The school we helped build in Nepal is now open. (See post.) This video tells the story. Also on YouTube.
Tag Archives: School
Samalbung’s New School
The new school we’ve been helping to build in a Nepalese village has finally opened!
The local community dedicated it on April 30 in a colorful ceremony filled with dances, songs, speeches and food. We traveled there to join the celebration.
The school is more beautiful than we’d dared to dream and the community couldn’t be happier.
The Vidhya Mandir Boarding School in the eastern village of Samalbung has 126 students, many from indigenous and marginalized groups. School fees are low and some students receive full or partial scholarships.
The attractive two-story structure, with a lovely view of the Himalayas, is a huge improvement over the previous school, which was in terrible condition. The students now have a much brighter future.
The two of us have spent the past year working with a team at the school to design and construct the new building. We also raised funds for the project through a GoFundMe site and direct contributions.
We were overwhelmed by the response from family, friends, Not Exactly Retired readers, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, Friends of Nepal and others.
Their generous contributions totaled more than $24,000, which covered a significant share of the costs. The two of us funded most of the budget. The school community prepared the site, donated money, contributed labor and supported the school in other ways, from providing wood from their trees to feeding the workers.
I’ve posted some photos here and produced a short video so you can see the new school and celebration for yourself. You can watch the video above or on YouTube.
We are grateful to everyone who opened their hearts (and wallets) to assist these young people. We extend special thanks to Santosh Khapung, Bindu Suwal, Shankar Limbu, and Pooja and Sabin Shrestha for all of their help to us during this project.
Thank you — and enjoy the video.
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Thank You Donors
The children of Samalbung, Nepal, will soon have a beautiful new school, thanks in part to the generosity of Not Exactly Retired‘s readers.
Nearly 100 people have contributed to the project we announced in May to help build the school in a remote village of eastern Nepal. It will serve about 125 students — mostly girls, mostly from indigenous groups. Our previous announcement has more details.
Readers have donated nearly $23,000 through our GoFundMe account and directly to me. Together with funds raised by the local community, which is also helping with the construction, this has covered nearly half of the total budget. Champa and I are paying the rest.
The school should be ready in late April, in time for Nepal’s new school year. We plan to attend the dedication ceremony and will share video and photos of the event.
We will bring with us a sign thanking all of the donors by name, as shown below. If I have overlooked or listed anyone incorrectly, please let me know by Friday, February 21, so I have enough time to make corrections before ordering the sign. If you want to add your name to the sign, we still welcome donations, which will be used to enhance the school and buy much-needed classroom supplies. You can donate directly to me or through the GoFundMe site — again, by February 21, please. We’ll make the final list public.
We also welcome additional donations from previous donors. No matter when you donate, or how much, the school’s teachers, students and families are deeply grateful for your support. At a moment when the U.S. government is turning its back on foreign assistance, you have made the opposite choice — to open your hearts.
Champa and I join the Samalbung community in saying dhanyabad — thank you! — to all of you.
Thanks to:
Anita Adhikary
Cheryl Arroyo
Jay and Celine Barker
Elia Ben-Ari
Amy Blackwell
Evan Burness and Katie Lindquist
Linda Carlson and Larry Himelfarb
Jennifer Chow
Nancy and Joel Collamer
Thomas Corr
Phyllis and Jerry Crabb
Jill DeGroff
Deepa Dewan
Lokendra Dewan
Raj Bahadur Dewan
Joel Diringer
Kim Dixon
Doschinescu and Nanu Family
Debbie Durham
Scott and Diane Eblin
Benjamin Edwards
Bruce Fong and Virginia Lim
Jill Foster
David Fryer
Robert B. Gerzoff
Christa Gibson
Ryan Gorczycki
Deborah and Simon Gregory
Bob Green
Kate Green
Mitch and Chiyoko Haas
Valerie Harden
Ruth Heuer
Katherine Hicks and Henry Rosenberg
Sally Hicks
Dwight Holmes
Rachel Holtzman
Wendy Hower
Juliana Collamer and Nick Hughes
Camille Jackson
Jonathan and Jamie Jarmul
Paul and Stephanie Jarmul
Ruth Jarmul and Irvin Rosenthal
Pukar and Rekha Joshi
Mariam El-Khouri
Christina Kohrt
Danielle and Steve Kohut
Peter Lange
Keith and Cheryl Lawrence
Priya Limbu
Sudhir and Sarla Mahara
Mariana Mari
Bernadette and Bob Marriott
Herbert V. McKnight
Chris McLeod
Geoffrey Mock
Larry and Judy Moneta
James Moore
Shashi Nembang and Peter Giaquinta
Dennis O’Shea
Steve and Lynn Olson
Lisa Orange
Joyce Pardon
John E. Paul
Deepak Prajapati
Stephanie Prausnitz
Kevin Quigley
Deepa Rai
Timothy and Crissy Ready
Rosalind Reid
Margaret Riley
Rachel Rosenthal and Yair Rosenberg
Rebecca Rosenthal and Adam Arenson
Sarah Rosenthal and Mark Broomfield
Patricia Ross
Jeannine Sato
Peggy Schaeffer
Manish Shrestha
Bob and Karen Simon
Bruce Simon and Betsy Hely
Beth and Cabell Smith
Susan Turner-Lowe
Melinda Vaughn
Jennifer Vega
Sue Kaminsky Vest
Ken and Nancy Warren
Rob Waters
Cindy Weinbaum and Mark Prausnitz
Anne Williams
Robert Wright
Vivekananthan Yatheepan
Merina Dewan Yolmu
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A School for Samalbung
[See our GoFundMe site for updates and a Q&A about this project. Thanks to your generous support, the school is taking shape. We are grateful to everyone who has donated!]
Readers and friends: Champa and I are building a school in a remote area of eastern Nepal and we ask for your help.
The school is in Samalbung, the small village we visited with our family in late 2022. (Watch the video after 8:33.) Our nephew Santosh, whose late mother was Champa’s sister, lives there with his family. Several years ago, he and his partners created a barebones school to serve local children, who are mainly from indigenous groups and farming families with very limited means. As you can see, the kids are inspiring but their school is in bad shape.
They and their teachers (above) need a new school, desperately. Champa and I have committed to paying for most of the cost of a new one but we need tens of thousands of dollars more to finish the project, which has just gotten under way (see below). With additional funds, we can also provide new desks, school supplies and maybe even computers, a cafeteria or sports equipment.
Champa and I are doing this informally, with a GoFundMe campaign, rather than through a formal charity. We trust Santosh and his partners and are monitoring the project with the assistance of one of Nepal’s leading human rights attorneys.
Your support will change the lives of the children shown here and their brothers and sisters. When the school is finished, hopefully within a year, I’ll be sure it highlights the names of everyone who helped.
You can contribute through GoFundMe or contact me directly (as some donors have preferred, to avoid GoFundMe’s fees). Thank you for anything you can afford to contribute!
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