Summer News from School in Mustang – June 2018
DonateOur 3 new girls have settled in well – they come from Dhading, very poor district of Nepal and walked 5 or 6 days to get to winter school in Pokhara for admission before coming to Mustang. Thank you so much to our new sponsors for their kindness in supporting our newest and very welcome additions to the Namgon family.
Lessons and school activities are going on as usual and now that the warmer weather has arrived, there’s plenty of opportunity for playing outside too. The greenhouse is beginning to produce crops and there are many outdoor tasks to complete such as levelling ground in front of the school. Everyone has to help out – still the small ones can even make chores fun.
Special prayers and ceremonies were practiced to celebrate Vesak day in May. As some of you may know, Buddhists celebrate the Buddha’s three most important life stages on Vesak: Birth, Enlightenment and Death, which all happened on the same day of the calendar throughout the Buddha’s life.
Goodness! Time goes so quickly and mid-term exams have already taken place last week! It’s warmer outside than in so students sit exams together in the centre quadrant.
The poles, which can be seen in these photos are to hold the tent canvas that are erected to shield attendees of the Buddhist Mani teachings held each year at the school for members of the community, staff and students. Next year the wonderful new teaching hall will be completed and the teachings will be offered indoors.
And we are so proud of our staff and students for their work in the community on World Environment Day.
As some of you may remember, last year there was unprecedented storm which caused the river to burst its banks and erode the banks beyond repair.
Staff and students rely on water from the river for washing, laundry and cooking and so we desperately needed to preserve the water supply.
The flood, which happened happened in the middle of the night was frightening and created serious damage in the girls’ bedrooms and ensuring everyone was safe by torchlight was a challenging time for staff. Thankfully nobody was injured and a project was planned to divert the river course away from the school. Thanks to the generous support of an Italian artist, funds were raised and at long last, work begun in June and hopefully will ensure no repetition of the school floods should there be freak storms again this year.
Last and certainly not least, we are making good progress in our appeal to raise money to build new bathrooms. Thank-you, thank-you so very much to all of you that have so generously donated so far. We really do rely on your kind support. We’re over 70% towards our £2,500 target after 5 weeks and desperately need to raise the remaining amount as work has already started on construction.
It doesn’t seem a very glamorous project we know but with only 2 toilets for 51 girls and 9 teachers, the need is great indeed. The girls need privacy of course and cleanliness is essential to avoid infections, as I’m sure we can all understand.
As builders are onsite for the teaching hall construction, it was decided to push ahead as soon as possible. Construction has begun building the new bathrooms next to the classrooms, which were extended a couple of years ago.
Please help us if you can – if you have donated so far or can’t donate now, then please help by sharing our appeal with your family & friends. We would welcome support in getting the word out too. Apart from bank charges, which we can’t avoid, all the monies collected will be sent directly to the school – we don’t take out any admin expenses at all. So please assure your friends & family of this if they are considering a donation. Any amount will be gratefully received – even the cost of a cup of coffee helps us for sure.
We can take PayPal donations via the link below directly into our fundraiser or by bank transfer into our UK bank using these details:
Beneficiary: Altevette Project
Bank: Lloyds Bank
Sort Code: 30-65-22
Account: 80849860
IBAN: GM07LOYD30652280849860
SWIFT (BIC): LOYDGB21678
Please help us if you can by donating on our online fundraiser link below or through our website as usual. Here is the link to make a donation.
Please CLICK HERE now to help us to build new desperately needed bathroom facilities
When you click the link above, this page will open in FundRazr – it’s easy to donate there. Please help us if you can.
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