Back to School finally

After 8 months at home, schools are slowly reopening across rural Nepal. For many children, this will be the first time they have learnt anything for eight months. Whilst children in more developed countries have adapted to learning online and have lessons delivered to a device, most children in rural Nepal have had no form of teaching at all since March!

Back in the classroom: Young children from the village of Sangachok finally return to their Early Learning Centre after 8 months at home. — **Back in the classroom:** Young children from the village of Sangachok finally return to their Early Learning Centre after 8 months at home.

Re-establishing Routines

Our Project Manager in Nepal, Ranjana Giri says that she was shocked on the first day back to see that the children seemed to have forgotten everything that they had learnt including their manners.

‘It was like starting all over again with most of them’ she said. Many of the children are experiencing feelings of intense fear and dread. Younger children are less likely to fully understand news reports and this can cause a sense of panic.

Socialising at a distance: Circle time is an important way for children and their teacher to reconnect with each other after so many months apart. — **Socialising at a distance:** Circle time is an important way for children and their teacher to reconnect with each other after so many months apart.

It is really important to get these young children back into a sense of routine and understanding of how to be resilient. This includes fun hand washing songs, social distance games and learning about healthy food.

New rules for a new normal

First Steps Himalaya has developed strict protocols for opening our early childhood centres in rural Nepal, combined with the Nepal Government school reopening advice. These new rules and routines are in place to reduce risk to staff, children and their families. Most of us now are familiar with these measures, such as social distancing where possible, wearing masks and staying home if unwell.

Hand hygiene without running water: Many rural Nepali schools must rely of water canisters for hand washing. Clean hands are a fundamental part of keeping our teachers and young students safe. — **Hand hygiene without running water:** Many rural Nepali schools must rely of water canisters for hand washing. Clean hands are a fundamental part of keeping our teachers and young students safe.

While Nepal battles on with suppressing Covid-19 in the community, we are so pleased and excited to be able to offer our young students a safe and nourishing place to learn and play.

Social distancing at play: Only learning materials that can be washed or cleaned easily are available in the classroom for one child each day. This avoids multiple sets of hands touching the same materials. — **Social distancing at play:** Only learning materials that can be washed or cleaned easily are available in the classroom for one child each day. This avoids multiple sets of hands touching the same materials.

If you would like to find out more about the work First Steps Himalaya does in rural Nepal, improving teaching and classrooms, or to support our work, click here.

What is earthbag building? Earthbag building is a unique eco-friendly method of construction, well suited to community projects. Building with earth bags can be done for a low cost, and requires less skilled labour than traditional masonry construction, allowing community volunteers to help. They are constructed using local, natural materials, which lowers the high level of pollution commonly associated with the manufacture and transportation of bricks.

What are earthbag buildings so earthquake resilient? Earthbag buildings tend to flex and distort during an earthquake rather than suddenly collapse as wood framed, adobe, brick and concrete block structures do. Barbed wire and plaster mesh hold the bags together in case of collapse, thus greatly reducing risk of people getting crushed.

Has First Steps Himalaya earthbag built before? Yes, five days before the devastating April 25th 2015 Nepal earthquake, First Steps Himalaya had completed a two room Education & Training Centre using the earthbag building method. This method was selected not only as it was low cost and eco-friendly, but was supposedly a highly earthquake resilient building method. As it turned out, this was quickly put to the test and the building stood up to not just one, but three massive earthquakes, with only a few superficial cracks in the plaster. Our earthbag Education & Training Centre was one of the last buildings standing in the area while 95% of other buildings collapsed or were damaged beyond the repair. The First Steps Himalaya earthbag building programme was born.

Following the first build, First Steps Himalaya ran an earthbag building summit in Kathmandu. This was attended by interested organisations and individuals from all over Nepal. The guest speaker, international earthbag building expert Owen Gieger (who has since sadly passed away), visited the FSH earthbag builds and said that they were exceptionally strong. Following the summit, First Steps Himalaya conducted hands-on earthbag building training so that others could learn the technique and go away to build their own schools and homes.

At the same time, FSH constructed an earthbag accommodation centre which can accommodate up to 20 participants at our teacher training workshops. This is now fully operational and allows teachers from all over Nepal to attend teacher training workshops in Sangachok. In 2016, we reconstructed 5 classrooms at Mulkharka School which are spacious, well maintained and offer a safe learning environment for young children. We have recently opened a library there too.

Back at project HQ in Sangachok, we constructed a new early childhood classroom and play group for under 2’s. These are fabulous and serve as models for rural Nepal. These earthbag buildings have replaced the original ECD building which was damaged beyond repair in the 2015 earthquakes.

In 2017, our earthbag building project at Dyali School constructed a spacious ECD room. It truly was an international effort with the Kiwi team on foundations and lower walls, the Australian team on upper walls and the Canadian team putting the roof on!

Earthbag build 2019 takes us to Nuwakot, a new project area north of Kathmandu. The team of volunteers from Australia and the U.K. completed the walls of the school in just nine days in October 2019. These will soon be plastered ahead of a roof and finishing of the school in March 2020.