Approvals, demolition, and documentaries
Last month some ABIN Board members returned to Nepal to meet with Nepali government officials, and our local design team (Creative Services). On this trip ABIN entered into a partnership agreement with the Society For Economic Development (SODEC), a Nepali non-profit. This was an important step as such partnerships are required in order work in Nepal. Rob, Parshu, and Dave spent many hours working with Creative Services. Our goal of finalizing the school design and submitting it to both the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) and Central Level Project Implementation Unit (CLPIU) for approvals was achieved. We will be constructing the walls using an interlocking style of concrete block. This system is a dry laid type of masonry that is reinforced with rebar and concrete grout. Important from a seismic perspective, cast-in-place concrete lintels poured above and below all window and door openings and at the top of walls. The lintels run completely around the whole structure at these intervals. When we visited the school site in fall 2016 it wasn’t possible to drive to the school; however, the people of Apchaur have since built a road, partially by hand, so that we can bring supplies up to the school site.
One of the buildings fell in the 2015 earthquake and has been replaced by a temporary structure built from corrugated steel and bamboo. The other building was heavily damaged and condemned. The people of Apchaur were trying to raise the 25,000 rupees ($350 CDN, approx. half a year salary in Nepal) needed to demolish the second building, which had to happen before we could begin construction. Raising money is difficult for farming communities as they mainly deal in barter trade, so this was going to take all the village’s saving and more. While at the village last month, ABIN made the decision to give the village this much-needed money. The villagers were very pleased, and got around 30 people over the following days to demolish the building. We are now ready to start building!
Nick Versteeg of DV Media joined the ABIN board in Nepal. Nick is working on a follow-up to his documentary on the 2015 earthquake. We will let you know when his newest documentary is complete. Please take a look at Nick’s website for information and a blog about his time in Nepal. All the stunning images in this post were provided by Nick.
Over the next few weeks we hope to be sharing with you news about supplies being brought in and the foundation commencing. This dream has become reality and we are grateful for everyone involved. We are still about $20,000 away from our goal to complete this school so please consider making a donation, you can even send an email money transfer to info@anotherbrickinnepal.com as this avoids the fees charged by GoFundMe.
Progress…
We wanted to take a moment to say a HUGE thank-you to all of our amazing supporters. It is thanks to you that the dream will become a reality, and soon! We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our community, especially the local construction companies. These t-shirts are currently in Nepal (and available for purchase to support us!) displaying the names of some of these generous donors.
Rob set off with some of the team last Thursday to visit the village and meet with various officials as we complete the plans and start to collect materials for building. Nick Versteeg, the talented local filmmaker (dvmedia.ca), met with them yesterday at the village to capture some of the journey for his next piece. We should be able to share some of his images with you over the coming weeks.
Here are some pictures from the visit:
We learned in the past few weeks that the Nepali Department of Education wants to partner with us to rebuild the school in Apchaur, and hopefully continue to work with us on future projects. This is a huge step forward and should enable us to build more and cut through the red tape a little bit faster! This makes your donations even more important; we are around halfway to our intital goal right now and we need to have the materials collected before the monsoon season kicks off in full force. Please donate what you can, every bit helps. You can send interac money transfers to info@anotherbrickinnepal.com or visit our GoFundMe page to donate online.
Exciting Updates!
This is a blog that is a long time coming and I am very excited to share our updates.
In each of our bi-weekly meetings we seem to launch forward, which is very exciting, as our dream is becoming reality. We have been working hard to finalize school plans; we have our project manager, Dave, leading this with our contact in Nepal. Our president Rob will be going with Dave to Nepal in April to sign contracts to begin the work! Construction itself is still a ways away, but Rob making this trip is a huge step forward. We are working with an engineering and construction firm based out of Kathmandu so we are keeping all the money within Nepal. This trip will begin the process of obtaining approvals and permits, having trees cut down along with sand and rock taken from a river in order to make concrete as well as making a trip up to the village.
Another exciting piece of news is that a local filmmaker, Nick Versteeg, has approached us as he is making a follow-up documentary to his ‘Five Weeks in Nepal’ project and wants to do a feature on Another Brick in Nepal. Nick’s documentary can be found on the here, and you can read more about him on the DV Media website. This is a great opportunity to work with a local filmmaker and have our project gain some more exposure. Rob will be working with Nick during the trip in April. We will keep you up to date on the documentary as it gets produced.
Thank you everyone for all your support. Please keep telling people about ABIN.
Alana
One brick at a time…
Last week we setup a table at MARPAC and had the chance to talk to many of the amazing Canadian service men and women who went through the show.
Here’s the table we set up, don’t forget to look for us around at various events in Victoria, BC, this year. We are always happy to talk about Another Brick in Nepal and the plans that are already rolling for the first school this year. We also have some great hats that we are selling for $25 (cost is $13, $12 goes directly to rebuilding a school!), so you can represent and help us raise awareness as well as money!
We will let you know in advance what the next even will be, and hopefully we will see you there 🙂
You can always donate now, and know that our goal is to have a minimum of 90% of all money raised go directly to the communities we are trying to help. All building supplies and labour will be locally sourced. This is about putting money into communities who need it, and making sure their economies get the boost they benefit from as well as the schools the children will build their futures in.