We couldn’t do what we do without our wonderful team in Nepal who are dedicated, hard working and enthusiastic. So when the COVID-19 pandemic hit Nepal, our first thoughts were about the safety of the team. All staff have been at home with their families during the lengthy lock-down period. Now, as lock down lifts and the Nepal government plans to reopen schools, their safety is once again our number one priority.
We thought it would be a good idea to put some faces to who does what in Nepal.
Nepal Project Manager/ Senior trainer: Ranjana Giri has been in charge of the day to day running of our Nepal projects since 2010. Ranjana has a young daughter and gave birth to a baby son just before lock down. As a busy working mum, Ranjana is very well organised and keeps us up to date.
As senior trainer, Ranjana plans and co-ordinates all training courses. Ranjana travels Nepal-wide to conduct early years training for teachers from other districts as well as workshops at the purpose built training centre in Sangachok.
Ranjana has her finger on the pulse to ensure that everything goes smoothly.
Assistant Project Manager/ Trainer: Yasoda Giri, who is expecting her first child in September, is a superb teacher trainer who inspires our teacher training participants to adopt child friendly teaching methods. Yasoda specialises in teaching songs, rhymes, games and other interactive activities. She supports Ranjana in overseeing the projects and coordinating the ECD at Sangachok.
We look forward to Yasoda rejoining the team after her maternity leave.
Nuwakot Area Supervisor:/ Trainer: Binda Adhikhari (left) started with FSN as a teacher and was quickly promoted to an area supervisor and regional trainer, after demonstrating her abilities to support other teachers. Binda is an inspiration to young rural teachers who want to make changes to their classrooms but are not aware of the process to do so. Binda walks miles up and down the hilly terrain of our Nuwakot projects making her extremely fit!
Syangja Area Supervisor: Dhanmaya Gurung (centre) is a warm and friendly supervisor who supports our Syangja projects with enthusiasm. Dhanmaya is married with two children and lives in the market town of Walling, south of Pokhara. Dhanmaya visits 8 schools, several of which are located in challenging to reach terrain. Dhanmaya is always relieved when her husband can give her a lift on his motorbike.
Sindhupalchok Area Supervisor/ Trainer: Sabina Tamang (right) joined us after becoming a teaching following her college studies. Sabina is married and lives in the beautiful village of Mulkharka. Sabina visits our Sindhupalchok centres and is always ready to demonstrate new ideas, songs and games to project teachers. Sabina also conducts training and recently travelled to eastern Nepal to carry out a baseline survey of new project schools.
What is it like being out in the field at the projects? No one can really imagine just how challenging running projects in Nepali villages is, unless they have experienced it first hand. No day is the same and our team can be faced with numerous challenges including vehicle break downs, grumpy headteachers resisting change, fierce heat or heavy monsoonal rains, no where to go to the toilet or eat, accidents causing long delays, festivals or unscheduled school closures. Our amazing team take all of this in their stride and keep smiling no matter what happens.
As a grassroots organisation it is really important that our team visit our projects regularly to check on progress and offer support, even if it proves tough to get there. However, the only way to really find out what is happening in the field is to go there for yourself. And we do!
What the team has been doing during lock down: The Nepal team have created a wonderful range of teacher training and classroom learning materials during lock down. It is wonderful to see how creative they have been with simple resources. These are in both Nepali and English language as both languages are used in schools in rural Nepal.
What’s next?: Although the national lock down in Nepal has been lifted, there are still 5,000 active cases and some regional lock-downs in place. Schools are now reopening for enrollments but there is still no date for students to return to class. We at First Steps Himalaya are taking a cautious approach and have strict protocol in place for staff returning to the office and classrooms. Our teacher training workshops are still on hold and supervisory visits to project schools will only resume once we feel it is safe for our staff to move around.
The team is also busy preparing for the COVID-19 Response and Resilience Programme which will soon go into villages to promote improved health and hygiene practices as well as awareness campaigns on domestic violence and alcohol abuse, sustainable farming and environmental protection. We are very excited about this sub programme which will play a vital role in improving the lives of young children and their families in these challenging times.
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