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.