Shyam Pandit (l.) at the construction site at Thulosirubari

“The construction work is going smoothly,” writes Shyam Pandit, liaison man of the German aid organisation “Nepalhilfe Beilngries” in Nepal. In Thulosirubari, a small mountain village about 70 kilometers east of the capital Kathmandu, the third part of the new school with eight additional classrooms is being built. The foundations are laid, the base plate is soon to be concreted. If all goes well, this third building could be ready by 2019. The first two buildings with classrooms for twelve school classes were – as reported – ceremonially inaugurated in March. At that time Ralf Dujmovits, the only German climber so far who stood on all 14 eight-thousanders, and I laid the foundation stone for the next construction phase in Thulosirubari.

“A new beginning for our dreams”

The foundations are laid

All this has been made possible by your donations for “School up!”, the aid project I had launched after the devastating earthquake in April 2015 along with Ralf and the Austrian top climber Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner (she was the first woman in the world to climb all eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen). The money that Gerlinde, Ralf and I collect goes directly into this one construction project that the “Nepalhilfe Beilngries” has been organizing and carrying out for us. I repeat the words of thanks that the students of Thulosirubari sent us at the beginning of the year: “We still remember that day. It was Saturday, 25 April 2015, when we lost our houses – and our dreams too between the colapsed buildings. We heard that God comes in many shapes. Some came to our place to reshape our damaged confidence. With our open heart, we thank you for your big heart, for reviving our hopes again. And our dreams have now got a new start.”

Please continue to support us!

To complete the third school building too, we are still dependent on your support. Once again the bank account of “School up!”:

Recipient: Nepalhilfe Beilngries e.V.
Bank: Volksbank Bayern Mitte eG/Germany
IBAN: DE05 7216 0818 0004 6227 07
BIC/SWIFT-Code: GENODEF1INP
Intended purpose: Gerlinde and Ralf School

A thousand thanks – also on behalf of the people of Thulosirubari!

Update 3 July: Now the iron girders are also mounted – despite the monsoon, which means that construction work has to be temporarily suspended due to rainfall.

The next construction phase begins

Three years ago, the earth shook in Nepal. Nearly 8,000 people were killed in the devastating earthquake on 25 April 2015 and the aftershocks in the following weeks. Even today, numerous traces of the earthquake can still be found in the capital Kathmandu, and the rural areas, which were particularly hard hit. But a lot has happened. For example in Thulosirubari. Thanks to your donations for our aid project “School up!”, last March – as reported – the first two buildings of the new school with a total of twelve classrooms could be inaugurated in the small mountain village, located about 70 kilometers east of the capital. On this occasion, German climber Ralf Dujmovits and I also laid the foundation for the next phase of construction. As you can see in the picture, sent to me by Dulal Tanka from Thulosirubari, the construction of the third building with eight more classrooms is now beginning.

Please continue to support us!

The toilet house

Also the toilet house behind the school is taking shape. You see, your money keeps working. However, we have not yet reached the finish line. Once again here is the bank account of “School up!”:

Recipient: Nepalhilfe Beilngries e.V.
Bank: Volksbank Bayern Mitte eG/Germany
IBAN: DE05 7216 0818 0004 6227 07
BIC/SWIFT-Code: GENODEF1INP
Intended purpose: Gerlinde and Ralf School

Thank you so much! You are great!

Construction site with puddles

The weather currently makes life tough not only for the mountaineers in the Karakoram. Also in Nepal it thwarts many time schedules. The work on the new school in Thulosirubari has now been slower because of the monsoon, writes me Shyam Pandit, Nepalese liaison man of the “Nepalhilfe Beilngries”. The German aid organization coordinates the construction of the new school building, which became possible through your donations for “School up!”. Along with the well-known climbers Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Ralf Dujmovits, I had launched the donation campaign two years ago to rebuild the village school of Thulosirubari, about 70 kilometers east of the capital Kathmandu, as quickly as possible. The school had been so badly damaged by the devastating earthquake in Nepal on 25 April 2015 that it had had to be demolished. Since fall 2016 the construction work is in progress. Actually, the first construction phase should have been completed before the rainy season.

Now handover date in August

However, according to the contractor, the building material temporarily ran short. In addition, the local elections in Nepal in mid-May, the first in the country in 20 years, delayed the work. The contractor wants now to hand over the new buildings at the end of August at the latest, writes me Shyam. Until then, the toilets and a water reservoir are also to be completed. You can see in the little slideshow below that the construction work continues even during the monsoon.

We have already come a long way with “School up!” but have not yet reached the goal. We need more donations. Here again the bank account of our aid project:

Recipient: Nepalhilfe Beilngries e.V.
Bank: Volksbank Bayern Mitte eG/Germany
IBAN: DE05 7216 0818 0004 6227 07
BIC/SWIFT-Code: GENODEF1INP
Intended purpose: Gerlinde and Ralf School

Already now a thousand thanks for your support. It would be great if you could tell your friends about “School up!”.

The building is taking shape

It is certainly no mistake to start a new year with good news: the construction work at the new school in Thulosirubari continues to progress at a high rate. “The contractor’s target is to handover the new finishing of this new school building of Thulosirubari (Gerlinde and Ralf School) by the end of April 2017,“ writes Sunil Krishna Shrestha, the liaison man of the German aid organization “Nepalhilfe Beilngries” in Kathmandu. If the “speedy work” continues, the entrepreneur will fulfill his contractual obligations, says Sunil. Until now, the goal was to complete the construction work on the building (without painting) of the new “Gerlinde and Ralf School” at the latest until the beginning of the monsoon in summer. In this slideshow you can follow the construction progress since early December:

Targeted aid

You can see, our project “School up!” is living. Thanks to your donations, the people of Thulosirubari, a small village 70 kilometers east of the capital, can now look ahead more optimistically. The education of their children is dear to them. They know: It is an investment in the future. We have not yet reached the goal. Please continue to donate and tell your friends of our project to rebuild the village school that was destroyed by the devastating earthquake in April 2015! All funds for “School up!” flow into this construction project, if you specify the purpose “Gerlinde and Ralf school”. I will continue to report on the progress of the construction work in my blog. Here again the bank account in Germany:

Recipient: Nepalhilfe Beilngries e.V.
Bank: Volksbank Bayern Mitte eG/Germany
IBAN: DE05 7216 0818 0004 6227 07
BIC/SWIFT-Code: GENODEF1INP
Intended purpose: Gerlinde and Ralf School

Ralf Dujmovits

Tickets already on sale

And here once again the hint to the charity event of the German Alpine Club (DAV) for “School up!” with Ralf Dujmovits on 24 March in Cologne. The so far only German who has scaled all 14 eight-thousanders will be talking about his adventures on the highest mountains of the world. All revenues from the charity event will go into our project “School up!”. Online ticket sales via the DAV Cologne is on. Grab tickets in time!

Excavation for the foundations

“School up!” is no longer just a donation campaign, but a project that is realized. Thanks to your donations, the first building of the new school is being constructed in the small village of Thulosirubari, some 70 kilometers east of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu. “Digging foundation has been started. Construction materials have been dropped on site,” Shyam Pandit wrote to me these days. Shyam is the liaison man of the German aid organization “Nepalhilfe Beilngries” in Nepal. “I was on-site and talked to the contractor. He said and committed, the building would be finished before the next raining season June/July 2017, except painting. They are really moving on.”

Exemplary

The plans are drawn up

Also in the village, some residents have started to rebuild their houses which had been destroyed by the devastating earthquake on 25 April 2015. “They learn from the school construction,” Arjun Gatraj, the former chairman of the school committee, wrote to me. The earthquake about a year and a half ago had killed nearly 9,000 people in Nepal. Sindhupalchowk District was particularly hard hit. In Thulosirubari alone 75 people died, including eight children, who had been students of the “Ralf and Gerlinde School”,which had been built by “Nepalhilfe Beilngries” and inaugurated six years before. Only the fact that the earth shook on a Saturday off school, had prevented more young victims. Just 30 to 40 of the 1,800 houses in the region around the village had remained undamaged.

Government prescribes new style of painting

Dredging

The school had been damaged so badly that it had had to be demolished. In the summer of 2015, I had launched, along with the two climbers Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Ralf Dujmovits, the donation campaign “School up!” with the goal of rebuilding the school in Thulosirubari as soon as possible. All donations for “School up!” really end up in the construction project, which is implemented by “Nepalhilfe Beilngries”. Due to their numerous projects in the region, the German aid organization has been a known quantity there for almost a quarter of a century. The previously characteristic white-blue appearance of the “Nepalhilfe” buildings will be missing in Thulosirubari. The Nepali government has prescribed that all new schools in the country must have a red roof, a light yellow exterior paint and dark red doors. As if there were no more important things to regulate in Nepal!

We still need your support

The pits for the foundations

So be it! “School up!” is not for self-praising but to guarantee education and thus the future of the children from Thulosirubari and the surrounding area. 575 students are to be taught in the new classrooms. The overall cost of the school is not yet completely financed. We need more donations. Here again the bank account:

Recipient: Nepalhilfe Beilngries
Bank: Volksbank Bayern Mitte eG/Germany
IBAN: DE05 7216 0818 0004 6227 07
BIC/SWIFT-Code: GENODEF1INP
Intended purpose: Gerlinde and Ralf School

I will continue to inform you about the progress of the construction work in my blog. So you can see how your donations “work”. All previous reports can be found by clicking on “School up!” in the upper menu bar. Please also tell your friends about this project. Thank you so much!