Events 2013

Volunteering Program by UNSW Global Village Team at Bhairabi Primary School

On December 10, 2013, the enthusiast students of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, participated in the Arupokhari School Volunteer Program (ASVP), with a mission to teaching English, Science, and Mathematics to the students of Bhairabi Primary School of Gorkha, Nepal. Since 2011, this is the third consecutive participation from UNSW Global village volunteer team for this program.

The participating students from the ‘Global Village Team’ were:

• Harleen Kaur
• Chrishan Dhanapalaratnam
• Roshan Vaseeharan
• Mathushinee Mohanachandran
• Rahul Nair
• Hari Sritharan
• Jacob Dries
• Prashna Kumar
• Jin Zhi Lim
• Sonik Patel
• Syanni Attan
• Ijya Paudel

For 11 days, volunteers worked with a spirit to improve the knowledge of students and to improve their well – being. The volunteers used games for teaching, implemented Montessori Method of teaching to toddlers, and used both theoretical and experimental methods. In this way, they made the teaching interesting, as well as they made it completely different from a rote learning, which is widely practiced in Nepal. Besides teaching, the volunteers also visited Dharapani Library, which has been supported by the Australian nationals, along with the visit to Shitala Devi Mandir, a temple, which is dedicated to goddess Sita.

Hiking was another aspect that the volunteers enjoyed because it offered them the spectacular view of Ganesh Himal, Himalchuli, and Manaslu Mountains. They were also glad to walk on the trekking trails, which traverse the small green hills and beautiful terraced fields. Equally, they were glad to visit the Manakamana Temple, dedicated to wishfulling Goddess. Arupokhari Volunteer Program was also extended to jungle excursion, which created an opportunity for the volunteers to surf around the wild, and also gave a chace to visit the other primary schools, such as Balodaya and Sitala. After the volunteers had visited the interesting places of Gorkha, they paddled in the Budhi Gandaki River, which is considered the exceptional river for rafting in Nepal. The Budi Gandaki River offers a combine pleasant raft as it descends through typical Nepali villages; it also offers a good mountain view.

After the volunteering program, the volunteers trekked to Poonhill to see the spectacular view of Annapurna I (8091 m), Annapurna II (7937 m), Annapurna III (7555 m), Annapurna IV (7525 m), Dhaulagiri I (8167 m), Gangapurna (7455 m), and Annapurna South (7219 m). Moreover, when the fist sunlight of the morning touches these mountains, it is awesome, and in the evening, many volunteers described these mountains, as ‘Nepal is the heaven of mountains.’

The program was facilitated by Ace the Himalaya, coordinated by Sambhav Nepal and Sponsored by ARC of Global Village Volunteer from UNSW. The volunteer program was a huge success, and it was well appreciated by both the students and the staff of Bhairabi Primary School. We wish all the best to the volunteers and hoping to see the UNSW team again. Thanks a lot!

The following is the picture gallery of the volunteering trip.

Welcome Program

Volunteering Activities

Arupokhari Excursion

Farewell Program

Trek to Poon-Hill

Service, Education and Awareness (SEA) Program by St. Augustine’s Students

The volunteers from St Augustine’s College, Sydney, once again contributed to the construction work at Bhairabi Primary School in Arupokhari, Gorkha, from 23rd September to 30th September 2013. From the total of 23 students, 10 students of 10th grade and 4 staff members participated in the construction work at Bhairabi Primary School while the remaining 6 students and 3 staffs joined in for Disabled Students Association (DSA) at Bungmati, Kathmandu.

The team was warmly welcomed by the teachers, students and the local people at Bhairabi Primary School on 24thSeptember. The participants of the volunteer program were greeted with ‘Khada’, a traditional shawl worn for expressing respect or applause, flowers, garland and Tika (red powder). The students of Bhairabi danced with great zeal to welcome the team. After that the volunteers surfed around the village to observe its natural beauty and lovely people.

The volunteers at Bhairabi School fenced the surroundings of the school with fencing wire and also constructed the school gate in order to protect the school from the grazing animals of the village. They also built the stair case to be used for playing games and organizing school events. Apart from these activities, all of them helped further by carrying the logs, sand, bricks, cement and gravels to the construction site. The volunteers were very enthusiastic, hardworking and focused in their work. They worked giving their level best from 8 am in the morning to 5 pm in the evening. It is estimated by the locals that it would take about 2 months if as many local laborers had done the same work.

The volunteers also donated five laptop computers to Siddha Devi Higher secondary school of, Aruchanaute Village Development Committee which is about 4 hours walk away from the Bhairabi Primary School. The school is economically suffering and there were no computers in the school for the students. After the donation, the students will be able to learn/use computers. The volunteers also gifted clothes to 150 students of Bhairabi Primary School, provided various stationery items, football, water pumps etc to nearby schools like Balodaya Primary, Dharapani Secondary School and Gyan Bhumi Primary School located in Arupokhari Village Development Committee. The St. Augustine’s Team has always been very supportive and promotes the ideas of “Service, Education & Awareness”, by contributing with great and hard work of developing the infrastructure for the schools. The local community also had an opportunity to learn from the team members. Everyone seemed much disciplined and hard working.

The Volunteers from St Augustine’s College- Sydney were:

This entire volunteer program, coordinated by Sambhav Nepal was conducted by St Augustine’s College, Sydney and the closing ceremony of this grand event was done by Mr.Hari Bahadur, President of Nepali Congress, Gorkha and also a very renowned Social Activist. He is the candidate for the upcoming election for Member of Parliament.

Sambhav Nepal, Arupokhari village, Bhairabi School and the entire other schools are very grateful towards such enthusiastic and hardworking participants of St. Augustine’s College, Sydney for making this project a great success. Thank you for all the effort!

• Matthew Armstrong
• Mitchell Stacey
• Brendan Watkins
• Nicholas Hidas
• Pantelis Liam Drosinos
• Harrison Sekulich

The following is the picture gallery of the SEA activities.

Getting There

Welcome Ceremony

Working Sessions

Closing Ceremony

Laptop Donation

Volunteers at DSA

Inauguration of Computer Lab in Bhairabi Primary School

The computer lab built for the local government/community school was inaugurated on 9th August 2013 by Chief District Officer Mr. Krishna Bahadur Karki along with the District Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Gorkha district. The computer lab built in Bhairabi Primary School will be used by both the students of Bhairabi and the students from the nearby schools of the area.

The lab was provided with two laptops, six desktop computers, a printer, a photocopy machine, scanner, Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and furniture along with the electrical wirings. One of the laptops was donated by the volunteers from 2012 Teacher Training team and the other by Arwin Soetanto, a member from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Global Village Volunteer team, 2012. This computer lab for the students of and around the area was built by the funds provided by UNSW Global Village Volunteer team of 2012.

Computer Education has been one of the most important needs in today’s world. To be more efficient and competitive in today’s scenario one must learn computer. So incorporating this fact, the student from grade 2 to 5 will be studying computer as a compulsory subject for which they have to pay with the minimum charge of Rs.150 per month. The students from other nearby school can also learn computer during their spare time but they will be charged a bit more than that of the Bhairabi students. But the cost will be very cheap in comparison to all the expense they need to spend for fee and travel cost in city areas to learn computer.

The other students of Bhimodaya Secondary School, Bhimodaya Campus, Dharapani Secondary School, Siddha Devi Higher Secondary School and Durbar Higher secondary school will also be involved in learning computer in spare time or after the school. The school will have fulltime teachers for theory and practical classes. The salary of the teacher and the maintenance expenses of the lab will be compensated from the tuition fee paid by the students for conducting the courses.

In future the lab will be facilitated with internet access for the students, once the internet supply tower is ready. The wireless internet connection will be used through the Nepal Telecom Corporation.

The entire event took place with great enthusiasm and support with the presence of journalists and media personnel who were keen to cover the event. The management team of Sambhav Nepal would like to show humble gratitude to all people involved in this mission and making this event successful. Thanks a lot to all our donors for the kind support!

Photos of the opening ceremony of the Computer Lab

Distribution of items for the hostel students of Bhawani School

The distribution of items for the hostel students of Bhawani Higher Secondary School Manbu, Gorkha took place on Aug 2nd, 2013. On the same day the headmaster of the school Mr. Ratna Prasad Pudasaini who served the school for 30 years got retired. The items were handed over to the hostel by the founder Mr. Prem K Khatry and the Board Member Mrs. Geeta R Chhetry of Sambhav Nepal.

The items were purchased from the donation by reputed Businessman from Australia Mr. Craig Ley, who is also the Supporter of Sambhav Nepal. Craig noticed the condition of the hostel during his first visit to Manbu School while conducting Gorkha Charity Trek in January, 2013. During his trek he had spent three nights camping in the same village and was able to see the bad situation of the hostel.

The hostel accommodates 42 students and it didn’t have the proper furnishing in the room. The area is too cold during winter as it snows and the floor was made up of concrete with no additional carpeting. So to enhance the condition of the hostel Craig planned to help the students by donating furnishing items to the hostel.

The hostel was provided with mattress, blankets, pillow, flooring (carpeting), bed sheet and the doormats for the convenience of the students living in the hostel. The journalists from the daily newspaper Kantipur was also present at the event. We would like to express our hearty thanks to Craig Ley for the support.

Please check out the photos of the event

Construction of Volunteer House in Bhairabi Completed

At long last the construction of Bhairabi Volunteer House is completed. The volunteer house project is sponsored by the Nepal School Project, Sydney, Australia, made possible by the generosity of Allan Waldon and Richard Jackson. It has the capacity to accommodate 5 volunteers.

The main motive of building this house with capacity to accommodate 5 people is to provide with the proper facilities for volunteers of Sambhav Nepal’s projects for assisting, complementing and/or supplementing Bhairabi Primary School’s frail English faculty.

The evolving rise in the numbers of volunteers helping in the project of Sambhav Nepal in the remote area of Gorkha lead in building the house. Though previously they were assigned to host families, the volunteers now are able to plan their stay in their own time schedule, without having to stick to the host family’s requirements. This would also give the volunteers more privacy, besides having a more economical lodging option, especially if their stay is longer.

The house includes a dorm hall, a kitchen, a balcony and lockers facility for the volunteers. It consists of a room with 5 dorm bed and western toilet outside the room along with facilities of shower in it. There is also the facility of charging phones, laptops and other electronic gadgets for the volunteer. The main objective of this house is to accommodate the community volunteers interested in assisting and training the teachers and students of Bhairabi Primary school.

The serene surroundings of the volunteer center coupled with the opportunity to immerse in the remote lifestyle of the village people will mark a rewarding experience for the volunteers. Beside this, one can always get the opportunity to enjoy stunning views of the chain of hills, the mountains (Ganesh Himal Range) and the majestic sunrise.

We are always keen and happy to provide the volunteers with facility and peaceful working environment necessary for the overall growth and development. We are looking forward and coming up with more plans in future for enhancing the facilities provided to our volunteers with comfortable environment during their stay.

Photos of Volounteer House during Construction

Photos of Volunteer House after Construciton

Gorkha Charity Trek- 2013

A charity Trek with motive of raising fund for Sambhav Nepal foundation was organized from January 3rd to 12th, 2013. The trek included visit to more than 14 different local schools of the Gorkha district. The president of Sambhav Nepal Mr. Prem K Khatry, our main sponser Mr. Allan waldon and the other major supporters of Sambhav Nepal from Australia was involved in the program. The whole event was facilitated by Ace the Himalaya and coordinated by Sambhav Nepal. The participating Members of this charity trek were:

• Prem K Khatry – President of Sambhav Nepal & Managing Director of Ace the Himalaya
• Allan Waldon – Main Supporter of the Sambhav Nepal
• Sambhav Scott Khatry – 6 years old boy, family member of Ace’s founder
• Geeta R Chhetry – Founding Member of Sambhav Nepal.
• Craig Ley – Supporter of Sambhav Nepal and Reputed Businessman from Australia
• Warren Sly – Supporter of Sambhav Nepal
• Dympna Sly – Supporter of Sambhav Nepal
• Dr. Anne Prescott – Supporter of Sambhav Nepal & Senior Lecturer in Mathematics from Australia

The main objective of this trek was to monitor the progress of the schools which Sambhav Nepal is working for and also to find other deprived schools of the region for supporting them in the near future. This 9 days trek around the remote areas of Gorkha not only helped the team find out the area where the support was lacking but also helped the team find the insight of the lives of Nepali people and their rich custom and traditions. The untouched areas where the team have visited for the first time helped a lot in gaining insight of the problem areas were further social work in future is sure to be done. The self monitoring for the areas done personally by the donors is a positive sign toward the development of the local community and especially the schools of the region. Many of the areas were visited for the first time to trek. It also helped to collect the vast knowledge about the further works to be done for the improvements. The self monitory by the donors about the needs to work for new schools were checked in personal ways.

The management team would like to show humble gratitude for making this event possible and successful. Thanks a lot for your kind support!

All Important Photos of Gorkha Charity Trek- 2013