Children's Trust Nepal

Even though the Children’s Home in Dhading is obviously the main focus of our work, we were always keen to get involved with communities in the wider area, and tackle some of the challenges faced by those living further afield.

Whereas Dhading is recognisably a small town, radiating out from a main street, with shops, schools and a small hospital, other settlements in the region are far smaller and much more widely dispersed, often being little more than a handful of houses. Chainpur is one such community, spread across one of the vast hillsides. 

As you might imagine with such small and remote settlements, there aren’t really any roads so journeys are made on foot using on a network of paths and tracks across the landscape. However this lack of easy access means that you can be several hours’ walk (if not longer) from basic education or medical facilities.

As a slightly larger settlement, Chainpur therefore acts as something of a common gathering point for these scattered inhabitants. It is also where our Housefather Babin Lama grew up, so he is only too well aware of the difficulties faced on a daily basis.

Our initial projects were to install a fresh water pipeline with several taps for villagers, followed by learning packs to help children with school, and adult-literacy courses for those who couldn’t read or write. But since our Home was completed we’ve been able to continue offering regular help.

Chainpur village school

When Babin was young enough to be a pupil, it used to take him four hours to walk to and from school as he lived at the very top of the hillside – imagine having that uphill climb at the end of every day, just to get home!

Originally built in 1988 from stone and mud, the years had taken their toll. They’d already had to replace the two smaller blocks with new buildings, but the main block had crumbling walls and a roof that leaked regularly – not good news when you have an annual monsoon season lasting four months.

So in 2013 we replaced it with five new classrooms providing much better conditions for the children to concentrate on their learning. And we’ve continued to support the school in subsequent years: redecorating it inside and out; putting down special thermal underlay and carpet on the concrete floors to make it warmer; and supplying them with new furniture, white boards, wall posters and books to enhance their teaching. We’ve also re-fitted the staffroom to provide an area of quiet respite – much to the delight of the teachers.

Chainpur Health Clinic

Here in the UK we all take the availability of medical care for granted, but when no facilities exist locally even relatively minor injuries can quickly become far more serious. So concerned were the residents of Chainpur that between them they had managed to scrape together enough funds to build a small community clinic. Unfortunately though they were unable to get any central help to equip or staff it. We therefore entered into a partnership with a local NGO to help out – we’d cover the cost of essential equipment and they would provide a qualified nurse for an initial twelve months to offer advice, care and basic treatment.

After the first year however the NGO indicated they were unable to continue their funding, so we stepped in to cover that cost for the next two years. With it’s proven success, the government has now provided an administrator to assist, and there has been discussion about possibly extending the clinic.

Chainpur Community Centre

In recognition of it’s importance to the inhabitants in the area, the government agreed to fund the building of a Community Centre so the residents have somewhere they can hold village events, meetings, etc. However the funding didn’t stretch to much inside, so we’ve been able to arrange further funds for the internal decoration, cooling fans, seating and other furniture so the villagers will be able to make the most of the centre.

Dhading Dalit School

As the Nepalese value education so highly, we have also been conscious of those who are too often overlooked. The Dalit are the lowest caste in society, but in 2019 we were able to provide assistance to the Dalit School in ###. As you can see from the photos, the school was in a pretty poor state so we were only too happy to be able to help them with redecoration, new furniture and books, so that these children can also get the opportunity to enjoy an education.

Natural disaster relief efforts

Whilst it is a lovely country with wonderful people, Nepal is also at risk from natural disasters and does not really have the means or infrastructure to cope when such disasters strike.

In 2015 a series of extremely powerful earthquakes (and numerous aftershocks) brought devastation across some central and eastern parts of the country, including the UNESCO World Heritage sites in Kathmandu and a deadly avalanche at Everest Base Camp. Fortunately our Home survived unscathed, due to it’s modern construction and quality materials, but out in the countryside many villages were effectively wiped out as the stone and mud houses simply collapsed, causing numerous deaths and injuries.

Two years later Nepal was hit by torrential monsoon flooding and deadly landslides. Experts suggested it was the worst seen by Nepal in several years – around one-third of the whole country was flooded, much of it in the poorest areas of the country, and it affected some 1.7 million people.

On both occasions we were able to raise additional funds specifically for the relief efforts, and Babin was personally involved to ensure that the money was well spent providing emergency housing, food supplies and other materials.