Library books to an earthquake damaged Nepal community
As the edge of the loose dirt road threatened to give way under the wheels of our jeep we all wondered if we, and our donated books, were going to reach the Shree Bhimsen secondary school - located part way up a steep mountain side in rural Nepal.
Twelve years ago, after an extended stay in Nepal I set up Youth Education and Training Initiatives (YETI) Nepal, a charitable trust supporting education for disadvantaged youth. YETI also supports smaller, one-off educational projects.
When I learned The Umbrella Foundation Australia (TUFA)’S Shree Bhimsen Secondary School rebuild Stage 3 was specifically a community library and computer room, it was a logical step to offer a donation towards resourcing.
In April I met up with Linda Harwood, TUFA’S chairperson, in Kathmandu. I had the donation, Linda had a modest shopping list of titles the school had requested. So with YETI’S NZ$2500 dollar donation we went shopping.
School books are cheap in Nepal, although that is relative. If you are a school receiving little to no government funding for resources, it can be a huge expense.
Kathmandu has a number of specialised educational bookshops including the welcoming four-storied EKTA bookstore. The staff were extremely helpful and knowledgeable of their stock and the school curriculum.
Although children’s librarianship doesn’t feature on my 30 year C.V., I was very aware of making culturally appropriate selections for our intended audience. Nepali folktale picture books were stacked alongside English and Nepali language grammar books, biographies, maths, science, dictionaries and literature for all levels of learners. For the community we selected items - most bilingual - on agricultural practices and health topics. The teaching staff had requested a globe so we purchased two.
All was then transferred by taxi to the offices of a tourism operator supporting the rebuild project. We used their space to place “Donated by …” stickers on our purchases, then store them until we arranged transport to the school.
Travelling in Nepal can be fraught and we left Kathmandu early to avoid the heat and peak traffic. Two hours later we arrived at a junction point by the river where we transferred to the jeep for an extremely hair-raising ride 20 minutes up a soft dirt track.
On arrival – dusty and shaken – we were greeted by a line-up of staff and year 8-10 students. We were formally presented with scarves and garlands before being taken on a tour of the school.
Despite its name, the school offers education from pre-school to Year 10 students and has a teaching staff of 16. At present there are 180-200 students, some of whom walk up to two hours each way to attend classes.
The school (along with much of the surrounding community) was among the casualties of the 2015 earthquakes and TUFA is financing the rebuilding in partnership with the community. The final stage of the development - the library and computer room - will be on top of the building with views out over the surrounding valley and hillsides.
The current ‘library’ is a collection of well used books on a set of metal shelving, sharing space with the sewing room. There was no discernible system of organisation or issuing and time constraints meant I was unable to learn more about its operation.
In Nepal print is still of utmost importance. The school has computers but no internet connection (there’s also a lack of skills and budget to make necessary upgrades and repairs).
Although Nepal’s literacy rates are improving 2015 figures indicate the overall adult literacy rate was 63.9 percent (males 76.4 percent and females 53.1 percent) - rural communities fall behind and girls further still.
It is estimated that Nepal needs to invest over US$4 billion till 2030 to attain SDG4 - quality education. It is also estimated that Nepal is about 38 percent behind target on achieving the goals.
Our YETI donation to SBSS is a small one but with the school’s dedicated teaching staff we help extend the knowledge and world view of the students, provide teaching staff with classroom resources and opportunity for professional development and the community gains access to new ideas and information. Literacy in this resilient community is raised, assisting current and future generations of students break the poverty cycle ingrained in rural Nepal.
A visit from TUFA representatives in November will update us on progress. On a future visit to Nepal I hope to return to the school and spend some time offering library and literacy skills to the project. YETI has also offered a scholarship to support a Shree Bhimsen school leaver into tertiary studies.
In the meantime, any New Zealand librarians or their contacts visiting Nepal and wishing to contribute to the Shree Bhimsen school library we welcome donations of suitable titles. For ease we have a central drop-off point in Kathmandu. Please contact me at yetitrustnz@gmail.com