Nepal

Read the next part of Nitish Upadhyaya’s blog from his recent visit to Nepal. If you haven’t read it yet, catch up on Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. Back in the office, I continue to learn about how our classrooms are being built.  We’re using earthquake resilient bands to tie the walls to the frame to prevent the walls collapsing in the event of seismic shocks. We’re ensuring our concrete blocks are made to the highest standard by carrying...

Nitish Upadhyaya, one of our trustees recently visited Nepal and tells us his story. Here he tells of his return to the Helambu Valley. If you haven’t read it yet, catch up on Part 1 and Part 2. As news of the first earthquake trickled through on 25 April 2015, I had waited with growing dread to hear the fate of my friends and that of the villages which I had fallen in love with.  Just over a year on, I...

Nitish Upadhyaya, one of our trustees recently visited Nepal and tells us his story. Here he tells of meeting with various development agencies. If you haven’t read it yet, catch up on Part 1. Gorgeous views as we drive to Chautara, Sindhupalchowk for a workshop with the District Disaster Relief Committee.  This regional organisation brings together NGOs and INGOs working across various cluster groups (education, livelihoods, health etc.) and gives the district government a chance to evaluate progress in the...

Nitish Upadhyaya, one of our trustees recently visited Nepal and tells us his story. On his third visit to the country, he saw first hand the devastation caused by the 2015 earthquakes but also our progress on school re-construction efforts and the hope that this is bringing to the Helambu valley. I’ve barely landed and Jimmy and I are already discussing making the most of my short visit to Nepal.  Catch up on news about family (Jimmy has a new little...

The final part of our CEO’s trip to Nepal saw him attend teaching training sessions organised to help schools improve the quality of their education offering. Catch up on the story so far if you’ve missed Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. or Part 4. The Helambu visit happened to coincide with a teacher-training day Jimmy had organised and I was invited to address the group.  The session involved all the 20 teachers we are funding.  I...

Our CEO’s visit continued with the opening of our first new school since the earthquake. Catch up on the story so far if you’ve missed Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3. The visit in Helambu ended on a high and successful note as we convened with the Loughborough University students to open Birkharka school’s first three classrooms.  Built in traditional stone, but with reinforced steel added to the walls, plus additional buttresses, the classrooms were much praised...

Our CEO continued his trip to Nepal, this time taking in potential sites for new rebuilding projects. Catch up on the story so far if you’ve missed Part 1 or Part 2. Two substantial schools were the target of our next visits.  The first, at Gufa, took us 2,600 metres up into the highest of the foothills, where normally we would have seen Yangrima Mountain off in the midst of Langtang to the north.  Sadly the visibility was poor,...

Read about our CEO’s recent visit to Nepal where he saw first hand the devastation caused by the earthquake in April 2015 but also the hope that Mondo’s projects are bringing to the survivors. The journey from Kathmandu over the foothills to the Helambu valley offers splendid vistas of the Langtang range.  But on this, our first visit since the earthquake, it was not the views that attracted our attention but the swathes of decimated houses that bordered the road.  The...

1 February 2016 It has been an amazing start to 2016, and our team have been working around the clock without a break to push forward re-building efforts in the Helambu region. We’re proud to announce that January saw the first foundation stones being laid at numerous sites across the valley as our reconstruction project builds momentum. Our team, including a trained local architect who is working on the design and building work, visited a number of schools, including Pading, Birhkarka and...