Newsletter 11 April 2020

Dear all,

In these uncertain and difficult times, with so many countries in ‘lock down’, we thought it would be good to provide some information about the outbreak of the Corona Virus in Nepal and how it affects our projects. Earlier this year we started up two projects, however unfortunately we’ve decided to put a hold on these as Nepal went into full lock-down on March 23rd. Read more below:

Nepal and the Corona Virus:

Until now, nine cases of Corona Virus have been identified in the country, of which the first infection occurred within Nepal itself. In total, nearly 1,900 tests were conducted. This week the Nepalese government has decided to extend the national lockdown by a further 9 days until April 15. In Kathmandu, all traffic has been shut down, schools and shops are closed, and traveling to another district is only allowed with special permission. This means also that all international and domestic flights have been canceled until then. *

Below you will find more information about the projects we started up in February but have not yet been able to finalize:

Sponsoring ten students of the Taruka Hillside Primary School:

Located in the hills of the Nuwakot district, the Taruka Hillside School has approximately 235 children. As a private school parents pay school fees annually. Some children come from poor families and receive a ‘scholarship’, which means that the school fees are canceled. For this year we have decided to support these children with a new school uniform, books, notebooks and writing materials. We already bought materials for the school uniforms and distributed these to the children. The local tailor will make the uniforms. Unfortunately, the school is currently closed and we can only hand out books and stationary once the children return to school. A few photos of the distribution of the materials for the school uniforms are attached. More photos will follow, once the school has re-opened. 

Distributing materials and some stationary to students of the Taruka Hillside School in Nuwakot


Computer Lab for the Shree Saraswati Adharbhut Senior School:

This school, also located in the district of Nuwakot, has about 200 students and they receive computer lessons from textbooks only. Therefore the school management urged us to provide computers and a printer, so that the children will be able to practice software programs, such as Excel, Word, PowerPoint, on the computer. Ram has shopped around and we have found suitable, good quality computers at a tech-shop in Kathmandu. We placed an order for five computers and a printer, however as also this school will remain closed until further notice, we have decided to put this project on hold. Payment for the computers has not yet been made. 

On our Facebook page we will continue to share news from Nepal and we hope that we can successfully complete our projects in the near future. This depends entirely on how the Corona Virus will develop in Nepal in the coming weeks / months. We truly hope that the virus will not spread further throughout the country, as the consequences and suffering will be incalculable.

Please do let us know if you have any questions. Stay healthy and safe wherever you are.

Big Namaste,
Samantha Laxmi Support Foundation