes for your financial support so that we can give the green light for the start of this new project in mid-2022.
