Hello Friends,
I am one week back from a busy and productive 9 days trip to Nepal. I am also a wee bit behind publishing our quarterly newsletter. I trust that you all understand and do hope that you are able to spend a few minutes of your time to catch up on all that we are doing at Another Brick In Nepal (ABIN).
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2nd annual ABIN Trail Run:
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First, I want to take you back to our 2nd annual ABIN Trail Run which was held on Sunday March 10. Kudos to Randy and Alana along with the rest of the ABIN planning and hosting team and volunteers for a fantastic race day. We had 151 runners cross the finish line completing either 5 or 10 km courses. As with our first race, all were happy to cross the finish line and wander towards the Mint Restaurant’s delicious hot meal anchored by their signature Nepali-style butter chicken. My favourite moment was capturing a photo of the Castellan/Burger family at the finish line. Father Armel placed in the 10 km race and about 1/2 hour later mother Sarah crossed the finish line along with their three children, this was amazing and inspiring for us all. Special mention also to Bill McIntrye who personally raised over $2,500. Overall, this brilliant day raised over $12,000.
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Thanks as always to Rajan and the Mint team for their support of ABIN. We also want to thank Prairie Inn Harriers, Northwest Scaffold, Thrifty Foods, BrockWhite Canada, Islands West Produce, West Coast School of Massage, and Andrew from BC Ambulance.
Now, speaking of Rajan, we want to extend a special “shout out” to his daughter Neeva who presented ABIN with $150.00 on race day. It seems that on the occasion of Neeva’s 6th birthday she told her family that rather than receive gifts she would like to receive money to donate to Another Brick In Nepal to: in her words “to build school in Nepal”. Neeva’s gesture was indeed a surprise and the kind of thing that confirmed that children are indeed the world’s most precious assets.
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Fundraising and Raising Awareness:
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Our board members remain active in the community. Pat hosted an info session at Victoria’s Fjallraven store on April 12th. We want to thank store manager Ilsa, employee and ABIN friend Shilo, and Fjallraven for opening their store to us for this informative evening. On May 7th Liz and Sarita organized and hosted our 2nd ABIN “Paintnite” at Darcy’s Pub Westshore. Some thirty aspiring Picasso’s “took to the easel” at Darcy’s. While we won’t hold our breath, we hope that one of our ABIN artist’s work will eventually end up in the McMichael Canadian art collection!
In late February, I was keynote speaker at the Masonry Institute of BC AGM in Burnaby. It was my first ever PowerPoint presentation, and while it went well, I definitely knew that I had some polishing up to do. On March 28, I was invited by one of my mentors, Dan Parker of Parker Johnson Industries, to speak at a Rotary Club of Victoria luncheon at The Union Club of Victoria. On May 25, I was a guest of Tom Plumb, CEO of Kinetic Construction (Victoria) and spoke at Kinetic’s annual charitable golf tournament. Kinetic has been holding this employee event for over 20 years now, raising funds for many deserving charities. Last year they chose ABIN as one of their recipients and did so again this year, asking me to share the ABIN story following a fantastic dinner at Cedar Hill GC. We continue to receive tremendous support from many in the construction industry here in Victoria. Adam Kliewer, BrockWhite Canada’s Director of BC Operations informed me this past week that BrockWhite will be making their annual $5,000 contribution to ABIN in July.
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I want to convey to you that this trip was indeed a very productive one with respect to gathering information, evaluating future school projects and moving closer to finalizing our 2020 volunteer project. We look forward to the completion of our second school project, Sharada SS later this year. Craig and I will present our findings to the ABIN board in early June. Our intention is to choose our third school construction project, initiate design and approve start of construction for late September 2019. Monsoon season begins now in the region and typically lasts until mid-September.
My friend of over 15 years, Craig Fulton joined me for 9 days in Nepal. Craig and his wife Heike along with their two children are intrepid world travellers so I was happy to be the first to take Craig to Nepal. Craig Fulton, MRICS, PQS, LEED, AP has been RTM Ltd’s Senior Project manager and estimator for over 11 years now. Craig is largely responsible for keeping my “wandering mind” in check much of the time here at work! Craig’s passion for humanitarian endeavours, his zeal for adventure and his professional skills made him an ideal addition to this trip. Best of all I am thrilled to report that while on our 14 hour layover in Guangzhou, China as we headed back to Canada, Craig informed me that he now understands and shares the passion that our ABIN team members have for our ongoing works in Nepal. Craig summed it up by saying: “I was moved by this trip, the people that we are working with, and especially the children, I am convinced and want to be a part of the ABIN team”.
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Our itinerary was full from start to finish and was highlighted by our 5 nights spent in the field having flown from Kathmandu to Tumlingtar regional airport in Sankhuwasbha District, eastern Nepal on May 14. We were accompanied by Parshu Ram Dahal ABIN’s employee in Nepal and a founding member of our NGO partner in Nepal SODEC, he had found each of the school’s we visited and recommended them as possible next projects for ABIN. From Tumlingtar we drove to visit a small interlocking structural brick manufacturing operation to assess their capability to supply ABIN with material for future projects. Then we headed to Banibilas Secondary School to meet with students and teachers to review the facility and discuss the needs of the school. We then travelled from Banibilas to Khandbari where we would spend the next three nights.
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On May 15 we met for breakfast at 6 am, leaving the hotel at 7 in a 4 x 4 for the 3 1/2 hr journey over extremely rough roads and terrain to visit HIM Secondary School near the village of Barabise. The purpose of this school visit was also to assess the needs of this remote community and its school. Craig and I were both moved by the community, the school, and the children. School visits such as this one are often humbling as one is in the presence of so many who have so little, and yet they welcome visitors such as us with unabashed gratitude.
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On May 16 Craig and I along with Parshu and our SODEC friends visited Mahendra School in Khandbari. This is the school that our ABIN team visited on our October 2018 trip (see January newsletter ABIN website archive). Our purpose for this visit was a little more specific. After numerous requests over the past couple of years ABIN is in the early stages of planning a volunteer project that will tentatively happen in September through December 2020. We are in early discussions with Mahendra School to construct a new dormitory and teaching facility for the students in their deaf program. Currently the hostel that the students use is about 10 minutes’ walk, requiring students to cross a very busy road from the main school property.
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On May 17 we visited Another Brick In Nepal’s current school construction project, Sharada Seconday School (Note: in Nepal secondary school means that students attend from pre-primary to grade 10) near the village of Chainpur. While there have been a few construction delays, we are confident that the original construction completion target date of Sept 2019 is still attainable and, perhaps most importantly, on budget. Special thanks to K2 Stone and BrockWhite Canada for their donations of tools, shirts, hats etc that we delivered to our construction crew foreman Ganje and his workers.
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Wrapping up our time in Sankuwasabha District, Craig and I spent the rest of May 17 & 18 staying in the village of Chainpur. After visiting Sharada School we spent the afternoon visiting with local farmers and our SODEC partners. SODEC has been working with local farmers on “cash crop” initiatives, specifically coffee and macadamia nuts. 95% of farmers in this remote region of eastern Nepal have no means of generating income beyond levels of subsistence farming. For many this means that they can’t even afford the minimal costs of school uniforms for their children, meaning that education remains out of reach. The region where these initiatives are primarily focused at an average elevation of 1300-1500 metres above sea level making it ideal for shade grown coffee. SODEC’s pilot project coffee farm is now producing coffee as it moves towards its 5th year of operation. Coffee plants are producing 3-4 kilograms of beans per tree. The macadamia nursery and pilot farm are 2 years along with projected nut harvest when trees are 4 years old. SODEC has also facilitated a tea growing cooperative. Watch our website as we post more information about coffee initiatives and opportunities to participate directly with SODEC.
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Finally, while in the Chainpur region we visited two other primary schools, Sineswari Primary on May 17, and the VERY remote Panchayat Basic School some 2 hours past the village of Panchayat. This was another challenging “off-road” travel experience, one that is difficult to adequately describe except to say “wow, that was wickedly intense!” What we found at Panchayat was a remote school where students do not have adequate access to senior levels of schooling. grades 7-10 are faced with a 90 minute walk each way to the nearest secondary school.
May 18 was also Buddha-Jayanti or “Buddha’s Birthday” which is always a day of celebration for Buddhists around the world. On our return journey to Chainpur from visiting Panchayat Basic School we arrived in the village of Pokhari in time for the celebration parade. Craig and I were the only foreigners in the village that day which is always a special experience. Earlier in the week, Parshu had been trying to arrange a meeting with the Chainpur District Mayor and had not had any success. As Craig and I were lined along the street with hundreds of locals watching the parade unfold we were approached by the Mayor and he wanted to know who we were and who we were with. He knew of ABIN and following the parade we had our meeting with the mayor.
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As some of you may know, ABIN plans to have a volunteer building project in 2020. This is in response to the great number of you that have expressed interest in coming to Nepal to help and see first hand what we are doing there. Please stay tuned to our newsletters and website as we intend to have all pertinent information posted for the 2020 project by August of this year so that all participants will have a full year to plan their trip to Nepal. Also included in our info package will be an ABIN trek.
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As always, we welcome any thoughts that you may have regarding our work in Nepal. We also hope that you will consider donating (again) to ABIN, your support makes a difference in the lives of many deserving children and their families in this incredible country.
"Of Equality—As if it harm'd me, giving others the
same chances and rights as myself—As if it
were not indispensable to my own rights that
others possess the same"
—Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (1855)
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Founder - Another Brick in Nepal
rob@anotherbrickinnepal.com
250-744-8191
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