Building the school

Transforming Infrastructure from Nearly Nothing to a Comprehensive Facility

In addition to operating the school, Dolpo Tomorrow continually enhances its infrastructure by adding new facilities each year. Over the past 10 years, in collaboration with various NGOs and sponsors, we have successfully transformed the school’s infrastructure from nearly nothing to a comprehensive campus featuring 12 new classrooms, four teacher bedrooms, a health post, a washhouse, and two greenhouse vegetable gardens for the kitchen. Furthermore, we equipped the school with other essentials such as furniture, digital learning tools, solar power plants, kitchenware, and bedding facilities.

Constructing in Dolpo is exceptionally challenging due to its remote location and harsh climate. The work window is limited to May to October, with extreme cold and blocked access the rest of the year. Procuring materials, primarily from Kathmandu and Pokhara, involves lengthy journeys on challenging terrains by mules, horses, and porters due to the lack of motor roads connecting to Chharka. The journey is further complicated by high-altitude passes, narrow paths, unbridged rivers, and snow. Local materials like stone, gravel, and sand are available, but all other construction supplies must be brought in from afar, making the process time-consuming and arduous.

Despite these challenges, Dolpo Tomorrow has undertaken the mission of enhancing the school’s infrastructure by adding new facilities every year:

First Expansion (2016-2017):
With contributions from the Dolpo community, as the initial step towards improving the school’s infrastructure, we added a new school block consisting of four rooms, starting in 2016 and completing in 2017. The success of this building, achieved with minimal donations, instilled hope for the school and provided valuable experience and confidence in our commitment to enhancing its infrastructure.

Eight New Classrooms with Passive Solar House (2019-2023):
Financed by Die Bambusschule e.V through Chay Ya Nepal and constructed by Dolpo Tomorrow, these three blocks of buildings comprise 8 new classrooms, including a 3-room passive solar house and a retained yard. A passive solar house utilizes sunlight for heating, offering an energy-efficient solution to withstand Dolpo’s harsh winter temperatures. Along with these buildings, funding from the same organization facilitated the fencing of the open part of the school’s ground and the provision of furniture for classrooms, offices, library, bedrooms, and kitchens.

The completion of these buildings and facilities has significantly upgraded the school’s infrastructure capacity. Combined with other structures supported by various donors and the government, the school can now operate nine different classrooms and allocate space for other school administration sectors, including a kitchen, storeroom, office, library, computer lab, and bedrooms for approximately a dozen resident teachers.

Thermal Insulated Passive Solar House Hostel Building and 3-kilowatt Solar Power Plant
(2020-2023):
Sponsored by Nepalhilfe Beilngires e.V, Germany, and constructed by Dolpo Tomorrow, this building features four Rockwool thermal-insulated classrooms, a common passive solar corridor, and an extension power station room hosting a 3-kilowatt solar power plant that supplies electricity to the entire school premises.
This passive solar house, fortified with mineral wool thermal insulation and solar energy, is an ideal structure for schools in Dolpo, designed to withstand winter temperatures that drop far below freezing.

Thanks to this building, alongside a similar 3-room building funded by Die Bambusschule e.V through Chay Ya Nepal, Chharka Bhot Basic School extends its winter session, conducting classes continuously and efficiently for two additional months, November and December. With ongoing financial support from Nepalhilfe Beilngries e.V., we plan to convert the building into a proper hostel by equipping it with 20 bunk beds, tables, benches, storage cabinets, and all other necessary interior equipment this year. Additionally, there are plans to pave the front yards and passages of this and other buildings at the school to create a clean and mud-free environment.

Passive Solar Washhouse (2021-2023): The passive solar washhouse, featuring two fully tiled bathrooms for girls and boys equipped with shower mixer bath taps and interior toilet facilities, was funded by the Embassy of Germany and Die Bambusschule e.V, partially through Chay Ya Nepal, and constructed by Dolpo Tomorrow. The convergence of health and education is undeniable. The washhouse plays a crucial role in maintaining students’ cleanliness and promoting improved sanitation behaviors. Following the completion of the structure, the school instituted a shower session routine, wherein students take showers and wash clothes weekly under the guidance and supervision of teachers.

School and Village Drinking Water Supply Project (2019-2022):
This drinking water initiative ensuring access to clean drinking water for the school and the entire village of Chharka was financed by Dany Gerhig’s family and friends, Globetrotter Switzerland, and Chay Ya Switzerland, and executed by Dolpo Tomorrow and Chay Ya Nepal. The infrastructure, consisting of a transmission pipeline covering a 2-kilometer distance, incorporates essential components such as a filtering intake system, a substantial reservoir tank, and distribution lines branching out in various directions within the village, and strategically positioned public tap stands.

Greenhouse Vegetable Gardens (2018-2021):
With the sponsorship of Chay Ya Switzerland, we constructed 2 greenhouse vegetable gardens for the school kitchen, one in 2018 and the other in 2021. The school now grows almost all varieties of vegetables with the support of the greenhouses, while the outdoor temperature in Dolpo only supports cultivating potatoes and turnips.

Solar Power Plants(2019-2023):
Granted by Himalaya Currents Inc. and Peter Werth in 2019, this unique solar-wind hybrid power system with a capacity of 1.5-kilowatt is the first power plant supplying electricity to the school for its basic needs.
We installed similar power plants at two of the community monasteries and a health post in Chharka granted by the same sponsor. In 2023, with the sponsorship of Nepalhilfe Beilngries e.V, we installed another solar power plant with a capacity of 3 kilowatts, supplying electricity to the entire school premises.

Digital Learning Tools and e-library (2020):
With funding from Die Bambusschule e.V, through the coordination of Chay Ya Nepal, we equipped the school with 10 desktop computers, introducing the first digital learning tools for the students in 2020. In 2022, OLE Nepal enhanced the facility by adding an e-learning system with 10 Raspberry Pi computers and a solar power system exclusively powering the system. The school now runs daily computer classes and also offers other subjects through e-learning for all age groups of students.
We are committed to sustaining the school and expanding its capacity in all aspects to achieve our goal of leaving no child behind within our project location, Chharka, and neighboring villages in the eastern terrain of the Dolpo region.

Join us in shaping a brighter future for the children of Dolpo. Your support can make a lasting impact on education and community development. Together, let’s ensure that no child is left behind. Donate now and be a part of our journey towards a thriving and empowered community.

BUILDING THE SCHOOL

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