We did it! On Monday April 29th, our brand new school opened it’s doors to the children of rural Nepal!
This school involved years of planning and incredibly hard work but we are so excited it finally came to life! This dream school we’ve created is free and admits students on a need basis. It will provide quality interactive education, food, healthcare, and a safe learning space for the most vulnerable children living in extreme poverty.
We have named our school Sapana Community school. Sapana means dream in Nepali. This school is not only a dream come true for founders Janie and Min but it will also make hundreds of children’s dreams come true. There are no words to describe the look on students faces when they saw their classrooms
We absolutely could not have opened this school without all of you! Every book, desk, uniform, trained teacher, classroom material, meal, pencil, and every single smile is because of your generosity. Thank you for giving this gift to them. Without this school, these children would be stuck in outdated, crowded and extremely poor government schools. 42% of them would drop out before grade 8. 25% of them would not be able to read by grade 6.
This school is everything. This is the start of the rest of their lives.
Our teachers worked tirelessly to get everything ready the week before. Every classroom is stocked with materials and clean. The walls are covered in posters and interactive lesson plans are ready.
Our Pre-K and Kindergarten children are flourishing with their toys, playful lessons and new sandbox (which is the BIGGEST hit!).
Grades 1-7 have attended their first ever STEM and computer classes.
There was so much laughter and excitement as they did science experiments and tried building boats and rockets. As one student Binod told us, “I’ve never had a teacher let me build something from my own ideas before. No other school can compare to this.”
STEM classes are run by our two new fellows from college in Kathmandu. In addition to running STEM, they will be teaching spoken English during their 3 months here with us.
This is just the beginning! Our students have a full school year ahead of them of feeling safe, being fed and cared for, and more than anything of incredible learning.
