There has been a lot of perseverance in reaching where we are now. Backwards and Forwards, up and down, from the top of the mountain to the bottom and back up again, along the winding bumpy dirt road. I was bouncing on the back of Purna’s motorcycle as we travelled together, between the village office and the main municipality office in Kavre district. I used to feel almost like I was in a different country at the bottom of the mountain, enclosed in a different climate with its incredible heat across the level plain dwarfed between the mountains that suffocated the wind from passing through. It was littered with banana trees across the vibrant landscape and your pores opened floodgates to the sweat that begins to pour down your face in streams on arrival. After so many trips you don’t forget you’re in Nepal though. We also get our sand from down by a river running through near here for our construction projects. The road may be long and winding but we were finally getting around some of the red tape blocking our way to getting the main building under construction.
Budland School chairman, Purna Tamang.
We are learning a lot of lessons right now, and I have
honestly been learning a lot through this whole adventure which I value
greatly. It took many rides together and
modifications amending the design originally donated by our local friend
Sandesh to reinforce the prospective structure. On this journey we have not
really known how everything will turn out since the beginning when this project
launched, but we always knew it would be an uphill climb to success, something
I feel we are slowly winning with every trip back up to the village. I have
been gaining the necessary experience through our stubborn perseverance to make
this project successful and raise the bar on the early learning, rural
educational experience, as we reignite Purna’s dream which for a while felt
like it was collapsing with the earthquakes. Still believing very much in the
success of this project, growing with confidence along every step of our
journey together, thanks often to the people we have met and the support we
have already received; driving us both to be strong in testing times so we can
help the school have a safe place to learn again, with the efficient
furnishings and materials needed for a thorough education.
For now, the mission is simple: To approve the design that Sandesh had kindly donated to us with the municipality, incorporating a complete, current and detailed costing. My main constant fear is how long paperwork and official process can take, especially in Nepal, as a westerner with a clock ticking in my pocket bouncing between my own country and here in Nepal often leaving you with a cultural jetlag of the local perception of time. Life does seem to tick at a slower rate per minute here, yet there are still never enough minutes in the day, it’s a strange paradox I am still trying to figure out.
Stamped and signed blueprints.
You learn to accept a great deal of the way time is perceived, while constantly meditating on the subject, especially when things need to be done. I also think at times it has been a strong life lesson I probably needed in patience. The many times you here ‘boli biyanna’ (tomorrow morning) only to hear it again the next day, keeps you looking at that clock with frustration, but as slow as it ticks, it keeps on ticking. It’s time to turn up the heat to get the project cooking again. This took a fair few follow up calls and visits to the municipality offices, but things were starting to look up. We finally seemed to have a genuine contact in the office now. Purna and myself were also enjoying some of the waiting times in corridors, learning about each other and comparing the systems we know, while sharing the ability to laugh and smile in these moments, also sharing countless lunches together, which we often took turns to respectfully get up to pay for meals that cost about 50 pence in a local cafe. Our waiting times seemed to slowly decrease with every visit, as we waited against the backdrop of swarms of local people still buzzing up and down presumably still developing their family residences since the disaster, all at various stages, some seemed much more lost in the system than us. Some looked in complete despair by the look on their kind faces which reminded me that we were actually doing OK. The engineer’s focus seemed to grow with each visit, curious with my being a single foreigner killing time or watching it drift by like a tumble weed, listening to the clock ticking on the wall, counting the seconds for him before he was ready to speak to us. The engineer though became more personal and willing to have more small talk extending further with each visit than the work we were doing on the design, he always offered me a chair, which is quite a luxury in that environment, and promised his support. The municipality office always treated us well, and were happy to wait; we had to be and at least we had their attention.
The stamp of approval.
Purna was showing genuine passion, always willing to step up
to the challenges for his school. This is always good to see, always making the
time to do what was needed and direct certain procedures he knew more in one of
his native tongues. Through the passing of time spent with him and his
commitment, my trust in Purna keeps me alive as we grow to know each other
through the project, looking into the big picture together as his trust in us
reciprocates with each step. Right now, as a farmer’s son who has many
commitments, the season was just between the heavy planting and the harvesting
times the calendar has now opened up, which meant he could spend more time with
me jumping through the hoops we still needed to jump through. I enjoy spending
time with Purna most when our mission takes us on these excursions, or on site
together developing the land. We are fortunate to have each other in these
times because there can be a lot of waiting around when calling the government
offices in Nepal; it doesn’t seem like appointments are ever scheduled there,
it really is a case of just turning up as much as you can and prioritising your
application, but by that very way we are more in control to push it through
with this more personal, old fashioned approach.
Big plans for Budland
All in all, it took around 55 days to complete the design
process and only a ten-day cooling off period for any contest or complaints,
which is obviously mandatory (and actually seems a relatively short time), but
we were pushing as hard as we could now. In this time, I was also with my dear
friend Ujwal liaising in Kathmandu with another government engineer who was
taking care of the design’s modifications.
Finally, on one visit the magic happened in the municipality and the
Government engineer stamped and signed the design while giving us a registered
number. Wow! We can actually build what is on the paper now. That’s an awesome
feeling!
True to my promise to keep the donations strictly for the
building work on this project I have also managed to personally donate costs
incurred on the design modifications and taxes on the design being passed and I
am deeply grateful for our friend Sandesh Prajapati; a local civil engineer,
for his great effort and the donation of the original blueprint as we continued
to develop and cost the project with the municipality. It has certainly made
developing the project a great deal easier with his original voluntary
support.
We have actually designed the building for the future
development of Budland School, for them to grow from strength to strength once
we finally get them to the first phase of building which we are only currently
promising. We have made sure the design’s foundations can take the rise of
building further stories in the future if the school develops further, however
we are only going to be building the first floor in the near future to get the current
children into a safe, secure and real building that enhances their learning
experience.
It’s taken some serious time and networking getting this stage passed and a milestone in the project that feels like tremendous progress. The design is relatively simple but should be efficient for the needs of the school, with your support we can actually build it! Let’s build Budland!
I was walking up the spiral staircase to the rooftop bar of Hostel One96. I could hear universal laughter interrupted with the French language of familiar voices. Kevin and Margot were upstairs enjoying the beginning of another new experience together. Kevin had even brought his brother Marcel along for the adventure this time and they were celebrating their reunion with Ujwal. Their plane had landed 9 hours previously to mine at 8am but as soon as I met them I knew we were going to ride the rollercoaster together again. I was glad to rest my bag down due to its excessive weight. My bag was full of children’s books, the first collection for the library in the school that my mother had kindly collected.
Kevin and Margot had previously joined me building Monisa’s house after the earthquake. A project I had started with a dear friend Marie over two and a half years ago. All together again we felt nostalgic but ready for the adventure ahead of us. We knew we had a limited time but all wanted to make it worthwhile for ourselves and the project. The drinks flowed with the conversation as we grew more excited to volunteer together again. We decided to not waste a moment and wake up fresh and early to see our growing number of friends in the village as soon as we could.
Kevin and Margot have already been so amazing. They are a very admiral couple that seem to give all their heart and energy to everything they do. They have just been raising money for us in France, throwing together an amazing and diverse festival for different audiences over more than 24hrs successfully. I joined them for the weekend and was amazed how family friendly the day was with games for the children, live bands and
great food before the night brought out the serious party animals with some heavier music. Their total now was slightly higher than my last report from them and now hitting 4700 Euros. I was amazed at the further amount they had raised in the small time since I left them hung-over but very happy in France.
On arrival It was important for them to be re-acquainted with the family they had helped before with Ujwal and me; but now also for them to be further acquainted with the school and the people they are fully supporting now. The feeling of being together again in Nepal was overwhelming. I was loving meeting Marcel again too, such a beautiful man with a great energy, I first met him at the French festival where he was serving as a security guard to make sure it was a success.
We arrived in Baluwpati at Lunchtime for our grand reunion with Ramesh and Pārbati. It was a grand welcome. It was emotional. As crazy westerners we had no idea what to do other than drink copious amounts and have a 36 hour welcome back party at Ramesh’s shop with everyone nodding off for a couple of hours here and there as the party stayed strong.
After the Party I had to rush back to the city. We had a very special volunteer on his way to Nepal. Another Kevin also a French man and best friend of Kevin and Margot was arriving in secret in Kathmandu to surprise them (while also passionate and willing to work hard with us from what he had heard of our past adventures). This was apparent as soon as I met him in Kathmandu. I doubled up that meeting with Linda, a young German woman who got in contact with us through one of our mutual travelling friends. Linda and myself had enjoyed a couple of long Skype meetings where I gave in to her passion to join us. Linda had just started raising money for the project before arriving and connected with a school in the UK; where she is currently living with her husband, to start a penfriend program with the kids in Budland. Kevin and Margot were doing something similar with a school in France. Both ideas were very successful with the school when they did their special classes. I hope for it to continue. Always amazing to see volunteers with fresh ideas and initiative. She was already in Hostel One96 on my arrival back to the city with Kevin arriving less than five minutes after my arrival that evening. Timing was perfect and we started to discuss what lay ahead of us.
Due to her busy life and commitments and just finishing her trek to Everest Base Camp, Linda decided to make her way later with Ujwal as I headed straight to the village with Kevin. We arrived and the others were in Bhaktapur city for the day. We put a mask on Kevin to keep some suspense for their reunion as it had been four years since they had seen their good friend, they thought we were mad but we thought meeting him in a remote Asian village would be all the more surreal.
Dashain festival was just heating up to my surprise as I thought we had arrived in Nepal at its closing to start work. We had already managed to secure a builder. We started material negotiations and deliveries on site, but hadn’t yet finished negotiating the stones for the retaining wall. During the festival it became impossible to continue work due to the country closing down for several days. There was nothing to do but get lost within the village celebrations.
Soon enough we managed to get a JCB for continued work before starting the wall as we had to dig much deeper than I originally planned on when checking the soil. Those few days we managed to get all materials on site just before the next festival. Kevin and Kevin had been organising the site to help ensure its efficiency and had done an amazing job. Half the materials came on a semi decent road but travelled a long way; however the sand came from a river at the bottom of the valley on a terrible road through areas of fewer infrastructure, which increased the price. Stones however are coming in super cheap compared to other people’s. Ujwal and Purna did a fantastic negotiation with the local truck drivers, one of whom also helped, as his daughter goes to Budland School.
Diwali was beginning for the next few days. The group split up to celebrate the festival in different places. I remained in the village starting work with a couple of French guys (Pierre and Valentin) who had arrived. All materials were now on site. Pierre had met Valentin trekking and I had known Pierre through another mutual friend; Gaeton Livens, who I met while volunteering on a few smaller projects after the earthquake, before starting Ram and Monisa’s House.
Pierre, Valentin and Myself started to lay the stone foundation, while enjoying the village festivities in the evening and managed to complete the first level of stones, and had just started the aggregate level before the others came back to join us. We were happy to see them and in real need of their help making such large mixes of cement and stone.
Marcel arrived first with a man named Victor who gave us a solid day’s work as he passed through. They had been trekking to different villages throughout the festival. Kevin and Margot had decided to spend it with Ujwal’s family together before going on a quick road trip to Sindopalchok; another district seriously affected by the earthquake, to see another house they had built together with earthbags after the earthquake and check they were ok, which they were. Time was moving on and it wasn’t long until they were back giving their fair amount of sweat together on this project, mixing the concrete and throwing it as fast as it could be laid.Soon we were breaking, moving and laying the first big rocks of the main wall, being re-joined by the original team of people while Pierre and Valentine went trekking to return later. Marcel the jolly giant amazed us with his gigantic power lifting and moving the large rocks. As time went on we could feel ourselves getting stronger. I continued to challenge myself against Marcel however he will always be known here as the ‘Human JCB’. To Marcel nothing is impossible as he continued to chant his saying,
“One problem, one solution”
throughout the site with whatever challenged him. This saying has now become somewhat a project mantra. Marcel even covered some driving in a 100sq foot truck on bad roads, which is a small truck in his experience. He is a heavy goods driver by trade and can carry double trailers on monster sized trucks, however on the Nepali roads there were moments for him to struggle to success.
New volunteers were again arriving before they went trekking and wanted to spend a few days hard labour, and were curious to see what it was all about in real life. My eldest brother’s best friend Mark Lawson was arriving with his Daughter Persia, her Fiancée Joseph Gould and his cousin Sam Johnson. We had a strong rock moving team in them, bringing fresh energy which always felt good. On the first evening after doing a solid afternoon together it was time to also say goodbye to our beloved friends Kevin and Margot as it was their last night.
We enjoyed the local hospitality at Purna’s house where his wife Dolma and he had put on a beautiful feast to say thank you to Kevin and Margot and welcome to Marks team. It was a fantastic evening full of heart, sharing past experiences and giving an orientation to the new members of our team who already seemed to be absolutely amazed to be with us after just half a day since they arrived.
We continued to chat after dinner with Ramesh and a few drinks at his homestay which we are still setting up for the project. We got to know each other a little further before it was time to call it a night for a fresh early start in the morning.
Work was going faster than I was anticipating at the beginning due to the colossal size of the wall’s base which slowly tapers up to a narrow point. This was the strongest cost effective design we were offered by our new engineer Sandesh, who is a man who has been a blessing to work with so far.
The school had asked today that we break at 10am to visit the School, it’s always important to show everyone the situation inside the current school so they can fully understand the reality of why their generous help is so important to us. Their welcome was full of Malah (flower necklaces), Tika (kind blessings), and gentle smiles from all the children and their very appreciative teachers. This visit was very much a surprise for me too with the reception we received. The high energy and appreciation was growing with every day’s work. It did not take long for Joseph to pull out his guitar and start to play a few famous numbers while Persia started to sing to all the children with a surprisingly powerful voice. The children were nodding their heads and clapping to the beat in awe of such a special impromptu concert. Something I hope we see more of depending on the volunteers we have! This kind of entertainment is rare in the village here.
Back on site things continued to the same rhythm and we were making good progress going through our routine while laughing and joking keeping the atmosphere alive. As the level of stones rose up from foundation, even just a few levels, Mark said what we were all thinking,
‘’I think we can almost call it a wall now, it’s not just a hole in the ground anymore’’ to a great cheer of accomplishment.We continued the slog until Marcel had to say goodbye to meet his brother and Margot in Kathmandu and make sure he got his flight. Marcel woke up at 6am to start going around the village and visit people’s houses. I had never met someone like Marcel before literally giving his whole heart away to everyone and somehow connecting so very deep in such a short time. Throughout his stay he was getting up extra early to join in with village activities including milking a buffalo, which wouldn’t let him take it. It had been a lot of fun with him and again I found myself very emotional saying goodbye, but knowing we will see him again here through the course of the build. Marcel’s goodbye got bigger as the day went on and by lunch disrupted the build so much that we took a break before sending him away on Purna’s bike as we got back to getting our hands dirty. I imagine as goodbyes go, his was marked at around 7 hours and probably one of the longest in history!
Marks team had another day of rock slinging before they had to say farewell too. They all seemed to have had a profound experience. Mark I met in the UK previously and spoke to him about the project, to which he was very curious. He had told me he was coming trekking with his daughter at this time and would love to visit us. It wasn’t until on site however, working alongside us with school director Purna getting amongst the village that he could fully understand. I realised and appreciated there is no substitute for being here with us and the village.
What has amazed me this time is how different it is to the previous projects I have been involved with or run. Not only is this a much bigger and more complicated project, it also has a much bigger warmth and energy. Ujwal and myself have built up friendships here approaching three years now, the people are so open to us and sharing so much of themselves too, hoping that we are also successful. The project is much more community spirited this time than previously, and will effectively help more people. The volunteers are connecting with everyone so fast it’s quite amazing.
Another big goodbye was upon us with more great characters. Ramesh and his wife gout the Malah and the tika ready with blessings for our volunteers’ a safe journey onwards. Purna phoned to invite us for more blessings at his house as we wished everyone a good farewell. I joined them as far as Bhaktapur to see Ujwal quickly, who was harvesting rice with his family. We had just experienced some flash rain which had destroyed a lot of the rice and has made a lot of people’s lives harder this season.
After a quick meeting with Ujwal it was time for my final goodbye while I sorted out some funds for the site and got back to the build. We had a hard week ahead with no volunteers but work was remaining strong if slightly slower.
The weather was cooling down now as we were approaching winter. Along the project we had also said goodbye to a few villagers that had passed away which seemed to be followed by a day’s flash rain, almost as if the world was crying for them. The fifth person passed in the village during the build, followed by a final splash from the heavens. Work has to stop on these days for the village to pay their respects, but also for the weather conditions on site.
I went back to Kathmandu to see the other French Kevin that was still here but had been on a trip somewhere in the mountains. I needed volunteers again. Kevin said he was coming back along with Pierre and Valentin who had again been on a large trek in the Annapurna region. We also managed to grab some more guests wanting an interesting deeper experience in Nepal.
We had a great team, energetic and passionate. Within a few days they all agreed they wanted to stay until we finished the retaining wall. It felt great seeing their passion growing and that we had a solid team until this phase’s completion. I never expected to see such passion as I have building a retaining wall but people really seem to understand what we are doing here. Asier, a Spanish guy travelling with his cousin Lander, had also read the whole website in KTM but was blown away on arrival here.
The build was now going strong and smooth, almost like it was on autopilot. Everyone knew what they were doing, were comfortable and worked hard giving every drop of sweat to us. The volunteers kept switching roles to keep energy high and keep the day interesting. We were all growing close to the Nepali team now too and the laughter and jokes kept the energy flowing through us all.
On an evening we started to enjoy some super fresh chicken BBQs and relax around the fire as the nights started cooling. Pierre was the master butcher and chef on these nights.
Once we finished the wall, to the great feeling of achievement mixed with that day’s endorphins racing around, we decided to celebrate with some local alcohol and buffalo BBQ. Shushil our photographer came back and cooked some Buffalo steaks for us on our final celebration of the wall’s completion. As the Local Roxy flowed with our spirits high many villagers came to join us to celebrate this small victory on the project, however we still know we have many challenges lying ahead. All roads we choose in Nepal are never easy, but very worthwhile.
Thanks to all our international volunteers on this stage for a great time and most of all amazing work.
Ujwall Lage, Purna Tamang, Kevin, Margot Bossard, Marcel, Kevin Vinke, Pierre Robi, Valentin Roux, Linda Barron, Persia Lawson, Joseph Gould, Sam Johnson, Victor, Asier Ventosa Rodrigo, Lander Santos, Leonore Dor, Nulia Falco and Tom Pativor.
Also a special thanks to our strong and commited Nepali team members for your time, skills and dedication.
Sukaman, Iman, Prithiman, Keshab, Ram, Bijay and Arke.
With all the legalities secured and locked up, I now felt confident to push forward with the next phase and start preparing the land for the build. I had already started talking to a Nepali civil engineer, John, who was happy to donate a design (John has been involved in many humanitarian projects aimed at rebuilding resilient structures since the earthquake). It was now time for us to visit the site to make sure that the land will be secure over the monsoon. The excavation will also allow us to measure the land more efficiently so that John can start working on the design.
Whilst discussing the project on site, John, Ujwal, Purna and I all agreed to begin the excavation immediately, ensuring the new slope would be left at a forty-five degree angle now for security (preventing the possibility of the land sliding with the rain). In addition, any trees that will need to be removed while making the new entrance to the land, could be used within the slope to help bind the new loose land together for further safety. Due to the slope eating into our available space, we knew that the next job on site would be to build a retaining wall and have a further small excavation to fill in the space. We will also be re-planting trees around the perimeter after the rebuild of the school, where the roots will also help brace the land together further.
We were filled with excitement and decided we should enquire about a JCB straight away. It turned out, to my surprise, that we could order a JCB for the very next day, as their work load drops before the monsoon season. We were just in time, and we had to move fast before the rains came.
This was the first major moment in the project; we had gained some momentum and we were now in motion. Moving strongly forward my nerves were as excited as my mind. There were to be no further steps back in order to go forward, it felt good. We were in a good place.
These were feelings I hadn’t explored so much within myself since I first took a sledgehammer to Ram and Monisa’s tragic house after the earthquake (on my promise to build them a more secure and comfortable home). Your heart beats fast in the first moments as you settle under the weight of responsibility and the excitement of a new venture.
It’s a warm feeling knowing that we have support and encouragement for the project, but scary knowing that we still have a long way to go before we will have the funding to truly excel. With a full heart and solid belief in this project and the current strength of all previous developments at it’s highest yet, I know we will eventually get there together.
The JCB was run by a pair of extremely experienced young drivers, disciplined and on time, not something you always experience in Nepal! After our initial conversations, it seemed they didn’t need much further direction. I have never truly paid attention to exactly how they can move such a large machine, across hard and difficult terrain, using both arms simultaneously, both to balance and to dig. It was amazing to watch them at work
They wanted to get the job done quickly and efficiently, and, to my dismay, were far too serious to give me a JCB lesson. However they welcomed us to join them inside and get to know each other a little while they blasted music out from surprisingly powerful speakers. They had a pretty cool gig we thought. Ujwal and I found that it was hard not to dance a little bit inside what felt like a rollercoaster as they moved it over the rippled terrain before it was completely flat it was a real thrill.
I had invited our previous photographer to join us for such a monumental day in the project. Sushil has done such amazing work for us before on our website, and has become somewhat close to both us and the village. He really seems to love the project; it was great that he could make the time to come.
Purna, Ujwal, Ram and I were constantly there to assist from the ground, moving and clearing the wood. I was honoured that Ram was so keen to join us and help this project, considering how hard it has sometimes been to keep Monisa’s attendance high at school; however whilst checking up on this visit I discovered it had been much better while I was away; which fills me with optimism and encouragement that we are making real progress.
The day was thrilling, fast, and felt over too quickly. I couldn’t believe how much land they could move in a day. It was finally time to have a small celebration in the village and sink a few beers to mark a milestone in the project, before heading back to Kathmandu with Ujwal and Shushil. It was a tight squeeze with all three of us on the same Motorcycle, travelling hard rural roads, where every bump pushes you closer together, just as the bumps in the project do too. There is never an unsolvable problem.
Once in Kathmandu I headed straight over to see John to talk about the design and clarify the brief so that we could start the next stage. We also went back to the village to accurately re-measure everything. We will be very excited to inform you about the next developments as soon as the design is ready to publish.
Addendum:
As in keeping with my promise, I have personally donated the start-up costs and have also donated the costs of this excavation, however the rebuild cannot happen without your belief and generosity. All of the donations are being saved, and they will all go strictly towards the rebuild and improved school facilities.
All accounts during the rebuild will be published on this website as we progress. We all appreciate your support and believe that full transparency is essential to those that support this cause. Without you this wouldn’t be possible. As always, our thanks and gratitude are with you, let’s see what we can achieve together.
The Project has had a warm reception but we are still very much at the beginning of the journey. We still have many challenges laid out for us as I return to Nepal again knowing we have a lot of work to do.
Budland School, Ujwal and I have been in good contact while I was away and there were some concerns about the current land. I had been hoping to excavate after looking at the land plans and measuring previously. However it seemed we had gone a few steps forward and one step back, as life can feel sometimes working in this beautiful country, which I knew from previous experiences here. Problem solving was something you have to get accustomed to here, and expect. I was still confident we could progress now I was back.
The school were struggling to agree with their landowner on a long term lease agreement which I needed to go with the projects legal agreements with the landowner and the Budland School directors we had previously made together. I had been assured this wouldn’t be a problem after my previous negations with everyone involved.
The lease was verbally agreed in my previous meetings but unfortunately he was deciding to put the rent up substantially on them once the building of the school was completed, with a further alarming annual increase. He seemed to of had a change of heart. I found this unacceptable, and he now seemed purely opportunistic. I feel he did not appreciate how seriously I take my duty to protect the donation money not just for the building but in respect to the long term future of the school, the reason this project was born. I couldn’t agree to invest donation money on the long term with what was presently on the table as I did not believe it was good for the schools budgeting in the future. The current landowner now seemed to have lost all regard to Nepal’s land prices and inflation rates, obviously thinking he could slyly take advantage of the situation. The school were rightly worried, and I was glad they hadn’t rushed into anything out of desperation before I arrived back.
We could do better and I knew we had a wild card up our sleeves; one of the school directors, Purna had some farm land available. I had not seen the land but knew Purna could present it to us. In my opinion we had no choice but to decline the new final offers with the current land owner and move forward together somehow into a much more reasonable situation than they are currently in. I had a strong feeling that the land owner would soon regret his decision. Now showing his true colours, he had completely lost my trust; something the villagers hold dearly between themselves in their communities, and extending that to me here which I respect and reciprocate.
As I have previously said 90% of the districts buildings collapsed, which has put the school in a corner with no lifelines but our help. I need to know the future of the schools arrangements were secured long term to invest my time, energy and your donations into the project. Without a third party involved in the land I knew we could move forward strongly into a better arrangement. Purna, since I have known him has always possessed a passion to do whatever it takes to save his school and keep the future of Budland School healthy. Purna’s family are seriously involved and rely on the school success also; his wife Dolma as the Principal and his brother is about to enter a teaching position in the school. It was clear how important this was too him, his family and what I see as the best way possible to find the solution to this problem.
Purna and I looked over 3 potential locations. The first location was far too small and was easy to rule out of the equation. The second and third would require some serious excavation and new entrance to the land created to both.
The second potential option has a steep cliff coming down to the typical dirt road access, however to maximize the land we were having to talk about moving the road during the excavation process as it turned out while measuring he owned a section of it. The road would possibly be too close, effectively creating more noise with passing milk trucks, motorbikes and such vehicles.
The Third location we would have to forge a new path to the site; around sixty meters . It was off from the same dirt road to a more beautiful, safe and peaceful area than the second option and even their current location. This location I was seeing more potential, also requiring a simpler excavation with less village disruption.
Both these two locations were of similar size and the locations had better access points for other village’s children to also attend with ease for their education, enhancing the village infrastructure. The prospects became very exciting. Purna and myself dreamed about its potential together, took time to go through each of the pros and cons; finding ourselves in easy agreement. Purna had to speak to the other directors and I reminded him we would need to rewrite all previous contracts. That all legalities need to be in place with a long lease agreed as soon as possible. That I would like to start prepping the land with an excavation as soon as the ink from the signatures and fingerprints were dry on the pages and before the monsoon arrives. (Nepal legal contracts require signatures and both thumb prints together making it impossible to forge).
As soon as my dear friend Ujwal was free, which became immediately as he was so excited at the new development, due to his worries feeling very much like mine, we organised a meeting with a more seasoned lawyer than we previously had, (my third lawyer, such is life!).
Ujwals new contact in the new lawyer’s offices was incredible; giving us so much time to discuss and renegotiate the new contract while giving us a much more in-depth crash course in Nepali Law which I hadn’t previously had such an honour. After a couple of days it was starting to take shape. One meeting with Purna lasting 5 hours of hard talk back and forth in the lawyers office we were finally happy that the lawyer was going to draw up and amazing contract with all the right clauses, making sure the schools future would stay safe with a long and beautiful future, as much so as its service to the children’s over the next generations. The new agreement also gives the school a greater opportunity to buy the land in the future.
Nepali Law is not so simple, leading Ujwal and I now taking even more future responsibility together in the legal agreements over our lifetimes. This will make sure there will never be any future problems and no corruption will be possible. We take this project and everyone’s support very seriously; it’s a real labour of love for the both of us. Ujwal joining the project in this capacity was a beautiful surprise, a true credit to the project and has amazed me. I am honoured to be voluntarily working with him again into our third year of friendship that’s always been based on the social welfare of people less fortunate than us.
It wasn’t long before we invited all the directors and witnesses to come for a day in Bhaktapur City at the lawyer’s office to agree, sign and fingerprint in front of the Legal body, who is fully supporting our project even giving an amazing pep talk to everyone while Ujwal translated into my ear. Everyone, once again seemed happy that the school will be safe and protected. We can finally move forwards stronger and together.
I am now happy knowing the land is fully secured and feel it is now possible to finally start the next phase of the project and prepare the new land ready to potentially build after the monsoon season with your kind support.
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I would just like to say I am personally donating all start-up costs as my donation to this project , including these legal fees. All donations will be saved until it is time to build and 100% will go to the rebuild. During the building phase I will be publishing all accounts due to my belief that the projects transparency is very important to all involved.
I was sat at the Hostel bar, illuminated behind my computer going over the Project, when I first met Yannick, a young German traveller. The first thing that I noticed was his energy. He started bouncing off my words as I began describing what I was doing. He was listening passionately, I could tell from the types of questions he was throwing at me, full of curiosity and a growing excitement for the project which I felt with every passing moment. It was so easy and stimulating to talk with someone that has the same lust for life. His mind was sharp and open. His English was fluent. I decided that we should go to the bar and get a couple of cold beers from the fridge, to continue our dreaming of the future of this project together. The Donations are still a long way from the target, but when you meet someone for the first time with such an honest belief in what you are doing it is encouraging, it is motivating and it pushes you forwards. It wasn’t long before Yannick put the first donation in the Hostel One96’s donation box, decided he loved the T-shirts that I was not satisfied with from the printers and was soon wearing one around Kathmandu. He just never ceases to amaze.
Ste, Yannick, Berenger and David. Meeting together with early project supporters in Hostel One96.
After such a short amount of time, the next thing Yannick was telling me was that he’s thinking to take on a volunteering role while travelling in Nepal, and wanted to do it within our new Building Budland program. I was amazed. Yannick said he would go for a couple of days to see the village and if it feels right and the project is how its been presented to him he would start to work there. Its been a while since I’ve seen him now, as I have had to leave the country due to my Visa, but we have been in good contact online and he has been a Godsend from everything I am hearing from him, and about him. His drive and passion are a force and took me by surprise, as I was literally just launching the project when our first volunteer is already on his way to the village to help the school, and now he is talking about raising money in Germany on his return home. Incredible.
I asked Yannick to please get some photos and give me an account of his time in Baluwapati at Budland School to share with the people interested in what we are doing. Here is his account of his time helping at the school, in his own words:
Yannick’s account
“While on my 103 day trip to Nepal, I felt that I wanted to further connect with this country and do something different than the lazy everyday backpacker life. When you Start to get around in this touching friendly little country, with the highest mountain in the world and an equal hospitality to everyone who treats them with honest respect, you realise that there is also some room for improvement, which these people deserve in my opinion.
So it was obvious to me that I wanted to do something for them in the volunteer manner. Now its not easy to find a project that is convincing in purpose and useful enough to spend my precious time in Nepal. When I met David within the first day I knew I had found what I was looking for. So a couple of days later I came to Baluwapati and once again the natural kindness of the inhabitants from the roof of the world was stunning. Same like the view, because the village is located at a hill at the foot of the Shiivapuri NP you can See from Nagarkot to Chisapani the whole range of the wooded slope in between. On the other side there is the magnificient Himal massive including the Langtang range and even Everest, at least on clear days, is in sight. I stayed as the first volunteer with Ramesh and his Family and was treated like one of them. I ate their delicious Dahl Bhat twice a day and they showed me how to eat with your hands (technique matters ;-)). I had the chance to improve my Nepali, and soon felt actually like one of the villagers.
In the temporary school building (which to be honest is in a devastating state to be a place of successful studying), I was helping teach the classes. Whilst there everyone was really happy with me and I noticed that this place and the kids there are in need for the benefits of this project. The very small building, made of corrugated Iron, reminded me a little of some hut in one of the slums in outer Kathmandu. The heat at noon was too much especially for my German cold blooded body! So I was sitting there, sweating my ass off, on the soily floor with a little whiteboard I should write on. I felt at first a little bit gloomy, when I remembered how I hated sitting in my climate controlled classroom, with running water (which they don’t have, it needs to be carried there from the next water pump, 1km away), and other facilities like decent desks or books. I felt pretty guilty, even more so when I saw the toddlers of the pre-school crawling around on some thin dirty blankets covering the dirty floor in their ‘classroom’.
The teachers where surprisingly dedicated but I recognized a growing dissatisfaction about the conditions. Even though I was there for a quite short time they honoured me with a touching little ceremony at the end and said I should come back as soon as i can. For everyone who wants to contribute something and who wants to come in touch with a side of Nepal beyond the touristic mentality in Thamel, Kathmandu and Lakeside Pokhara, you should join us on this project in some way.”
Yannick recieveing a Blessing from the Principal, Dolma for his commitment and hard work to support everyone at Budland School.
Since Yannick has finished we have had a great debriefing. This is always important as to improve both the experience for everyone at the school and the volunteers, but also improve the efficiency of what we are doing. Due to Yannick being the first volunteer and him having a very different experience with the school to mine, he has been able to give me much food for thought, with such constructive, positive words that I am now working on creating a much better structure for the teaching volunteers with the school. Yannick has been amazing and still amazes me constantly, I love how he fits into this project and makes it his own too. I am extremely happy that everything has gone well during his time, and that all parties have enjoyed the experience. I look forward to welcoming new volunteers to this project very soon!
Feel free to browse this website and get in touch with us if you too would like to volunteer like Yannick did, making a difference in the world, whilst at the same time, having an unforgettably great experience
There were a few reasons to come back to Baluwapati village now. Firstly Monisa had been missing school over January and I was worried about how things were. Secondly I wanted to make sure that the video footage from last year’s film shoot with Sushil was going to be edited and other loose ends were going to be tied up so I could launch. ‘Building Budland’s’ fundraising needed to start as soon as possible in order to reach our target to build during 2017.
It felt great to be back! It was 21st January and I arrived wearing a pair of shorts. I had never felt Nepal’s big chill before, and it was freezing. I was more concerned than last time however, as was Ujwal (my old friend from the work after the earthquakes, and loyal partner on this project). The concern was mostly due to Ram and Monisa’s unexplained absence from school and the village. It was strange that this time nobody in the village knew for sure where they had gone. My initial reaction was to think that maybe they were at Ram’s sister’s house in Sindopalchuck, another area devastated by the earthquakes in 2015, also struggling to recover.
Ram had expressed he had wanted to marry again and have a solid family life, and that he had met a woman in Sindopalchuck. This came as a surprise to me after such recent hard times, but he had looked much better the last time I saw him. I was thinking to jump on a motorbike and find the village whilst on a road trip to see my friends and check they are OK. Ram and I have previously expressed the desire to take a road trip together to meet this mysterious woman, but sadly it has not yet been possible. Ram meanwhile had arrived back in the village whilst I was on the plane to Nepal, and so my worries were eased! He had moved away briefly for work to support his family, and couldn’t manage his worries for his daughter being alone (it turned out that it was his mother who had gone to visit his sister in Sindopalchuck).
It had not been an easy trip for either of them, especially in the coldest months Nepal has to offer, with Ram being uneducated and having to work for long hours for only 600 rupees ( 6 USD) a day, I was worried where he would stay, wherever he went, but I respected him for being the man of his family and doing what it takes to resolve his situation. Ram is such an honest man with dignity and doesn’t like asking for help. When I saw them it was clear they had not had the easiest time, and I was still concerned, not wanting them to fall into the same situation again.
Ramesh, Pārbati, Ujwal and I all reminded Ram that we can always help make sure Monisa is comfortable and safe in the village if he has to go for work, camping out, battling the harsh conditions of winter in Nepal. We also reinforced to Ram that he wasn’t alone, that we are all in this world together, to support our friends as much as we can, and to help constructively support him through the tough times as a single father. What are we, after all, after a growing history of time and hardships and problem solving together, if our relationships are not cemented in strong friendship? No man is an island, as they say. Finally, after a long conversation, it was time for a small celebration; we were all back together again, after all!
BACK TOGETHER : David, Ram, Ramesh, Parbati and Monisa
Building Budland movie Premier
It wasn’t long before I was in the Editing Studio with Shushil Baba Chhetri; a future legend in the making; editing the videos you can see on the website. It was an honour to be next to a professional working in an editing suite making the difficult decisions on the footage and music. I was mainly just there for him to consult on some of those decisions. He was well organised and managing to fit this project into his very busy schedule, as it was coming together I felt relieved that we were almost ready to launch after months of learning and hard work building a website.
Building Budland movie Premier: The School children enjoying seeing themselves in the project movies.
I was also relieved that an old friend of mine; Daniel, who I met volunteering in Kolkata, was still in contact with me and agreed to help edit and perfect the writing on the website, its already been such a long road and the launch of the fundraising is really just the beginning!
Back in Baluwapati I have been looking over the ground plan on site, looking at the land we have and how we can best serve it, and the school, getting ready for the design and costing phase of the project, even learning more about the Eco-friendly earthbricks and how we can make them (while visiting a different building project nearby with some local building tradesmen I met last year in Nepal). These bricks seem to be gaining some great recognition here in Nepal, and hopefully with machines to use on our project free of charge, they seem like a natural and exciting building medium to be using during construction.
Whilst in the village I have been talking to the school about setting up a volunteer program with Ramesh as well. Ramesh enjoys being a part of the conversation and has always been passionate to give service to his community. Eventually we will need volunteers for the construction, but it made sense to begin helping improve the lesson quality and spoken English straight away. Speaking English really does optimise a rural Nepali child’s potential in a developing nation largely dependent on tourism. Ramesh can communicate well and can also host in his house, but we are looking into making small comfortable bamboo bungalows for the volunteers to stay in as well, and have already started collecting and buying materials.
While tying up loose ends in the capital city of Kathmandu I bumped into a very passionate young German traveller, Yannick. He was very interested in this project from the start of our first conversation, and it turns out he is indeed a man of his word. Yannick put the first 1000 rupee (10 USD) note in our new donation box at HostelOne96 and said he would love to go to the village to see the situation. He came back even more passionate than when he went, deciding that he would like to be our first volunteer in the school in a teaching role, and hopefully go on to do some fundraising afterwards. As soon as we can we will update you with both Yannick and Ramesh’s progress in Baluwapati.
With every passing day I become more nervous of launching such a large fundraiser, but the excitement, passion and belief in this project; along with the support and encouragement I have received so far, all drive me forward and calm down those nerves. Everything is coming together, and I am feeling a lot of positive energy. It’s a slow start, but people are already interested, and we welcome you to join with us on this unique journey.
Arriving back in Nepal in June 2016, after eight long months away, I was finally here again revisiting Baluwapati. My heart was warmed to be reacquainted with the familiar faces from last year’s project; building a house for Monisa and her family after the earthquakes of 2015; where I also reached out;- promising Monisa a good education for life.
My return was primarily focused on checking her education was going well over the last year since we put her in school. I was in constant contact over the eight months I was away, it means so much more being here again seeing the progress and looking over her work. It makes me very emotional as I am very proud of how she has started; she is doing so well. The school years run over the year from April to April, after six months of school she had been successful enough to go up to the LKG year, where she is now only two years behind her age. The year has not gone without its problems but the progress made so far fills me with optimism. When leaving I knew the situation was brittle, but with contact and support from dear friends here, it is working. I also felt my return at this point was very necessary.
The biggest problem facing the situation was her attendance. Monisa was starting to fall behind a little due to missing too many days from school. This was becoming too regular over the month before I arrived back. It was concerning that her father had not fully come to terms with the change, still not yet understanding the importance of an education. Another problem was homework, due to her family not understanding the need for it. Monisa wasn’t getting time at home to really focus on her studies. Any other issues seemed normal for a child her age in a new school that has had to adjust to the surroundings and make friends for the first time.
Ram, her father, was working more which was encouraging, but sometimes taking her to watch him work causing her to miss a full day of school. As an uneducated man he is generally doing hard labour for whatever’s available on about 600 rupees (six USD) a day.
Speaking to my very good friend Ramesh (who I stay with in the village) helped me find a solution to this problem. Ramesh had very warm feelings and thought he could help. As he said in his own words;
“My wife and I never had a daughter, and we have become fond of Monisa; so would love to help with this problem. Maybe we can do breakfast here, care for her uniform and send her to school in the mornings. After school, she can come here to get changed and do her homework before going home.”.
These words were the encouragement I needed. What beautiful friends of ours!
I was also hoping for Monisa to establish a relationship with a trusted older woman in the village, someone to talk to and feel comfortable with as she grows up. Without a mother, Monisa will need to learn life skills about hygiene and eventually body changes in years to come. It is so important for her to trust an elder woman with open conversation, which is only a good thing if the relationship starts now, that if they really feel up to it, I would love for them all to be her trusted confidants in the village. Ramesh’s wife agreed, saying she could take on some of these responsibilities.
To keep myself busy in the village while visiting, I was already sorting out Monisa’s house with a good quality toilet and wash room facility. I also offered to build Ramesh and his wife a wash room with a shower facility to help with the new situation. I was feeling a lot more confident moving forward and facing the issues we had with my sponsorship of this amazing girl. Ramesh has always been beside me on other problem solving missions in the village. He helped when he could, and is indeed a great friend of mine. So off to work we went, building these facilities together with our other dear friend Sukram, a local carpenter.
On my visits to the Budland School, it was apparent that they were still in dire need of certain facilities. Dolma, the school Principal approached me one day while walking to school with Monisa. She was a little nervous to be asking, as she knew I was already helping with toilets and wash rooms in the village. Dolma said there was no money available at the moment and they are still very much in need of toilets. It’s becoming a hygiene problem with sixty three children having no where to go about their business. Obviously with me sponsoring a child in the school, this meant a lot to me, and my heart felt for the situation. I said I would speak to Sukram and see what we could arrange together. I asked what their situation was about rebuilding the school again and her face seemed troubled. She said she was not so optimistic of it happening in the near future. Sukram was very keen and generous with his time to help and extremely fair with his cost and his skills, so it wasn’t long before we started work on three new toilets for the school with what we could afford without donations.
Purna and Santa, two Directors of Budland were more than happy to help build the toilet which made the job much faster. With Purna being able to supply the amount of wood needed for the toilet frame, Santa was very skilled and fast with the concreting of the toilet floors. Seeing them so passionate to help, and through conversation with them whilst working, I grew more concerned about the School’s situation, and indeed, about its very survival.
I strongly believe in the school and the service the school is providing. The development I had seen in Monisa in a very short time led me to ask if we could have a meeting with all of the school Directors and the Principal present also.
Over a couple months we met several times and spoke openly back and forth about what is needed to move forward. I also spoke to the local authorities and the VDC government office, who said they would also support me with helping the people of the village.
After finishing the toilets, with hygiene on my mind, when visiting with my friend Gaeton, we realised that the children of the village had seriously unsatisfactory oral health. He had inspired me to do an oral health class for the school, to teach the children about why and how to brush their teeth, something I had already been doing with Monisa. My friend Gaeton had been doing these classes in other regions of Nepal and had just come back from Agra. We bought seventy tubes of toothpaste with free toothbrushes for pretty small change. Soon, I headed back to the village alone to co-ordinate the class with the teachers. It seemed a great success!
As the dialogue continued with the school directors, I made it very clear that I wanted to help them. I mentioned that it would be beneficial for a scholarship program to be implemented in order to help the other children that are not in school, who may have family problems and would excel more in a school with smaller class sizes. I expressed the need to look for the most under privileged children every year, the most extreme cases where we can really make a difference together.
We invited the landowner to the meetings, who also agreed to sign a contract that secures the longevity of the school for a minimum of one hundred years, to protect the donations. With the school committing to the scholarships it started to feel like a worthwhile project. With no further delay I spoke to a lawyer as quick as possible, to draw up a legal contract between us all to create a strong foundation for the project. I got the contract approved by my contact in the VDC government office before finally we all signed it together.
The project was born!
Next we will need to speak to an architect and work on a design, along with a more accurate costing, so as to get an approval to build an earthquake resistant design.
I feel we can start the fund raising now, whilst also asking as many people as possible to be a part of it by donating. For anybody that would like to be a part of this project and be involved in the many activities, please get in touch with us. All information will be published on the website as soon as it is available.
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