Plastering in the new rooms

Yesterday was the second anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Nepal. About 9,000 people died, more than 22,000 were injured, hundreds of thousands of homes collapsed or were severely damaged and thus became uninhabitable. Many people in the most affected mountain regions are still living in shelters. In the village of Thulosirubari in Sindhupalchowk District, about 70 kilometers east of the capital Kathmandu, has been a hive of construction activity over recent months. The donations for our aid project “School up!” have made it possible to start building a new school for more than 500 students, the construction is operated by the Nepalhilfe Beilngries. The old school had been so badly damaged by the earthquake that it later had had to be demolished. In recent weeks there have been temporary supply bottlenecks for constructions material, as well as a lack of water to mix concrete. Since the school ground is located on a hill, the water has to be pumped up or – if the pumps fail – even be carried up.

Soon twelve new classrooms

The second floor plate is ready now

Meanwhile, the second floor plate has been completed. The interior work is on (see the video below). “We are quite excited,” says Devi Dulal, chairman of the School Management Committee in Thulosirubari. “We will soon have twelve new classrooms. We are eager to shift the students from the temporary class rooms to the new building.” Another eight classrooms are still needed to house really all students, and two toilet houses have to be built, says Devi. “We dream of becoming something like a model school for Sindhupalchowk.”

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 ceiling of the first floor is concreted

Four are standing around and discussing, one is working. This image is known from public construction sites in Germany. The situation is quite different in Thulosirubari, a small village about 70 kilometers east of Kathmandu. There the new school is being built with great enthusiasm – made possible by your donations for our aid projekt “School up!”. “All villagers are happy to be able to help with the work,” says Shyam Pandit, liaison man of the German aid organization “Nepalhilfe Beilngries” in the Himalayan state. Devi Dulal, head of the local school committee, is also delighted: “This will be a unique building for us. The work on this is very satisfactory for us.” The old school had been so badly damaged by the devastating earthquake at the end of April 2015 that it had had to be demolished. At the end of June 2015, I had launched – along with the extreme climbers Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Ralf Dujmovits – “School up!” to rebuild the school as quickly as possible. In the meantime, the ceiling of the first floor has been concreted. Here are some impressions of the construction site from the past weeks:

Positively contagious

For the people of Thulosirubari the construction work on the new school is a matter truly dear to their heart – and contagious. “Some villagers have begun to rebuild their homes,” Shyam reports. “They look closely at the blueprints for the school and build their houses accordingly.” Almost all buildings in Thulosirubari had been destroyed or damaged by the earthquake almost two years ago, 75 villagers had been killed.

Grab your tickets

Ralf Dujmovits

Even though the school is becoming more and more real, we have not yet reached the goal. We need more donations. As reported before, the Rhineland section of the German Alpine Club (DAV) supports us by organizing a charity event for “School up!” on 24 March in Cologne. There, Ralf Dujmovits, the so far only German climber who has scaled all 14 eight-thousanders, will report in an exciting lecture about his mountain adventures. All revenues from the charity event will go into the construction of the school in Thulosirubari. So, don’t miss it! Online ticket sales via the DAV Cologne is on.
And for those who simply want to support our project “School up!” by donations, 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

It would be great if you could tell your friends about “School up!”. Thank you so much!!