We headed down to the Bara region for a quick visit to check
up on progress on one of our projects there. We are helping a very poor
community build and supply some new classrooms that they are sorely in need of.
Check out our previous posts on the school via Our Return to Bara School.
With us we had our friend Eric from the Rotary club of Matamata,
one of the sponsors for the project and my brother Gray who is over visiting.
It was great to take these guys to the seldom visited areas of Nepal so they
can see the work they are supporting. We also took a good supply of school
books and sporting gear to hand over to the school. These were supplied separate
to the matching grant thanks to kind donations from friends and family.
As we arrived in the poor farming area that the school is
located in we were surprised to see a large crowd gathering holding signs that
read ‘long live Nepal – New Zealand friendship’. We were welcomed with tikka and garlands of marigolds.
They had even spelt out our individual names in chalk to welcome us! As this
poor area is often overlooked for development projects the people are very keen
to make the most of the opportunity to welcome us. It was truly overwhelming,
to be received by so many people in such a manner. Then came the speeches…. For the next 3 hours
we were welcomed by everyone of importance in the area at great length. It is a
sign of honour to be able to speak at events so often many different people
stand up to say the same thing. The people were grateful for our support and requested
more help to build some classrooms as the government hasn’t delivered on its
promised help. Sadly, the promised government assistance looks to be a long way
off due to a lack of consensus on the national budget.
We were on a tight schedule however and had to head back to
town shortly after the conclusion of the speeches. Our thanks go out to all the
rotary clubs that have supported this project as well as CDRA (as always) and
JJYC for their assistance. Without all
your help this project would not be possible, and it truly is an area of great
need. The school management is very active, and is working hard to improve the
situation at the school so it is our pleasure to be able to help them to
achieve this.
Photos to come... we are having a hard time loading them lately.
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| Warm welcome back to Bara |
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| Long Live the Nepal New Zealand Friendship! |
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| Speech by Eric Muckle from the RC of Matamata |
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| Welcome from village leader |
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| Ceremony for the handover of textbooks and sports equipment |
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| New handpump built with money fundraised by JJYC |
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| Lots of interested students and parents - and it was Dasain (equivalent to christmas day in NZ) |
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