Did you do anything special over Easter?
YES, in fact I did. I joined a RAWCS – Rotary Australia World Community Service team and travelled to Sinduhli Nepal with my father and 21 other volunteers to carry out building works at SCTI – Sindhuli Community Technical Institute.
On Tuesday 28th March we boarded a plane in Sydney heading to Kathmandu, after spending a day sightseeing, we then travelled 7 hours by mini-bus to Sindhuli, bumpy, bouncy, windy and scenic would best describes the trip. Arriving at the school we were welcomed by Principal Tej Bikram Thapa and the former Principal Amber Deep, a brief presentation followed then we toured the school grounds to check out the work we would be doing.
RAWCS Team Leader – Peter Elias from the Rotary Club of Albury broke the team into smaller work crews and detailed the work we hoped to complete over the 2 week period. The main priority was to install a permanent reliable water supply – certainly something we take for granted in Australia, being able to turn a tap on and have an unlimited supply of clean fresh water. In the dry season the school was without water and could only afford to purchase enough for drinking, which doesn’t help to make the toilets clean and hygienic. This involved laying water pipes and electrical wiring from the well to a header tank, approx. 400mtrs, installing a Sky Hydrant, water filter unit and connecting into the existing water reticulation system.
SCTI is similar to our VET classes and currently offer courses civil engineering, veterinary science, survey, building trades and plan to commence nursing training in the near future. Previous RAWCS teams completed the construction of the nurses’ classrooms and commenced work on building the nurses dormitory. The second crew were assigned the task of sanding and painting 15 rooms on the first floor of the dormitory. The third crew were directed to a large open space on the second floor and asked to divide it into 15 rooms – installing steel stud walls, sheeting, wiring, plastering, and then start on the suspended ceiling installation.
An enormous amount of work was in front of the team, but everyone jumped in enthusiastically and worked day after day to get it all finished. I spent time between different crews doing some electrical work with dad, painting a few rooms, a little bit of plumbing, and helping out wherever I could.
A highlight of the trip was the opportunity to hand over 25 laptops to SCTI, generously donated by Wodonga Senior Secondary College. We are so lucky with the choice of subjects, equipment, furniture, and grounds that we have at WSSC compared with the schools in Nepal. During the trip we visited some primary schools where Rotary have a Student Sponsorship program in place, students are provided uniforms, shoes, school bag, stationary, and a meal each day at a cost of $75 per student, otherwise they simply would not attend school and miss out on an education.
I may have missed out on Easter Eggs, but I certainly had a wonderful Easter volunteering in Nepal.
Imogen Edger
Year 11 Student
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