Located in North Eastern Nepal, 15kms North of Charikot is the village of Suspa Kshamawati, home predominantly to the ethnic group of people called Thamis. The Thamis people of this region face the challenge of limited access to education and it is estimated 78% of the population are illiterate. The Kshamawati Higher Secondary School has 470 students enrolled from infant to year 12. Because the parents of these students are mostly uneducated the home environment is not conducive for study, with priority given to helping their parents with daily domestic duties. As the students approach their teenage years the number of students attending school drops. The school management is building a hostel to provide residential facilities for the marginalized village students for better tutoring and collective study under the guidance of the teachers. Additionally, the hostel will enable students from further afar to attend school. Our group of volunteers will assist with the construction of the walls on the ground floors of the girls’ wing of the building.

 

Positive impact

The need for the hostel was felt long ago. The predominant numbers of students are from the Thami community and because of their extreme poverty, illiteracy and lack of awareness the home environment is not conducive for study. The children have to help their parents with daily domestic duties instead of time spent on study. Eventually they end up leaving school as early as year 8. The school management believes that the construction of the residential hostel for these marginalised students will afford them with better coaching, collective study under the close and concentrated attention and guidance of the teachers. Additionally it will encourage students from far-off villages to join the school for an education. The ultimate design of the hostel will be a two story construction, each story with 20 dormitory rooms, each room having 6 bunk beds for accommodation of 240 students. The hostel has been designed with three blocks 1. Girls 2. Boys 3. Common facilities such as kitchen, dining hall and study rooms. The toilet and bathroom block will be built separately.

 

Funding the project

The World Expeditions Foundation funds the costs associated with the project such as materials, transport of the materials to the remote village and the wages of the local project manager.

 

Getting the job done

Travellers with a heart volunteer time and effort to assist with getting the project complete. Through World Expeditions’ Community Project Travel program travellers sign up to volunteer at our projects. This means that 3-4 days of their adventure travel holiday will be spent working on a community project. Sound like you? Take a look at our CPT program www.communityprojecttravel.com