Nepal Earthquake

The GlobalGiving community generously sponsored the construction of an earthquake safe school using innovative new technology in one of the most remote communities in Nepal. There have been some significant challenges involved with this project, but the school is now very close to completion. The following offers an overview of the process and current status of the project.

Sishu Secondary School is the only secondary school in Maheswori, an extremely remote subsistence farming community in the northern part of the Khotang district. Over 520 households in Maheswori, and few of neighboring villages, depend on Sishu Secondary School for their children’s education. The school hosts around 230 students every year. The previous secondary school in Maheswori was badly damaged by the earthquake of 2015, rendering it unsafe for students and staff. dZi Foundation built a Temporary Learning Center immediately after the earthquake to allow the school to continue with classes while a new school project was developed. The generous funds from GlobalGiving have been used to construct a new earthquake safe, 8 classroom building.

We are rebuilding 4 school blocks, 2 classrooms in each block, for Sishu Secondary School. The school blocks are being built with Light Gauge Steel (LGS) technology, which would be the first of its kind for that region. It is a globally proven earthquake resistant technology and best suits the local topography and conditions. The successful completion of the project will ensure the safety of 232 present students of Sishu Secondary School and more generations to come.

Reconstruction of the school was scheduled to start in August 2016, but significant challenges arose with the very bureaucratic school design approval process. This resulted in significant delays and the project broke ground in January,2017. Despite the delay, the reconstruction work is now very close to completion. At this time, LGS frames have been installed and the cladding of the wall and roofing with CGI sheets has been completed. Community members are now working on the final plastering of the internal floor and installation of doors and windows. We expect the project to be completed in the next week or two!

Community members will then focus on post-construction site clearance, planting trees around the site, and a public audit of the project, which allows for full community transparency and input on the entire process, including appropriate use of funds and materials. We expect to completely hand the project over to the community by the end of the June!

This project has been a very challenging one on many levels, but it is the kind of work dZi Foundation does and does well! That said, we cannot do this alone; we need partners. The community members of Maheswori have worked incredibly hard to realize this dream, and the Global Giving community’s generosity made it possible. Thank you to everyone involved!

Links:

• This short video shows the many stages of construction:

Dear GlobalGiving Partners --

The construction of our current partnership project, the earthquake-safe Sisu Secondary School serving over 230 students in the remote village of Maheshwori, Khotang, is underway. We are using innovative Light Gauge Steel technology for this project, and we are very excited about how this new approach will change the way we build more schools in years to come! In the near future we will have more to report on this school specifically, but right now I want to recognize the recent International Women's Day and share an inspiring and beautiful story that one of our full-time female staff members wrote and took pictures for.

It has never been easy to be a woman in Nepal. For centuries, women there have faced unequal treatment under the law, in general society, and in the home. However, this is starting to change. At dZi, we owe so much of our success to the wisdom, strength and efforts of the thousands of women who participate in our work across the globe.

"A village cannot prosper without first involving women," says our Deputy Country Director, Ang Chokpa Sherpa. "Men in the villages often leave to find work. Women are the ones who stay, and they receive the most benefit from projects such as clean drinking water systems and agriculture. This makes them invest in the projects and the future of the community."

At dZi, we specifically train women to construct and maintain our complex gravity-fed clean drinking water systems. "Maintaining drinking water systems is seen as a man's job. But we don't see any reason that women can't do it. Once we train them, they do a better job than then men!" adds Ang.

And she is right. Our drinking water user committees, farmer's groups, local NGOs, and other community groups are often led by women who are redefining the role that women can - and must - play in shaping the future of Nepal's rural communities. We are so proud to be a part of this.

To learn more about how women in rural Nepal are changing their own communities, click on the line below for the full story and many beautiful images from the field!

Thank you so much for your support! Mark and the whole dZi Team

Links:

• Read The Full Story and See All Beautiful Images Here !!!