Australian students’ support dilapidated school in a village

Nepal has reasons to rejoice the manner she is being loved and honored by friendly countries. By the same token, Nepal is obliged to extend words of thanks to all those who have remained instrumental in extending their unconditional support in building this nation. Nepal and her people have reasons to curse her own duffer politicians and leaders who have almost ruined the country on one pretext or the other. The rest we all know.

To come to the point, this Sunday, I came across one very plain and usual news in one of the vernacular weekly. The news was simple in the sense that such news usually appears in our papers and no body gives importance to those news items. This is primarily because we have now been addicted to the news that is related with loot, arson, kidnappings, demonstrations, gherao, police-lathi-charge and at times killings. These have become regular features these days in this country which once upon a time was logically being called as a Shangri-La nation.

The news that attracted my attention was a small piece of news that lauded the efforts of some Australian students now on a tour to this Kingdom who converged their energy in repairing an almost dilapidated school building. The place where this event happened is a village called Pumdi-bhumdi somewhere close to Pokhara.

What was interesting of it all that the Australian students who in effect had come here to enjoy the beauty of the snow-capped Himalayas, thought it opportune to invest their labor and money for the reconstruction of that school building there. They worked for uninterrupted eight days.

Report had it that the Australian boys did contribute from their personal pockets a sum totaling sixty-five thousand Nepali rupees for the job.

Thanks to the efforts of the Australian students that the local villagers too felt that the job which they should have done on their own were being managed by some far-flung foreigners.

Nepalese have a habit that we normally expect others to do our things. We prefer that some one from outside does work for us. And when this happens, we suddenly rise to the occasion. So happened in that particular village.

The fact is that the school-goers in this village belong to the community of the dalits, low-income families and shelter-less class.

The students from Australia not only extended their financial support for the construction of the school, but did volunteer their labor as well. In the process, they not only carried the stones but also broke into pieces as was required during the reconstruction.

The villagers when witnessed that when the tourists themselves were bent on repairing the school could not resist their temptations and supported the boys in their noble deed.

The newspaper says that the Australian students were eleven in number. The Australian team was guided by "Quest Young Australian Adventure".

"’Being ourselves a student, it was nice to be of some support to the Nepali students here", is what one Australian student told.

"We are pleased that we could extend our modest support for the reconstruction of the school", said yet another student from Australia.

Grem Kent, the chief of the Quest Adventure, said that he found Nepalese a very simpe, and amicable lot and that his institution would wish to continue the support in the future as well.

Headline | National | 5 Question  | Editorial | International | Letter | Past