Bright Lights through Santa’s Windows
New skylight
Until there is enough funds for the hydro electrical project, students will not have to make do with darker classrooms and dormitories.
Wojtek raised 620 pounds in order to install new skylights and windows in the school.
Thanks to him, the tin roofing was removed and replaced with clear translucent sheeting that allows for much more natural light – he only had to run a marathon to do it!
Wojtek ran in the Athens Marathon in October and asked for sponsors to support him over his 42 km (26 miles) journey. The windows were installed last week just in time for the holiday season and the dark winter months.
Thank you Wojtek and to all those who sponsored his amazing accomplishment.
Merry Christmas to all from the roof of the world.
Secret Christmas raises UK funds
Banchory Primary School continue their support for the Helambu Project
The pupils at Banchory Primary School in North East Scotland raised a further £231 for the Helumbu project by doing some shopping at the school Secret Christmas room, organized by the PTA.
Each pupil was asked to donate £1.00 and a Christmas gift and subsequently buy a secret
gift for a friend or family member.
Banchory Primary Pupils are delighted that the funds raised from the Secret Christmas room will continue to assist the Helumbu Project which they enjoy strong links with and share learning experiences.
Banchory Primary has raised over £3000 ($4500) in the last couple of years with fundraising activities such as coffee mornings, raffles, calendar sales and special assemblies.
In November 2009 they presented their Nepalese counterparts with an embroidered banner and exchanged pen pal letters from the children.
Thanks to the support of their deputy headmistress Lynn Service, Banchory Primary aim to be committed to the Helambu Project for many years to come.
Marathon completed!
Wojtek at the marathon
He planned to finish the race below 3:30. His time was 3:19:59 – bravo!
This is what he says: “During all 42km of the race I was looking forward to the finish line at the olympic stadium.
But more importantly, I was looking for the grand finale of my motivation for running
the marathon – raising funds for new windows in the school – which took me through the long weeks of training and looking for sponsors.
Now, having completed my part, I can’t wait to see the Windows 2011 project being completed – ahead of schedule!”.
The Windows 2011 project is on its way and we will make sure to post some photos after its completion.
Thank you Wojtek for all your hard work!
Running marathon for Gangkharka school
Wojciech Szymczak, one of our recent volunteers at Pasang Memorial Community Boarding School, decided to continue his support for the school.
He will be running a m
arathon in Athens soon and raising funds for roof windows for classrooms and dormitories!
His aim is to finish the marathon below 3:30h. To find out more and support him in Windows 2011 cause, please click here.
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, includ
ing 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 Beau@HelambuProject.org 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.
Share this with your friends!
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 t
he 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 beg inn
ing 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 tell ing
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.
