Construction of school in Nepal moving forward

Nepal is still scrambling to recover from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit the country 15 months ago. But, thanks to more than $24,000 in donations made to the UNMC Nepal Disaster Relief Fund at the University of Nebraska Foundation, a school is being reconstructed in the small village of Lapsiphedi, Nepal.

“It’s coming together,” said Atul Rayamajhi, director, information systems in the College of Public Health Office of the Dean. “We’re hopeful the school will be finished by the end of November.”

Rayamajhi, who was born in Nepal, is overseeing the project for UNMC. He went back to Nepal in mid-March to put together a team to help keep the reconstruction moving forward.

The school — Shree Jagriti Primary School — was originally built in 1959. It is a community-owned, government-aided school that serves a village of 1,078 people in a mostly agricultural setting.

Demolition of the old building began on April 25, exactly one year after the earthquake struck Nepal, Rayamajhi said. The new facility will be located right where the old school building existed. It will include three classrooms and possibly one community clinic room or classroom.

He is in talks with nurses to volunteer at the community clinic and is hoping to find a physician in the future. The clinic would be open a couple times a month to serve the village population.

This is a difficult time of year to do construction, Rayamajhi said, with it being the monsoon season in Nepal. In addition, crews have faced an unstable government and political situation, and, for a time, a blockade in Nepal.

Rayamajhi estimates that about 80 children will attend the new school when reconstruction is complete. Currently, the students are taking classes in temporary bamboo and tarp rooms.

Rayamajhi said the UNMC money is being used to:

• Pour a concrete slab to hold the water tank for the school’s toilet system;
• Maintain a second building which includes two classrooms;
• Demolish a third old building and the temporary bamboo rooms to provide space for a playing field;
• Build stairs, steps and a boundary wall; and
• Purchase food utensils and a one-year supply of snack food for the students.

“Buying the supply of snack foods is important in Nepal,” Rayamajhi said. “It’s been shown that more students go to school there when a meal or snack is provided by the school.”

The 2015 earthquake struck near Kathmandu. It killed more than 9,000 people and left up to 1.4 million people in the affected area without shelter, food, water and medical assistance. Temples were toppled, and it even triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest.

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