Playing in Nepal 

Nepal is the poorest country in Asia. Primary school education leaves much to be desired. There are two types of school, the private schools for the "rich"(30% of the people) and the state schools for the rest. These state schools should be taken care of by the government, but all they get are the salaries for some teachers and occasional school materials. Also, the further the school is located from the capital Kathmandu, the less it gets. Mude lies four days on foot and one day by bus from Kathmandu and is unlucky in that respect.

The Shree Bhimsenthan Lower Secondary School in Mude (2800m) in Solu Khumbu is a primary state school with 154 students aged 3 to 14. The children walk to school from eight villages in the vicinity (walking distances varying from 10 minutes to 2 hours). The school consists of four small buildings, which comprise 7 classrooms and one office. 

The Namasté Foundation (Namasté is the customary greeting in Nepal) was founded by two Dutch people who fell in love with Nepal during their many travels in this country. It concentrates its activities on the Shree Bhimsenthan school. It raises money to buy materials for the school, such as notebooks, pencils, erasers, blackboards, books and maps, and building materials to improve the school. The small foundation gets its money from the founders themselves (who pay for their own travel costs and the foundation's overhead) and from donations by their family and friends. 

The people living in the eight villages, Mude, Mude Pasal, Pekarnas, Surke, Banbude, Setomane, Tilpung and Sikhardanda, are aware that a good education is essential in letting their sons and daughters escape from poverty and giving them a better future. They are however not able to contribute financially to this education. Apart from the salaries for three of the five teachers, the government does not pay either. The other two teachers are a 'community-teacher', who works on a voluntary base and gets paid by the community in the form of some pocket money and food, and a teacher in English, who is paid for by the Namasté foundation. English is a mandatory subject in Nepalese schools and essential to continue to secondary education (secondary schools are better supported by the governement than primary schools). If the community cannot afford a qualified English teacher, English will be taught by the classroom teacher, who will usually have poor command of English. As speaking English is so essential for the children's future, Namasté has decided to pay for a qualified English teacher. 

The school has been able to make a lot of improvements over the past few years, but there is still a lot to wish for. 

One of these wishes is equipment for a playground and new colouring pencils and white paper. The children do not need exercise - they normally do a lot of physical work for their parents before and after school, and they walk to and from school. A playground would serve another purpose; that of relaxation. These children either work or [learn?]; at home they have no time to play and relax and at school they do not have the facilities, apart from balls they make from old plastic bags or rags. A real ball filled with air, a seesaw, a jumping rope, a swing…it would be such a happy surprise if they could get them. Most of the play equipment could be made from wood, which can be obtained from the forest nearby (no need to worry about the environmental consequences; for every tree felled 10 new young trees are planted). Nets, balls and rope for the swings, jumping ropes and goals have to be bought, just as the colouring pencils and white paper. This can only be obtained in Kathmandu and carried - mostly on foot - to Mude. 

The funds needed for purchase and transport of two or three trees, a carpenter, nails, hinges, nets, rope and drawing materials, plus a festive meal for everyone, are 750 Euro. 

Total € 750,-- 

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