The day draws to an end

Even the darkness cannot prevent construction from continuing in Thulosirubari. For 18 hours, concrete is mixed in the small mountain village 70 kilometers east of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, transported upwards and distributed, then finally the second floor slab is casted. “Only one machine for mixing concrete was used for the work, the rest was done by physical labor,” writes Shyam Pandit, liaison man of the German aid organisation Nepalhilfe Beilngries. “Special skilled laborers were brought from Kathmandu for the casting.” After the first two parts of the new school building have been used for teaching since last spring, the construction work for the third section is now on the home straight: If everything goes according to plan, the new building with eight more classrooms could be completed in spring 2019.

Great opportunity for the people of Thulosirubari

The third section, on the right one of the two already completed parts of the building

“I am so happy to see the constructioin of the school building”, says Ram Sharan BK, Chairman of the School Management Committee. “It is a great opportunity for us to rebuild the school so quickly after the 2015 earthquake.” On behalf of the students and their parents, Ram Sharan said, he thanked Nepalhilfe Beilngries and the donators of “School up!”. He hopes “that the support will continue until the construction work will have been completed and also afterwards to further improve the education”.

Highly motivated students

The more than 500 students are also delighted with the new premises. “Everyone will feel safe from disasters such as earthquake, fire, storm, etc.,” writes Resina Nepali from Class 10 and promises: “The students will be regularly in the classrooms and increase the hard work after completing reconstruction of the building.” For Sabita Shrestha from Class 12, the fact of being able to be taught in the same building reinforces the feeling of equality in everyone. “The buildings help to improve our education better than before.”

“Our God in Germany”

Working till late at night

Once again I would like to ask you not to let up in your support of our aid project “School up!”, which I launched after the devastating earthquake in Nepal in 2015 with the top climbers Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Ralf Dujmovits, in order to rebuild the destroyed school of Thulosirubari as quickly as possible. We still need money to finish the construction work as planned. “I would like to thank the donators,” writes student Resina. “They are our God from Germany.”

Here once again the bank account:

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

If you indicate this intended purpose, the money will end up in Thulosirubari. A thousand thanks also from me! You are great!

The first two buildings are finished

When I saw the pictures, I found myself almost in tears – for joy! The year 2018 could hardly begin any better. This week I received the news from Thulosirubari that the students have moved from provisional corrugated-iron classrooms, that had been built after the devastating earthquake in Nepal in April 2015, to the first two finished buildings of the new school. A big day for our aid project “School up!” which I had launched along with the climbers Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Ralf Dujmovits more than two and a half years ago!

Yellow colour required

First lessons in the new classrooms

Our goal was to rebuild as quickly as possible the school in the village of Thulosirubari, located about 70 kilometers east of the capital Kathmandu, which had been destroyed in the quake. Several hundred children and adolescents from the mountain region were and are being taught there. In September 2016, the foundation stone was laid for the new school. At the end of December, the pale yellow paint, prescribed by the government of Nepal, was applied, and the construction company handed over the first two parts of the building.

Together we will make the difference

Thulosirubari

“The students and the school family are so happy to get new classrooms in safe buildings,” Shyam Pandit, liaison man of the “Nepalhilfe Beilngries”, writes to me. The German aid organization has coordinated the construction of the school, which has become possible through your donations for “School up!”. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your generosity. As you can see, your money has worked successfully. “Together we can and we will make a difference,” Sunil Krishna Shrestha, the coordinator of the “Nepalhilfe Beilngries” in Nepal for 25 years, writes to me.

Let’s go on!

A third building is to follow

The joy accompanying the success on this first, very, very important stage should give us new impetus. Finally, a third building is to be built on the site, as well as toilets for girls and boys are needed. So we have not yet arrived at the destination but continue to rely on your donations. We are happy about every euro. 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

If you indicate this intended purpose, the money will flow directly into the construction work of the school in Thulosirubari. I will continue to keep you informed about the progress of the project in my blog.

Update 6 January: The students of Thulosirubari have sent this message to the “Nepalhilfe Beilngries”: “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.”

New school buildings in Thulosirubari (picture from today)

The finishing line of the first stage of our aid project “School up!” is in sight: The first two buildings of the new school in the Nepalese mountain village of Thulosirubari will most probably be ready for occupation before the beginning of winter. The doors are fitted these days,  Shyam Pandit, liaison man of the German aid organization “Nepalhilfe Beilngries” in the Himalayan state, writes to me. The windows are already installed. Subsequently, only the painting is missing. By the end of the month, says Shyam, the contractor wants to hand over the two first building units. Then the construction work will go on.

Carry on!

Doors and painting still missing

A third building is to be built, as well as toilets for girls and boys. So we have not yet arrived at the final destination. Along with the climbers Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Ralf Dujmovits, I had launched “School up!” two and half years ago to rebuild purposefully the school of Thulosirubari, a mountain village about 70 km east of Kathmandu. The school had been destroyed by the devastating earthquake in Nepal in April 2015. Since then, several hundred children and adolescents have been taught in corrugated-iron huts, which were used as provisional class rooms. In September 2016, the foundation stone was laid for the new school.

Your money works

Schoolchildren in Thulosirubari

At this point I would like to thank all of you who made with your donations possible what we have achieved so far. Alone through my donation bike tour “School up! River down!” in September, when I drove with my folding bike almost 1,500 kilometers from the source to the mouth of the Rhine in twelve days, we collected approximately 2,800 euros. You can see in the pictures that your money really works. I ask you to continue supporting “School up!”. Do you want to do a good deed in the Advent season? We are happy about every euro. 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

If you indicate this intended purpose, the money will flow directly into the construction work of the school in Thulosirubari. I will continue to keep you informed about the progress of the project in my blog. Promised!

“Family meeting” in Beilngries

An aid organization like a family – the Nepalhilfe Beilngries celebrated its 25th birthday yesterday evening with a festive event in the small Bavarian town. “I am proud that I have been part of the Nepalhilfe family since it was founded,” said Sunil Shrestha in his speech, bravely delivered in German. The 57-year-old has been coordinating the aid projects of the organization in the Himalayan state for a quarter of a century. Sunil and Shyam Pandit, also an important liaison man, had traveled, along with their wifes, from Kathmandu to Beilngries to celebrate with their German and Austrian friends. “The family should be proud of what we have achieved,” Shrestha said.

Trekking with consequences

The balance is really impressive. Over the past 25 years, the organization has built 28 school buildings in Nepal. 20,000 children were trained there. In addition, the Nepalhilfe is running orphanages, a hospital and an old people’s home. It financed fire engines, water pipes and much more. Everything had started very small. Four policemen from Beilngries – Christian Thumann, Manfred Lindner, Karl and Michael Rebele – gave a lecture on their experiences during a trekking trip to Nepal on 11 March 1992. The revenue of this event in their hometown, 3000 Mark (the old German currency), was the starting capital of the Nepalhilfe. A success story took its course.

Hats off!

Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Hans Kammerlander, Ralf Dujmovits and Jürgen Winkler (from right to left)

Soon there was a broad network of Nepal friends, among them famous climbers like Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Ralf Dujmovits and Hans Kammerlander or the top mountain photographer Juergen Winkler, who actively helped raise donations for the aid projects. “Ten million euros have come together over the past 25 years,” said Ralf Petschl, the chairman of the Nepalhilfe Beilngries, which currently has 15 highly committed members. “Hats off to all of them,” Sunil Shrestha thanked on behalf of his many compatriots, who have benefited from the work of the Nepalhilfe during the last quarter century.

Only a few tickets left for charity event in Cologne

Construction site in Thulosirubari

The Nepalhilfe Beilngries also plays an important role for the “School up!” project, which I launched together with Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Ralf Dujmovits in June 2015. The donations for the reconstruction of the school in Thulosirubari, which had been destroyed by the devastating earthquake in Nepal, flow to the Nepalhilfe. They also coordinate and supervise the construction project in the small village, 70 km east of Kathmandu. It seems as if the first two buildings sections can be completed this year. At this point, a big thanks to all of you who donated for “School up!”. By the way, there are only a few tickets for the charity event of the DAV section Rhineland-Cologne with Ralf Dujmovits next Friday. So, hurry up!

For those who want to support “School up!”, here again the bank account of the 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

I will continue to inform you about the progress of the project in my blog. So you can see how your money works. For the children in Thulosirubari!

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!!

Foundation work almost finished

“We are so happy seeing the re-construction – and that the building is designed to resist earthquakes,” says Hari Bikram, the 43-year-old headteacher of Thulosirubari. The construction work in the small mountain village 70 kilometers east of the Nepali capital Kathmandu continues at high speed. “The plinth work has almost been finished,” Shyam Pandit, Nepalese liaison of the German relief organization “Nepalhilfe Beilngries”, writes to me. I wanted to know from him whether the work will be stopped in winter. “No stop. I will continue construction work,” the contractor replied, says Shyam. However, it’s going to be a little slower in the cold season than now.

Students still feel panic

With joint forces

“It is a good feeling to know that our children are getting a good education, and without fear when the building will be finished,” says headmaster Hari Bikram. “Even now they still feel panic. The students say they can hardly wait to move from the TLCs (Temporary Learning Centers, which were made of corrugated iron) to a new safe building. We are so proud of all donators.” The fact that the new school is being built is due to all who have given money for our project “School up!”. I had launched the campaign in June 2015, along with the climbers Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Ralf Dujmovits, after the old “Gerlinde and Ralf School” in Thulosirubari had been so badly damaged by the devastating earthquake on 25 April 2015 that it had had to be demolished. “We hope that the new building with twelve classrooms will be finished before the monsoon next summer,” Shyam Pandit writes.

DAV charity event in Cologne with Ralf Dujmovits

Ralf Dujmovits

We have not yet reached our goal and need further donations. You should save a date: The Rhineland section of the German Alpine Club (DAV) supports our “School up!” program with a charity event on 24 March in Cologne. Ralf Dujmovits, 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. We will also present current pictures from Thulosirubari that evening. All revenue from the charity event will go into the project. Online ticket sales via DAV Cologne have already begun.

That’s a nice Christmas gift for a mountain friend, right? And if you’re itching to donate just before the Christmas season, the children in Thulosirubari would be pleased. Here 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 to you all!

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!

Schoolchildren in Thulosirubari

… go! Not only Olympic athletes are currently waiting for this call. People in Thulosirubari are in the starting blocks too. Hopefully we are only few days away from the start of the construction of the new school at this small village in Sindhupalchowk District in Nepal. According to the German aid organization “Nepalhilfe Beilngries” finally all bureaucratic barriers have been broken down so that the school for 700 children and adolescents in Thulosirubari can be rebuilt. That has been and will be the goal of the aid project “School up!” that I had launched along with the professional climbers Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner from Austria and Ralf Dujmovits from Germany a year ago. The “Gerlinde and Ralf School”, which had been inaugurated only in 2009, was so badly damaged by the devastating earthquake in Nepal on 25 April 2015 that it had to be demolished.

Long and winding road

Stones for the new school

“We are going to do our next meeting with the contractor this week, after that we’ll start the work,” Arjun Gatraj, the chairman of the school committee in the village, which lies some 70 kilometers east of Kathmandu, writes to me. Sunil Shrestha and Shyam Pandit, the liaison men of “Nepalhilfe Beilngries” in Nepal, have completed a truly “Olympic program” in recent months to obtain all permits and stamps for the construction project. Those who (often with good reason) complain about cumbersome and excessive bureaucracy in western countries could experience in Nepal that an increase is possible: The road through the involved authorities is even much longer and more winding. Many employees in Nepalese offices feel and act just as if they were little kings, because they know that things cannot go on without their permission.

Only two-storied buildings

The new school building is to be built here

Thanks to Sunil and Shyam this probably most difficult phase of the project is now behind us. In the first of three construction stages the first building section with classrooms is to be built. The Nepalese government has ruled that due to the risk of earthquakes only two-storied school buildings should be built in the future – in the form of the letters H or U. Of course, I will continue to keep you up to date about what will happen in Thulosirubari. Arjun will provide me with first-hand information and pictures of the construction progress.

Thanks to your donations the construction is about to start at all. So far we have collected more than one third of the required sum. We need more donations for “School up!” to finance also the second and third construction phase. 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

Please tell others as well! Thank you so much!

P.S.: If you want to read my previous articles on this subject – including those about my visit in the earthquake region last March – simply click on the top bar at “School up!”, there you will find all posts concerning our aid project.