The current state of Nepal
Over six years have passed since the 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, 2015. The destruction was far and wide. Many world heritage sites were heavily damaged, in addition to hundreds of thousands of homes and some 9,000 schools. On top of the huge loss of infrastructure, thousands of people were killed or injured.
The process to rebuild after this amount of destruction is not easy for any country. This challenge is compounded by Nepal’s monsoon season that lasts from June until September. During this time, Nepal receives around 1,600 mm of rain inevitably leading to further damage in many regions from flooding and landslides. Construction projects are often delayed during the monsoon season.
COVID-19 has had a major impact on Nepal. As it is a developing country with limited resources, vaccines are not readily available. Many areas of Nepal are extremely remote, and vaccinating in these areas proves challenging. To date, approximately 21% of Nepal’s citizens have been fully vaccinated in comparison to Canada’s vaccine rate of 71%.
Tourism is one of Nepal’s main industries, and many people are employed directly or indirectly within Himalayan climbing and trekking. COVID-19 and the associated restrictions for the last eighteen months have limited the income of people all over the country. Restrictions have recently been lifted in Nepal allowing fully vaccinated travellers to enter the country for the upcoming trekking season. As we slowly move forward from COVID-19, more and more people will be able to enter Nepal, which will increase employment and have a positive impact on the economy.
At ABIN, we remain focused on our goal of providing education in Nepal. While there are significant challenges, we are able to change lives in Nepal by providing safe learning spaces for children.
Tell your family and friends about Another Brick in Nepal and help make a difference in Nepal!
Fall Fundraiser – Book the date!
Following Provincial Health Orders on March 12, 2020, we made the decision to cancel our third annual trail race just three days before the event. We never could have anticipated how long COVID-19 would limit our fundraising and work in Nepal.
Now, over 18 months later, we are excited to be planning our fall fundraiser. We are grateful for the opportunity to host this year’s fundraiser at the beautiful Victoria International Yacht Club on November 20th. As events like this have been put on hold through COVID, we want to host an exceptional evening that will be fun and will raise funds for the Mahendra School project. This will be our fourth school build – and will also provide an opportunity for direct volunteer involvement.
We invite people to dress up and enjoy an evening with food, drinks, a Nepal themed photo booth and live jazz trio. In addition to this, we will have our silent auction and, new this year, there will be a live auction featuring six trips. One of the trips will be a Himalayan trek, with the opportunity to visit the fourth Another Brick in Nepal school site.
As we move closer to November 20th, we will release more information about the evening and auction items. It’s going to be a great evening, so you will not want to miss out on this!
Get your tickets early and help us reach our goal of $100,000 to complete our fourth school build in Nepal.
Sharada School – Pupils return!
After a long delay, caused by the COVID crisis, it is our pleasure to report that pupils are back in school and using the new 8 classroom block we have built.
Excellent news!
Him School handed over!
We are delighted to report that Him School has been handed over for use. This is a splendid achievement by our partners in Nepal in this COVID affected year. The children are already benefitting and the generosity of ABIN donors is paying off!
There are some more pictures in the Him School project section.