Gyanodaya Building Work Finished!

Building work is now complete at our twin school in Gyanodaya. The photos below show a mixture of Manisha UK and government funded classrooms. We're thrilled to see these rooms complete and are confident that there will be a significant positive impact on the children's learning. 

This final picture shows a classroom which we're delighted to say will never need to be used again!

One Year On: Nepal Earthquake Infographic

One Year Later

Just before midday on 25th April, exactly one year ago, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal. This earthquake, and the following aftershocks,, killed more than 8,000 people. About 3.5 million people were left homeless, and many of those are sleeping in poorly constructed temporary shelters even now. 8308 schools were affected, and tens of thousands of classrooms destroyed or damaged.

Destroyed classrooms at Bhagwati Himalaya School, Gorkha

While the emergency response agencies were in Nepal carrying out rescue work and other immediate works, Manisha UK set about gathering information from our communities about what damage has been caused. Our friends in Nepal, many of whom had suffered themselves, got to work quickly visiting villages, taking photos and carrying out initial needs assessments. The home of our twin school coordinator, Saran Saru, was destroyed, but he was still visiting schools within a week or the earthquake striking.

It soon became clear that significant help would be needed by a number of our schools, so we set about the challenge of raising funds. Our twin schools in the UK were absolutely magnificent, holding all types of events and raising almost £10,000. Special events such as the Everest Challenge and Cream Tea Run, as well as a number of generous donations and grants, meant we'd be in a position to help the schools most in need.

The Everest Challenge rowing event was one of several that helped raise thousands of pounds for rebuilding. 

In October trustee Barbara and NQT Jaz went to Nepal and were able to visit most of the schools. They confirmed the needs assessments that had already been carried out and got estimates on the costs of rebuilding. At this point we were able to finalize our budget and agreed to support the building of 15 new classrooms at 5 schools to replace rooms lost in the earthquake. In addition, we decided to provide funds for school improvement at 4 schools that had suffered minor damage which the communities had already repaired. Nava Durga School in Pipaldanda had recently been rebuilt by Manisha UK and was the only school we support not to incur any damage, a testament to the quality of the building.

In January another trustee, Dan, visited Nepal. Agreements were signed with all the schools where rebuilding work was to be carried out. Under these agreements, Manisha UK would cover around 80% of the estimated building cost, with the remained being made up with labour from the community or other community fundraising.

Community members read the agreement before signing. 

Schools got ready to begin work at different times, but by March all were ready. Work has now begun at all the schools, with the first classrooms already near completion. This means children can start moving out of temporary classrooms like the ones pictured below, and into classrooms where a suitable learning environment can be created.

Temporary classrooms like this are being used all over Nepal. 

The sides are often open and classes have to stop in bad weather.

Solid, brick built classrooms will allow children to learn in most weather in a secure environment.

These classrooms are almost complete, and will be in use within weeks. 

Bhagwati Himalaya School (top) is supported by Guston Primary in Dover, and Gyanodaya School (bottom) is supported by West Derby in Liverpool. 

Furniture, like that shown below, has been delivered to 4 schools. This furniture helps children to learn by being more comfortable and aiding concentration, giving a better surface for writing and working on, and encouraging discussion and collaboration between students. 

Children face each other, and not just the teacher, during a lesson. This helps to make lessons more student orientated. 

The importance of building these new rooms is hard to overstate. It is about far more than just having nice looking rooms, or even being able to learn when it's raining. In a proper learning environment children can concentrate much better on their studies, without having to hear every word from the next room or worry about the dirt flying around room. They have a chance to do well in their exams and to leave school with good grades.

But it is about more even than their education, in new classrooms they have the chance to feel safe. Many family are still living in flimsy shelters, going to to school in a new classrooms means children can spend a large part of the day in a warm and safe building. Children who feel safe at school are far less likely to drop out, as so many children have over the last year. They are also less at risk from trafficking, modern slavery and alienation from their community and friends. 

One year on and we know our work is far from complete. There are still more rooms to be built and further school improvements to be carried out. And our job won't stop there. We'll continue on our mission to train more teachers and to raise educational standards. In communities where so much money has been lost and so many skilled people have left, we need to find new ways of achieving sustainability. As families are still waiting for the promised government money to rebuild their homes, our healthcare objectives needs to help them cope with the cold and damp conditions in which they are forced to live. 

As we continue to move forward with our communities to recover from last years disaster, we continue to rely on your generous support. You can help us continue our work by clicking here to donate or here if you are interested in volunteering.

Since the devastating earthquakes that shocked Nepal last April and May, the Manisha UK team has been busy liaising with our Nepali schools and team, organising fundraising events such as the Everest Challenge, and planning how we can help most effectively. 

Fundraisers at the Everest Challenge Indoor Rowing event in 2015. 

Over the last month and a half we've visited all our schools in Nepal and made agreements on how best to help them. At five of our schools, the help will be in the form of new classrooms. At four others, rebuild isn't required and minor repairs have already been carried out, so Manisha UK is providing new furniture, carpets and other building upgrades. Nava Durga Primary School in Pipaldana was rebuilt, with new furniture, just last year and, in part due to the quality of the new building, received no damage so nothing new was needed there. 

 Agreements being signed at Amrit (left),  Jandeep (centre). Community members reading the agreement (right). 

New classrooms are being built at Amrit HSS (2 rooms), Himalaya Primary School in Mahachap (4 rooms),Jandeep SS in Dumre (4 rooms) and Gyanodaya HSS in Olkhaldhunga (1 room) in the Palpa district. Our twin school in Gorkha district, Shree Bhagawati Himalaya HSS, is only miles from the first earthquakes epicenter and suffered huge destruction. We have agreed to fund four new classrooms there, and they are also receiving help from other charities, including Oxfam. 

That means we'll be helping to rebuild a total of 15 classrooms in 5 schools, providing classrooms for around 300 children each year. 

We've also ordered 45 tables and 62 benches, as well as carpets for more than 10 classrooms, which will benefit more than 200 children each and every school day. 

Of course when I say "we'll be rebuilding", I actually mean you, and the communities we work with. This work is only possible because of the generosity of our supporters and especially the children at the twin schools in the UK, who made such fantastic efforts to raise the money that will pay for so much of this work. The communities we work with will also make large contributions. We provide approximately 70-80% of the funds needed for the building work, and the communities have to agree to provide labour or raise money to make up the difference. By working in this way, we know the communities we help our completely committed to providing quality schooling to their children, as well making our funds stretch further. 

On behalf of all the children, teachers and parents at all our Nepali schools, I would like to say a huge Thank You to everyone who has donated and fundraised to make this work possible.  

Temporary classrooms at Bhagawati Himalaya, in Gorkha. 

Classes have to stop when the weather is bad. 

You can keep up to date with the progress of building work, furniture delivery and our teacher training program by following us on Facebook and Twitter.

Rebuilding program

Over the last couple of weeks, Manisha UK have signed agreements with four of the schools we support in Palpa, to assist in rebuilding eleven classrooms that have been condemned following last years earthquakes. 

Agreement being signed at Jandeep, Dumre

At each of the schools we are assisting, we will provide approximately 70% of the estimated project cost. The community will make up the remaining 30% by either contributing labour or raising money to employ labourers. Working in this way not only makes our funds go further, but gives the community a real sense of ownership over the new buildings. It also means that we know the communities who we are supporting are highly motivated and will cherish the new buildings! 

We are providing support to the following schools:

Shree Amrit in Anghakoloa, 2 new classrooms.
Shree Himalaya in Mahachap, 4 new classrooms.
Jandeep School in Dumre, 4 new classrooms.
Gyanodaya School in Okhaldhunga, 1 new classroom. 

Other schools will also receive help with minor repairs, where required, or improvements to classrooms. We have already distributed new carpets to several schools for nursery and year 1 classes. 

Shree Amrit's headteacher signing the agreement letter

We also plan to help our school in Batase, Gorkha district, which has been completely condemned. Saran, our local coordinator, visited the school recently, and will announce what support we will be giving following agreements with other organisations supporting this school. 

We'd like to offer a heartfelt thank you on behalf of the pupils at all our schools to everyone who donated and raised money for Manisha UK, especially the children at the UK twin schools. Without your fantastic efforts, we would not be in a position to offer all this help.

Community members and school staff reading the agreement letter. 

Rebuilding Agreement Reached!

We're thrilled to announce that earlier today Manisha UK signed an agreement to assist with building 4 classrooms at Jandeep Secondary School, in Dumre, Nepal. 

After a short meeting with representatives from the school and the local community, an agreement was reached under which Manisha UK will provide around 70% of the funds needed to build the classrooms, with the local community raising money to pay for labour, which will make up the remaining 30%. 

We're delighted that work will now be able to get underway. We expect to sign similar agreements with other schools over the next few days, so watch our Facebook and Twitter pages for the latest news!