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PLEASE NOTE!
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UPDATE FROM NEPAL
Greetings one and all,
I hope this finds you all well and in good health. It has been a couple of years now since a Nagarmail has been sent out, but that’s not to say nothing has happened in this time. Myself and my own family returned to Ireland just over 2 years ago in June 2023. It was a big move for myself after 18 long years full-time in Nepal and indeed for my wife and two children, uprooting our home and taking very little back with us on a plane.
In 2022, Nagarhope Basic School got funding for a 5-room earthquake proof primary block from the provincial government in Nepal. At a cost of about €75,000, half funded by Nagarhope Ireland, we spent the next 6 months or so constructing a vital infrastructure of the school. This block, which includes a library and computer lab has housed the four youngest classes for the last 2 years.
On its completion, we then set about improving the ground and surrounds, constructing support walls and metal barriers at all levels as well as a boundary compound for safety. The kids were delighted that now they literally do not have to run down the mountain when the football gets kicked down!
On my most recent visit in July 2025, I was thrilled to see so many old faces after two years, as well as many new ones. Nagarhope once paid the salaries of 10 staff members in the school, but we only cover five now, as the local municipality has doubled their own support over the last few years. Also on my brief trip back this year we started running a larger bus in the mornings and evenings due to overwhelming demand.
The village and its surrounds have seen such changes in the 11 years since we started running an infant class, everything from housing, roads electricity and clean running water, which were all once a dream are now a reality making life easier for the locals. Having a good road means villagers can transport crops easily to the markets and get a better price.
I'd like to think that one reason villagers have been not only happy to stay put, but indeed returned to the village from larger urban areas is because the education of their children is being taken care of. The standard of education given to the 120 kids attending Nagarhope Basic School is constant and of good quality. What we have built and continued improving over 10 years is exactly what the village of Sathikurya lacked in years gone by.
Nagarhope Ireland still supports teachers' salaries, mid-day meals for students and staff and supplements the cost of running the school bus, as well as contributing to other extracurricular activities and sports.
It has been a privilege for me to have been a part of it all since its inception and a sheer joy to revisit the school after two years to check up on them. I'd like to think that all the work Nagarhope has put into this project over the years will continue to bear fruit and provide a great education to the children of the area.
And whilst many people over the years have been involved on the ground in Nepal, none of this would have happened if not for the support and dedication of sponsors and donors back home in Ireland and elsewhere.
Myself and the Nagarhope thank each and every one of you for your continued support and encouragement.
Mise le Meas
Fachtna 'Doc' Clandillon
August 2025, Athy, Co. Kildare
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