Dentists’ Visit
Dear Friends and Supporters,
We would like to thank everyone who answered out appeal over the past few months and donated funds to our school. Your support helped the school a lot – we were able to buy some food before the monsoon season. Thank you everyone, you are really making a difference!
Last few months were quite busy at Pasang Memorial Community Boarding School. Few weeks ago, we had a dental heath camp at the school. Dentist volunteers from Sushma Koirala Memorial Hospital in Sankhu visited Gangkharka and gave check-ups to all of our students. For most of the kids, it was their first dentist visit in their lives. There was a long line to the check-up room. Everyone was brave and some of our pupils, who had dental problems, were very happy to have their teeth fixed. Big thank you to the great team of Sushma Koirala Memorial Hospital!
Galston coffee morning and Fayre
Galston Coffee Morning
On Saturday morning 12th June a very successful fund raising event took place at Galston Parish Church Hall, in Ayrshire, Scotland. A total of£2586 was raised on the day and eventually reached a final total of £2900 once all the monies were collected.
A group of dedicated ladies from Galston with help from many friends, including Galston Primary School exceeded all expectations by raising this fantastic amount, this was entirely due to the hard work by all concerned and over 300 visitors who came along and sampled the delicious baking that was on offer, all in the beautiful surroundings of the Hogg Hall.
A number of stalls displayed a large selection of books and bric a brac, and a lucky dip stall where everyone got a prize, Galston primary had a stall which was filled with candles, cards , plants and other gifts which were all hand made by a number of classes, supported by their teachers
‘On behalf of the children from Pasang Memorial school I would like to say thank you to everyone who supported the coffee morning and help raise these much needed funds which will support the further development of this beautiful and remote school’ Matt Dodds
Urgent appeal for your support
Act Now! Donate!
Please donate to the basket fund on Wide Awake’s website
Pasang Memorial Community Boarding School needs $8000 to buy food before the monsoon rains wash away the roads and make it impossible for us to send any more food. Without the money the school may have to close. There are few other schools in the region and many of them are already full. 100% of all donations go to the project. The children at the school come from historically marginalized ethnic groups and really deserve a chance at an education.
Please contact us at vecgangkharka@gmail.com for any more information about the project, donating, etc. If you would like to sponsor a child, please contact us. We appreciate the support you can provide in these hard times.
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UK fundraising update
Springtime 2010 brought some fresh fundraising for the Helambu Project. These included an holding an Open House whereby neighbours and friends of Helen Cross, Crathes, Scotland dropped by to buy bakes and other sale items and a raffle was also held. A music quiz was held in Banchory, Scotland in which over 300 people took part. Elsewhere in the village the local Brownies pack held a bring and buy sale and raised further funds by being sponsored for the tasks required for their Homecraft badges. One of the Brownies went a step further by also being sponsored to give up sweeties (candy) for the 40 days of Lent! In the South West of Scotland Matt Dodds held a fundraising talk ‘A night in Nepal’ in which he presented photographs and discussed the work of the project to his local community in Galston. We also secured individual donations from throughout the UK
Despite the difficult economic circumstances we find ourselves in at present, we’d like to thank all of our UK support for their hard work and generosity. For more information on these and other fundraisers, take a look at our UK blog and fundraising page
500kg of Clothes & Toys Distributed!
Last year, our Polish volunteer organized a fund raiser in Warsaw. She collected over 500 kg of clothes, toys, blankets, bed sheets and books. On Thursday, March 11th, we distributed some of the clothes, shoes and blankets from the shipment among our students. It was a great event at our school and all the kids enjoyed their new pants, shirts, jackets, hats and gloves. Some of the kids were cold at nights and they received blankets. We decided to keep some of the clothes and distribute them after the beginning of the next school year in April and before the next winter. The toys decorated some of the classrooms and will be distributed among children and used as teaching aids. Everyone at the school was very excited and it was a great day for all of us. You can see a very short movie here.
We would like to thank all the contributors and Agnieszka, the volunteer who made it happen.
Penpal letters arrive in the UK
Some of the children from Gangkharka wrote Pen Pal letters to the pupils of Banchory Primary School telling them about themselves, their school and the area the live in. The Banchory teachers were amazed at the high standard of the grammar and very neat writing by some of the children and all of the letters were very colourful. So the reply letters had a lot to live up to!
Banchory Primary School, based in the North East of Scotland, has raised thousands of pounds for their sister school since the pupils set up BHH ‘Banchory Helps Helambu’ in 2008.
Over 300 Treated in Helambu Health Camp!
November was a busy month here at Helambu. We had a visit from Helambu Project UK team who conducted a health camp in the school and nearby villages. Four medical professionals, translators and other volunteers donated their time by coming to Nepal and giving all our students free check-ups. With generous donations from Helambu Project UK, Krzysztof from Poland, Wide Awake and others, we were able to provide medicine for the check-up and for the next three months at our school.
For more information about the visit and their impressions, have a look at the Helambu UK blog
School Cultural Day Concert
The school held a concert in November 2009 to welcome the arrival of several members of the Helambu Project. Matt Dodds, Pearl Wight and Mike Steven and family from Helambu UK were introduced not just to the school for the first time, but also to the wider Helambu Project team including Chris Limburg, Danielle Preiss, and Daniel Coyle from Helambu USA and Volunteer Coordinator Ola Perczynska.
This was an extraordinary 3-hour concert in which the children performed traditional songs and dances from their region, even singing some songs in English. Indeed, most amazing of all was that the entire show was compeered in both Nepalese and English by two of the pupils. There were also presentations of certificates recognising the hard work and support of some of the villagers with speeches from the headmaster and teachers.
VEC has Gone Nomad in the Press
Check out this informational article about volunteering with our school in Nepal. GoMad Nomad Travel Mag is the magazine for those who want to get off the beaten path, and really experience a new place. It was the perfect place for VEC to promote its volunteer and intern opportunities. We hope this article piques the interest of potential volunteers who may want to come to Gangkharka, and play an active role in its development. A special thanks to Anna, one of our volunteers for supplying the photos!
A New Partnership
Now you can make secure, tax-deductible donations to our school online at www.wideawake.org. Wide Awake International is an organization that promotes the work of grassroots NGOs from around the globe, and VEC is honored to be among those chosen. Donate to a project of your choosing, and watch videos from the school. Just over a year has passed since we built Gangkharka’s first school! Help us keep up the momentum.