Some people following this blog have commented that I don't seem to be doing any work and that I'm having a great holiday! Let me assure you that I am working hard too. In Lamjung District I am working with 12 rural schools, and to visit each of these for just one day takes a month of work. The closest school is one hours walk to reach from Besisahar where I live. Quite a few involve a bus ride and then a long walk and some of the schools are more difficult to reach and so involve one or two nights staying in the village nearby. The furthest involves a five hour bus ride and then three hours walking.
This post describes my visit to one of the more remote schools.
The village concerned is perched on a ridge high above Besisahar. There is a bus there once each day, travelling up a steep narrow bumpy track, but on this occasion we actually took a jeep ride there and then walked back after work the following day - downhill, with interesting views.
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| The road snaking up the steep hillside. Besisahar is just in view in the valley bottom. |
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| Looking over the village with the Annapurna Mountains in the distance. |
Our overnight accommodation was quite basic, we slept in the female room containing just beds. We ate at the lodge too, daal bhat (rice and lentils with vegetable curry) for breakfast and supper.The next morning before school, we took a walk with the Headteacher to visit the next village, where many of the school's pupils live. Useful, as part of my work involves putting together a profile of each school community, e.g. Does the community have a health centre, electricity, running water, what type of houses are there, are there shops etc.
As school doesn't start until 10am many pupils were outside doing chores or just playing.
However we found one group sat with their school books in the sun, revising for one of the end of year exams that they would sit later that morning. These exams are very important - if the pupil does not pass, he or she must remain in the class for another year and not move up to the next one.
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| Revision in the sunshine
We visited the house of one of the teachers, where we drank tea and had a long talk about the crops they were growing and the bees they kept. We were treated to a saucer of new honey, just taken from the comb, with small pieces of wax in it. The kitchen had shelves full of gleaming metal pots and plates on display. Notice too the small stools.
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There were several interesting things that we saw around the village;
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| Corn cobs stored above ground in a circular stack. Bunches of herbs tied to the side posts, and firewood bundles nearby to be stored for later use. They will have been brought down from the hillside, carried on someones back. These bundles are heavy! |
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| Young buffalo calf in the shed |
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| Firewood stacked in bundles at the side of the track, to be transported to Besisahar, perhaps on the top of the next bus. |
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| Woman weaving a straw mat outside her house. She was surprised that I wanted to photograph her working. |
Later in the morning at the school, I worked in the library with the Headteacher, discussing how I would help the teachers at the school to adopt more child-friendly methods of teaching.
Meanwhile, friend Helen sat under a tree talking to a group of girls who were waiting to take their exams. They were very pleased to have a chance to practice their spoken English.
This school is better resourced than many that I am working with. It was interesting to see Nepali books and jigsaw puzzles in the library, similar to some of the resources found in schools in the UK.
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| Wooden puzzle of Nepali letters |
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| World atlas |
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| Abacus for maths work |
I hope that during my time in Nepal I can help bring change through education to a few children in the Lamjung District.
