HANDS update: What about HANDS in Nepal today?
(Please click on this site to read the entire article)HANDS and eyes? HANDS and jackets? HANDS and books?
Greetings and Namaste!
It has been awhile since I have sat and recapped the many projects HANDS has, well, had its hands into. This past year, 2013-and on into the current one, shows how much can be done with a lot of heart and a little money. It seems to become our mantra at HANDS-good intentions, creative thinking, and a strong support base can bring about big change for many Nepalese, some of the poorest people on this planet.
Street children who benefit from a hot meal and education at the Bal Sarathai School in Kathmandu
Do you have books for us?
Children at Buddhist Child Home Orphanage, where HANDS brings scholarships, solar lights, supplies and clothes
The more we open libraries, repair and help build village schools, sponsor scholarships, bring materials like solar lights and books, and listen to what the villagers want, the more we see how vital the work of spreading literacy and literacy programs are to helping a people find their future. The challenges for a small org like HANDS are many, its true, not just because of limited funds, but time for volunteers to work in the villages, and finding resources that can be used to stock up libraries and schools, but everyone at HANDS works with passion-and a firm belief that we can make a difference. Of course, there are many challenges in doing needs-assessments in poor villages, and the physical logistics of travel in Nepal, a country where "level" means "a little up and a little down". Most homes and farmland are dug into the steep sides of the Himalaya foothills. Travel to and from these areas is always an adventure.
Building and roads in Nepal can take on creative adjustments to "little up and little down" terrain
Children with their new solar lights, thanks to Unite to Lite and Rotary Club contributions
The road to Astam village is paved with good intentions-and disregard for road safety rails!
Bishow in our HANDS library, with a banner thanking HANDS for the library and books
Our Board approved the remodel of the cracked and falling apart middle school in the Dhading Besi district and the addition of rooms at the Dalit Village school we visited so they may have more classrooms and a library. By working with Mark Pinoli, who runs the excellent NGO "Logged On Foundation" we hope to bring computers to the school as well.
The combined efforts of those of us who believe in education for helping people rise out of poverty, and the belief that all children-all people-deserve the right to read, we continue to make amazing inroads into some of the poorest and most remote areas on our planet. We are so grateful to our benefactors: The Dworak Family, Sam Kolbee, who works on fundraising in Australia for us, and for the many, many people who make contributions at our fund-raisers and talks, contributing not just money, but music, food and contributions to our silent auctions. To you, we raise our hands in 'Namaste', and cannot say thank you enough times for the opportunities you give to those who benefit the most from our work.
"NAMASTE!"
HANDS in Nepal was started by a young man, Danny Chaffin, who had one wish-to help a Nepali friend build a school in his village. The project rolled into the next school, the next library, and we will continue to build and bring literacy as long as people believe in us enough to help us fund the projects. I know I speak for myself and our board when I say this is some of the most fulfilling work we have done in our life.
Danny Chaffin with village children in Dharka Village, Dhading Besi, Nepal
Shiny new HANDS in Nepal school!
Please see our facebook page for current photos and up-to-date information on our projects. Just type in HANDS in Nepal when you log onto facebook. We are able to keep the facebook page updated far more frequently and more easily than our web site, thanks to our board member and loyal facebook editor Heidi Spencer.
Please leave any comments, questions or ideas here, or email me at:
jansprague2@gmail.com
Thank you for reading my blog-thank you for your interest in children everywhere. They are our future and I truly believe how we treat children reflects on our evolution as a species sharing this planet with fellow humankind. I like to emphasis the last part of that word!
With kindness,
Jan Sprague
HANDS in Nepal
Building and roads in Nepal can take on creative adjustments to "little up and little down" terrain
HANDS volunteer and Board member Leigh Livick helping a senior Tibetan woman at Jawalakeil Refugee Camp
This past year we used our donations to accomplish three major jobs. The first was taking more library educational supplies and solar lights to the village of Fulkharta, in the Dhading Besi area of the Ganech Himals, where we had built school #2 and our first library. We also had the added benefit of volunteer Holly Nadar, who brought five boxes of reading glasses to distribute to villages we visited.
At Fulkharka, where we had built a school and library in the past two years, we were delighted to find the children waiting with great anticipation for three members of the HANDS crew: Jan Sprague, Leigh Livick and Holly Naylor. We had come with a jeep of books, class supplies, reading glasses, solar lights, and a sewing machine for a village sewing cooperative. Children lined the school grounds and had been waiting patiently all day for our jeep, flower garlands in hand and red tika paste ready to paint our foreheads, as is the tradition in Nepal for honored guests. Many speeches lavished praise on HANDs in Nepal for helping the villagers with education and then the unloading of the jeep began, boxes opened and treasures reveled, carried into school and library, and books eagerly placed in small hands outstretched to hold them dearly as read alouds filled the air along with excited chatters.
Children with their new solar lights, thanks to Unite to Lite and Rotary Club contributions
Jan Sprague shows Nepali school children where they are in the world on an ipad
Our host in this village is the very kind and gracious Bhupendra Adhikari, who 's family has feed and housed us on past trips to his village. After a night of home-cooked dahl bhat and many cups of tea, we awoke ready to drive on to our second site. But first, Bhupendra had a favor to ask, could we stop by the village "next door" and see the sorry state of their school-a collapsing old heap of mud and stone, worn down by monsoon rains and winter storms.
Leigh Livick with village children in the Ganesh Himals
This middle school would be the next stop in the education curriculum for local children after completing elementary schooling at our HANDS school in Fulkharka. We walked over dirt floors, stuck our hands into huge cracks of the mud walls, and pushed on the frail tin roof-a roof that had blown off many times in storms and had to be retrieved many times and put back in place with slate rock to hold it down. This rebuilding of a vital school for the area became our next project for 2013-14.
Buildings in Nepal villages are often mud, tin, stone and wood when it's available
A day's jeep ride away to another part of the Himalayas, the Annapurnas, took us to a village that sits atop Pokhara, with stupendous views of the 3 Annapurna mountain peaks. The steep road is only accessed by 4 x 4 jeep or walking-we choose the former with our pile of books and solar lights, as well as more reading glasses and school material.
Our gracious host was Bishow Adhikari, who runs a splendid, cozy and very unique Eco Lodge in the area. HANDS headquarters was quickly set up in the stone cottages, with many nights spent by the wood burning stove in the kitchen/dining room. Hot tea and hot water provided by a solar panel made our stay seem luxurious-and the vegetarian meals kept out health tip-top. An added bonus was finding out the kitchen help was also a trained yoga instructor. That kept Jan's back and hips limber enough for the longest hikes, along the dirt roads to the village of our third project-a two room addition to a Dalite school that badly needed more room-and a library.
Reading in the HANDS library in Fulkharka
We met the villagers for the room addition to the Dalite school in our usual meeting place-an empty field. It always amazes me how tea is served no matter where we meet, and the villagers gracious and humble about providing the hot steamy cups in tin, sugary sweet.
Once we outlined with the key people of the village what HANDS could realistically provide, dimensions of the building and other key factors to keep the cost within budget, we were able to take our report and return home to the HANDS board to make our presentation.
The views of Annapurna from the Eco LodgeOur Board approved the remodel of the cracked and falling apart middle school in the Dhading Besi district and the addition of rooms at the Dalit Village school we visited so they may have more classrooms and a library. By working with Mark Pinoli, who runs the excellent NGO "Logged On Foundation" we hope to bring computers to the school as well.
The combined efforts of those of us who believe in education for helping people rise out of poverty, and the belief that all children-all people-deserve the right to read, we continue to make amazing inroads into some of the poorest and most remote areas on our planet. We are so grateful to our benefactors: The Dworak Family, Sam Kolbee, who works on fundraising in Australia for us, and for the many, many people who make contributions at our fund-raisers and talks, contributing not just money, but music, food and contributions to our silent auctions. To you, we raise our hands in 'Namaste', and cannot say thank you enough times for the opportunities you give to those who benefit the most from our work.
Children of the Dalit (untouchable) village who will benefit from the school addition
HANDS in Nepal was started by a young man, Danny Chaffin, who had one wish-to help a Nepali friend build a school in his village. The project rolled into the next school, the next library, and we will continue to build and bring literacy as long as people believe in us enough to help us fund the projects. I know I speak for myself and our board when I say this is some of the most fulfilling work we have done in our life.
Please see our facebook page for current photos and up-to-date information on our projects. Just type in HANDS in Nepal when you log onto facebook. We are able to keep the facebook page updated far more frequently and more easily than our web site, thanks to our board member and loyal facebook editor Heidi Spencer.
Please leave any comments, questions or ideas here, or email me at:
jansprague2@gmail.com
Thank you for reading my blog-thank you for your interest in children everywhere. They are our future and I truly believe how we treat children reflects on our evolution as a species sharing this planet with fellow humankind. I like to emphasis the last part of that word!
With kindness,
Jan Sprague
HANDS in Nepal
