As one decade ended and another started, we celebrated by handing over new classrooms to our 9th and 10th Wishner5 schools!
What was always going to be a long day started off in the cold winter darkness at 5.30am as we headed off on the 4½ hour drive to the first school, Shree Janata Secondary School. Despite more switch backs than any sensible road should have, everything ran to plan (ignoring the building rain clouds) and we arrived bang on 10am just as the school day was due to start.
The kids all lined up in the compound in their respective classes outside the new classroom building, ready for the handover ceremony. The building is now home to 35 Class 5 kids, and they also intend to build a partition to accommodate an early childhood development class from the new academic year, which starts in late April.
The headmaster gave a lovely speech thanking everyone involved, saying how thrilled and grateful he is and how it makes life for the teachers and children much easier.
They kindly fêted us and our local partner, Collective Concern Society with khatas (scarves), tikkas and a framed letter of thanks, and they proudly attached the new sign to the building.
After lots of photos, we said our goodbyes and headed off for a quick daal bhat lunch before switching cars to head off-road to the 10th school.
A Himalayan thank you to everyone involved with this project. To Hari Bhusal who coordinated the project on our behalf. Navaraj Pahadi and Ramita Manandhar of Collective Concern Society Nepal, our local partner in Sindhuli, without whom these rebuild projects would be nigh on impossible. The School Management Committee members, teachers and parents who all pulled together in support of the project to help get it finished in a timely manner. But most of all we wish to thank the Wishner Family, collectively known as the Wishner5 and DoTERRA Healing Hands Foundation, who match funded dollar for dollar a fundraiser that Alli Wishner organised last year. Once more an amazing legacy has been created that will touch the lives of many children and teachers for years to come.