Hon OVs’ Nepalese Adventure

Former Headmaster Tim Keyes (Hon OV) and John Walton (Hon OV) have just returned from their latest visit to the mountainous top NE corner of Nepal where, as trustees of the Himalayan Trust UK, they are involved in a long-term project to improve both education and community health in the villages there. They were delighted for this trip to welcome Andy Guest (Hon OV) as one of six volunteers in a party of ten who spent a month visiting 23 schools and a number of health posts, working in close partnership with Nepali colleagues from two NGOs based in Kathmandu but with field offices in the Taplejung District where the work is based. Tim reports as follows:

“November is possibly the best month to visit Nepal. The temperature is in the mid-20s and there is seldom any rain. It is harvest time. Stories of floods and, later, snow back in the UK seemed a little unreal as we walked from school to school in warm sunshine in the beautiful setting of the foothills of the Himalayas, overseen by the white tops of the Mt Kanchenjunga range of the Himalayas. This settled period of the year, however, should not lull one into thinking that this is how things are for much of the rest of the year. The monsoon season, which usually lasts from June to August, started earlier and finished later this year, and was more violent than usual. We saw multiple landslides and the results of serious flooding during our travels.

“The Himalayan Trust UK works through a Nepali NGO, REED Nepal, to deliver the teacher training and school improvement programme that is at the heart of our work. We were delighted to see evidence in most schools that the training is really starting to become embedded to the extent that we feel that almost half the schools we support should now be able to manage to train their own staff with minimal input from the trainers from REED.

“On a typical school visit, we are given a formal welcome by pupils and teachers, which usually involves the hanging of multiple garlands of marigolds (made by the pupils) around our necks. We usually try to arrive in time for their school assembly; a highly disciplined event that takes place out of doors. These assemblies are typically led by senior pupils and include around 10 minutes of Brain Gym (a series of exercises designed to get mind and body working in harmony). We will then visit a number of lessons. There was a particular focus this year on Science Laboratories and Libraries since we have managed to get them installed now in all secondary schools thanks to the generosity of donors. The best lessons, as in this country, are well planned, allow students to take the initiative and to work in groups, and are conducted by teachers who bring energy and fun to the experience. It was great to see really good lessons being taught without any benefit of electricity and using home-made resources. In every school, the pupils were focused on their work and clearly wanting to make the most of the educational opportunities on offer.

“The physical challenges of our trip were quite testing at times. Most school visits required us to climb steep hills, and some paths were on the edge of steep drops. We spent some nights camping when there was nowhere else to stay and the nearest that one came to having a shower was bracing oneself under a cold tap. Everyone adapted well to the conditions and there was a strong sense of mutual support. We look back on many strong impressions: the towering backdrop of Mt Kanchenjunga throughout out trip; the richness of bird life including two occasions when we saw golden eagles; the colourful dance displays that we saw in many schools; the facial jewellery and richly coloured clothing of the women of the Limbu tribe; the harvest activity taking place in every village (cardamom, rice, millet and maize); but above all, the eager faces of boys and girls and their readiness to engage with what must have seemed to them a very strange group of people!”