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!

Batase School Condemned 

The red sticker pictured above has been applied to all the buildings at  Bhagawati Himalaya Higher Secondary School in Batase, Gorkha. This means all the buildings have been declared unsafe and condemned. We already knew at least one building was completely destroyed, but had hoped others may be salvaged. The school provides education for about 600 pupils so the rebuild job is going to be huge. Please support Manisha UK so we can help the school and the pupils to recover from the devastating earthquake. 

Click here to donate: https://www.charitycheckout.co.uk/1137569/Donate-1

The school received a visit this week from former Prime minister Dr.Baburam Bhattarai, but this does not mean government help will be sufficient to rebuild the school. 

Earthquake Update (13th June)

The rainy season is now starting in Nepal, meaning that we can't undertake any major building work for approximately three months. However, that doesn't mean we are not doing anything as we are busy fundraising so that we can get started on the highest priority repairs as soon as practical once the weather improves. As the previous table shows we were already aware of six schools in need of repair, and we have now learnt that our newest twin school Kalankee Primary in Kolkal has suffered both earthquake and flood damage and will also need assistance.

Our twin schools in England have been fantastic, raising lots of money to help their Nepali friends and sending parcels to bring some smiles! We will shortly be launching an 'Everest Challenge' for both schools and our other supporters to raise more essential funds, and you can help by clicking the donate button to the right!

The Children and Communities We support Need Your Help ...

Some of our UK twinned schools and other supporters of Manisha UK, have already started fundraising, or are planning to do so.

We urge anyone who wishes to help our supported communities to recover from this terrible natural disaster, to please make a donation in one of the following ways:

Online donation at the Manisha UK donation page.

 

Text donation of £10 by texting TEXT21 £10 to a UK mobile to number 70070, you will receive a confirmation text and request to approve gift aid.

 

Cheque made out to Manisha UK and sent to Old Moat Barn, Dormston Lane, Dormston, Worcs. WR7 4JX (Please enclose name, address, email address and approval to gift aid).

 

Many thanks, your support is very much appreciated. As always, a little goes a long way in Nepal!

Earthquake Update (23rd May)

Gathering accurate information is always challenging in Nepal, but we now have preliminary assessments from most of our schools following the second major earthquake in Nepal on 12th May. Several schools that had suffered minor damage in the first earthquake have now sustained much more significant damage requiring significant repair.

School	Damage
Shree Himalaya Primary, Mahcahap	The school now has major damage which may cause the school to collapse if not addressed ahead of the Monsoon season.
Ganodaya Secondary School, Okhaldhunga	Two class rooms in the newest building have suffered lots of cracks, which could cause collapse if not addressed.
Shree Rakama Devi, Jheksang	Has sustained a large number of cracks in the older building making it unsafe for use in it's current state.
Shree Bhagwati Lower Secondary, Bhalebas	The library and 3 classrooms have been damaged with significant cracks which need addressing.
Jandeep Secondary School, Dumre	3 classrooms have minor cracks and 2 have major cracks making them unsafe, and vulnerable to collapse during the Monsoon season.
Batase School, Gorkha	This school already required a rebuild following the first earthquake, but the situation has been further exacerbated by the second earthquake.

Manisha UK twin schools not listed above have all sustained some minor damage. Our initial local assessment is that this appears superficial and the schools are safe, but full assessment by qualified professionals is still required in some locations.

 

The Children and Communities We support Need Your Help ...

 

Some of our UK twinned schools and other supporters of Manisha UK, have already started fundraising, or are planning to do so.

We urge anyone who wishes to help our supported communities to recover from this terrible natural disaster, to please make a donation in one of the following ways:

Online donation at the Manisha UK donation page.

 

Text donation of £10 by texting TEXT21 £10 to a UK mobile to number 70070, you will receive a confirmation text and request to approve gift aid.

 

Cheque made out to Manisha UK and sent to Old Moat Barn, Dormston Lane, Dormston, Worcs. WR7 4JX (Please enclose name, address, email address and approval to gift aid).

 

Many thanks, your support is very much appreciated. As always, a little goes a long way in Nepal!

Earthquake Update (17th May) ...

A second major earthquake hit Nepal at around 12.30pm local time on 12th May. Once again gathering information has proved a difficult process and we are still waiting to hear from many of our communities. The home of our Nepali coordinator, Saran, was severely damaged during the first earthquake and is now completely destroyed, but he has nonetheless been working tirelessly on our behalf.

We know that at least one school, Jandeep HSS in Dumre, that had suffered minor damage during the first earthquake has suffered further, much more serious, damage. We fear this will be echoed across more schools when we have the full picture. Lots of previously weakened homes have also been further damaged or destroyed, meaning many people have had to spend more nights sleeping in the open, often without any shelter.

As serious as the physical damage is the emotional trauma. One 8 year old girl, who I remember well as a lively, carefree and somewhat cheeky character, refused any food for three days and is absolutely convinced that all her family are going to die. The importance of restoring some routine and normality to her life, and many like her, can not be overstated. Please help us stand by these children and their families over the long term rebuilding and recovery process by hitting the donate button on the right hand side of this page.

This page will be updated as more news becomes available, with our latest news on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

The Children and Communities We support Need Your Help ...

Some of our UK twinned schools and other supporters of Manisha UK, have already started fundraising, or are planning to do so.

We urge anyone who wishes to help our supported communities to recover from this terrible natural disaster, to please make a donation in one of the following ways:

Online donation at the Manisha UK donation page.

 

Text donation of £10 by texting TEXT21 £10 to a UK mobile to number 70070, you will receive a confirmation text and request to approve gift aid.

 

Cheque made out to Manisha UK and sent to Old Moat Barn, Dormston Lane, Dormston, Worcs. WR7 4JX (Please enclose name, address, email address and approval to gift aid).

 

Many thanks, your support is very much appreciated. As always, a little goes a long way in Nepal!

Earthquake Update (4th May) ...

Following the devastating earthquake in Nepal, many of our friends and supporters have enquired how our schools and communities have fared, under the most difficult conditions imaginable.

As you will appreciate, it has been difficult to gain access to all the information we would like, particularly given the remote nature of some of the schools. However, the table below summarises the current situation.

Our local team in Nepal, although affected themselves, have now been able to visit several of our schools and make an initial assessment. They observed a great deals of cracks and other damage, which needs proper assessment by engineers ahead of the monsoon season. This is now one of our primary focuses. We are hoping our local team will be able to visit all nine Palpa schools over the next week.

In the meantime, we have at least had some word from each school, which is very encouraging. While the situation is much better than we had initially feared, all communities have been affected in some way. However, Batase school in Gorkha District, is very close to the epicentre, so we anticipate severe damage to village buildings, water supplies and sanitation.

Clearly, the situation is very fluid and subject to change over the coming days, particularly in the event of any further aftershocks. So please check back regularly for updates.

Updates are now also available via Facebook and Twitter.

School	Fatalities / Injuries	School Building	School Open	Other Buildings	Water & Sanitation
Bhalebas	None reported	Safe, cracks	Yes	Severe	OK
Pipaldanda	None reported	Safe, minor cracks	Unknown	Severe	Not yet assessed
Gyanodaya, Okhaldhunga	None reported	Safe, no damage known	Yes	No damage reported	Not yet assessed
Basanta, Bagnas	None reported	Safe, no damage known	Yes	No damage reported	Not yet assessed
Batase	None reported	Old building destroyed	No	At least 12 homes destroyed	Not yet assessed
Jheksang	None reported	Safe, small cracks	Yes	No damage reported	Not yet assessed
Amrit, Anghakhola	None reported	Safe, one wall damaged	Yes	Unknown	Not yet assessed
Mahachap	None reported	Unsafe, severe damage	No	Unknown	Not yet assessed
Dumre	None reported	Safe, some cracks	Yes	No damage reported	Not yet assessed
Kolkal	2 Local women killed repairing roads	Safe	Unknown	Unknown	Not yet assessed

The Children and Communities We support Need Your Help ...

Some of our UK twinned schools and other supporters of Manisha UK, have already started fundraising, or are planning to do so.

We urge anyone who wishes to help our supported communities to recover from this terrible natural disaster, to please make a donation in one of the following ways:

Online donation at the Manisha UK donation page.

 

Text donation of £10 by texting TEXT21 £10 to a UK mobile to number 70070, you will receive a confirmation text and request to approve gift aid.

 

Cheque made out to Manisha UK and sent to Old Moat Barn, Dormston Lane, Dormston, Worcs. WR7 4JX (Please enclose name, address, email address and approval to gift aid).

 

Many thanks, your support is very much appreciated. As always, a little goes a long way in Nepal!

Manisha UK Disaster Recovery Response (April 25th) ...

Manisha UK focusses on Education, Healthcare and Sustainability, it is not a front line disaster relief organisation. However, at this time of crisis we all need to pull together in a coordinated manner and ensure that in continuing to meet our longer term goals we are also helping address the immediate needs of the communities we support.

 

Below you will see, based on the latest update from our supported communities, what Manisha UK plans as part of its Disaster Response and how you can help us to help these poor rural communities recover and prepare for the future.

Having made an initial assessment of needs, the Trustees of Manisha UK believe our current priorities and plans should be as follows:

Short term (May/June):

• Provide funding for bottled water supplies to communities that have had normal filtered spring-water supplies disrupted.
• Initiate communications and fund raising programmes to help meet the cost of our plans.
• Ensure schools are opened up as community support centres, wherever possible.
• Undertake full assessment of water supply disruption to all 10 supported communities.
• Undertake full assessment of disruption to sanitation facilities of all 10 supported communities.
• Undertake full assessment of school damage in all 10 supported communities.
• Assess likelihood that 2015/16 Manisha UK NQT Teacher Training Programme can go ahead and with what priorities.
• Help raise awareness within front line aid organisations of the plight of the communities we support.

Medium term (2015):

• Initiate school repair programme for those schools with minor structural damage in conjunction with local businesses.
• Initiate water supply repair programmes, possibly in conjunction with Rotary International and/or Gurkha Welfare Foundation.
• Initiate sanitation facility repair programmes, possibly in conjunction with Rotary International and/or Gurkha Welfare Foundation.
• Initiate major fund raising programme for rebuild of any schools in our supported communities that are beyond repair.
• Understand whether any Nepalese governmental support for school rebuild is likely.
• Understand what can be / should be done to rebuild / repair buildings to minimize the effect of future earthquakes
• Continue with 2015/16 NQT Teacher Training Programme, if possible and with amended priorities/outcomes

Longer term (2016):

• Initiate school rebuild programme for school buildings that are beyond repair
• Develop an action plan for future disasters
• Reinstate/continue 2016/17 NQT Teacher Training Programme.

The Children and Communities We support Need Your Help ...

Some of our UK twinned schools and other supporters of Manisha UK, have already started fundraising, or are planning to do so.

We urge anyone who wishes to help our supported communities to recover from this terrible natural disaster, to please make a donation in one of the following ways:

Online donation at the Manisha UK donation page.

 

Text donation of £10 by texting TEXT21 £10 to a UK mobile to number 70070, you will receive a confirmation text and request to approve gift aid.

 

Cheque made out to Manisha UK and sent to Old Moat Barn, Dormston Lane, Dormston, Worcs. WR7 4JX (Please enclose name, address, email address and approval to gift aid).

 

Many thanks, your support is very much appreciated. As always, a little goes a long way in Nepal!