Nepaltrip: 08. - 23. April
2019 was a special trip, as a large part of the Overlack family took part. We were also accompanied by many private sponsors and friends. There were 44 participants in total, including representatives from the Lions Club Wangen-Isny and the Augst-Renner-Realschule in Rastatt. Read more about this year's trip and our activities in our travel report.
As always, we spent the first day after our arrival in Kathmandu on April 9 th sightseeing. A total of 44 participants, including 7 family, 10 Lions Club Wangen-Isny, 6 representatives of the August Renner Realschule Rastatt, the rest friends.
Thursday, April 11, 2019:
We flew from Kathmandu to Pokhara at 9 am. In the afternoon there were the first programs:
a) Visit to the earthquake-damaged houses and reconstruction (73)
b) Visit to the Deurali School by representatives of the August Renner Realschule Rastatt (ARRS)
c) Visit to a new school with sponsors who wanted to get an idea of the condition of undeveloped schools on site.
Friday, April 12, 2019:
The traditional visit to our Morning Star Secondary School was on the agenda today.
A very warm welcome, extensive greetings and a tour of the school. The school has put a new top floor on our building 10+2. We discovered that the classrooms are very dark and have no lighting. One participant has agreed to finance LED lighting in 26 rooms.
This will provide the children with sufficient light in future. Perhaps solar panels will also be installed so that the school can generate its own electricity. (Despite many hours of sunshine, this is not yet widespread in Nepal).In the evening, we were all invited to a good meal by Arun and Vijay.
Saturday, April 13, 2019:
Today we had a mammoth program:
a) It started with the inauguration of the new classrooms for the A-level classes at Morning Glory
Saturday, April 13, 2019: Today we had a mammoth program:
a) It started with the inauguration of the new classrooms for the A-level classes at Morning Glory
School, Lekhnath. With 20,000 euros, we were able to finance just over half of the new building. A total of 60 more children can now go to school and no longer have to make the costly journey to the city (Pokhara) for their school-leaving exams. As compensation for our financing, the school provides 12 children - 7 of them girls. (Class 1 to Class 10 free of charge)
b) At the same time, we opened 2 classrooms in the Little Daffodils School, Pame. Through this 10+2 investment, 8 children were enrolled in school for 10 years
c) In the afternoon we visited the River Dale School in Armala 1 and the Kalika School in Kalika.
Sunday, 14.04.2019 was January 1, 2076 in Nepal.
Nevertheless, the community of Sikles prepared a grandiose reception for us. Together with the sponsors Lions Club Wangen-Isny, J.W., Aliud Pharma and the Nepal Kinder Overlack project, we were able to build a school for 200 children there in a record time of 8 months. The school is located approx. 38 km from our Pokhara site. The journey takes at least 3 hours + breaks.
This investment was necessary as most of the school was completely destroyed by the earthquake in April 2015. The community would have died out if the children had not had their own school in the village. The community, teachers, mayor and children were very happy about the new building.
The school furniture etc. will be installed in the next few days. Lessons will start at the beginning of May.
On the evening of April 14, we celebrated our departure in our hotel with a few bottles of Riesling sparkling wine from home.
On 15.04.19 the group disbanded:
A large part of the Lions travelers flew home immediately
Another group went to Chitwan
Another to Bhutan and also to Balthali
One couple stayed in Kathmandu
On April 15, our friends Dr. Krishna Bhandari and Vijay Vajda as well as Bert and I visited a new school, the Himalaya School in Gorje. We will be modernizing the community school there in the future. A building with modern infrastructure is urgently needed because the existing rooms are only about 2 meters high, have almost no windows and are very old. It is almost impossible to teach there.
The community of Gorje is about 36 km from Pokhara. Due to a landslide, it took us over 4 hours to get there - normally
normally 3 hours. However, the road there was adventurous.
It is a community school from kindergarten to the Abitur (grade 12). There are another 5-6 schools in the extensive area, but they only offer grades 1-5 or a maximum of 1-8. It is the only school up to the Abitur. Due to the poor conditions such as buildings, equipment, teachers, many families take their children to the city of Pokhara and the Himalaya School is becoming less and less important. Therefore, our investments are necessary for the survival of the school and the entire community (as previously in Sikles).
With our support, more children will be able to go to school and the education of the students will be significantly improved by more qualified teachers (English and mathematics). All this is organized for us by our friend and helper on site:
April 16, 2019:
After really exhausting days, a rest day in Pokhara. Bert started his mountain bike tour from Pokhara to Kathmandu today.
We are especially grateful for the support of our friends Arun Regmi and Vijay Vajda from Kathmandu Experience in Kathmandu. These friends (for over 25 years) are indispensable for us and for every successful trip.
We were particularly pleased that our children Bert and Marc and grandchildren Sandra, Philipp and Kim made this trip with us and supported us in an exemplary manner.
We are very grateful, happy and satisfied that we were able to carry out this project.
It gives us deep satisfaction and gratitude for the benefit of those who need us.
Rastatt, May 2022
Dagmar&Jörg