| Hope for the Future | ||||||||||
| By Li Wei-huang; translated by Tang Yau-yang; photos by Hsiao Yiu-hwa | ||||||||||
Bishnu Nanju, 30, was wearing a Tzu Chi volunteer vest, but the vest could not veil what he was wearing underneath: a white shirt and white pants, accompanied by a white cap. He was clothed in white in accordance with the Hindu custom in Nepal for mourning the death of a parent. Bishnu was in mourning for his mother, who had been killed in the earthquake. In addition to taking the life of his mother, the temblor also destroyed his home, which had been bought with money he had earned in Malaysia. He had worked there as a laborer for eight years, sending his savings home every three months. He returned home not long before the earthquake hit his motherland and destroyed his hard-earned home. Bishnu and his family lived in a tent for two weeks following the tremor. Then he used his savings to rent a place, where he, his father, and four other family members now live. It is a cramped place, but it is a warm home to them. After having gone through so much, they cherish the blessing of having their family around. Three days after the disaster, he came across a familiar sight at Bhaktapur Durbar Square: Tzu Chi volunteers in their blue-and-white uniforms. Bishnu’s former employer in Malaysia was a Tzu Chi volunteer, and so Bishnu took part in Tzu Chi activities, where he saw those uniforms.
By coincidence, the volunteers he saw at the square were from Malaysia too. He couldn’t contain his excitement: “I want to join you!” he exclaimed to the volunteers. Afterwards, he began going with them to visit quake victims, and he helped translate during free clinics. Later he worked on a Tzu Chi construction project, building temporary classrooms for schools, including the one from which he had graduated—Bagiswori Higher Secondary School and College. He helped teach others how to assemble the prefabricated classrooms. He was familiar with Tzu Chi’s ideals and operations, so he was well-equipped for the job. Working on a tight deadline was demanding, not to mention dealing with the challenges posed by the rainy season and the erratic power supply, but he took it all in stride. Working for Tzu Chi provided a much needed distraction, as it helped keep his mind off the agony of losing his mother and his home. He also used the time to ponder his future.
New classrooms After the earthquake, the United Nations pegged the number of destroyed or damaged classrooms at more than 30,000. Shree Budhanilkantha Higher Secondary School in Kathmandu was one of the schools damaged by the quake. Makeshift classrooms built with bamboo poles and plastic sheets filled an open area of the school. Narayan, an English teacher at the school, said that the government had appropriated 75,000 rupees (US$735) to build temporary classrooms and 125,000 rupees (US$1,220) to repair damaged buildings. “That’s all we got,” Narayan said. In fact, the school had built all of its classrooms before the earthquake with funds that it raised on its own. One of the school buildings was being used even before it was painted. Construction and fundraising were carried out at the same time, six years ago. Shree Budhanilkantha is a public school in the capital city. If its funds were so constrained, it is easy to imagine how much worse the situation was at schools in remote areas. But then Tzu Chi stepped in with some much needed assistance. Volunteers started visiting damaged schools even when they were still providing emergency aid to quake survivors. They also looked for contractors and began preparing building materials for the construction of prefabricated classrooms. In mid-June, the foundation kicked off the construction of 107 temporary classrooms for 17 schools. In late June, four prefabricated classrooms were completed and opened for use at Shree Budhanilkantha. Since Nepal had entered the rainy season, the shelter provided by the classrooms came at a great time. The temporary classrooms feature metal frames, drywall, and roofs of polyurethane foam. They are intended to be used as interim learning spaces for three to five years, during which permanent classrooms can be built. But these classrooms are better than interim structures for the locals; they are viewed as almost semi-permanent. “They look like permanent classrooms,” said Dhan Kumar Shrestha, principal of the college portion of Bagiswori Higher Secondary School and College. “They’ll last at least 10 to 15 years.”
The temblor took 24 classrooms at Bagiswori out of commission. That put a severe squeeze on class scheduling. In an effort to accommodate so many students, the school day was staggered: College students attended classes from six to ten in the morning, then students in secondary and grade school levels took over until four in the afternoon. To help out, Tzu Chi built six temporary classrooms for the school. The principal was very grateful. The foundation’s help lifted the burden from the school’s staff of seeking out other organizations to donate and build classrooms. Finally, teachers were able to focus their attention on teaching.
Uniforms and textbooks Many students lost their belongings to the earthquake, including their school uniforms, books, and supplies. This was also true of children in remote mountain communities. Because their damaged homes were unserviceable after the quake, many of them were relocated to tent cities in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur, where they attended nearby schools. These children went to school in street clothes, without books or supplies. They had to ask their classmates to share their books with them, and they stood out in the midst of their uniformed schoolmates. Shree Saraswoti Lower Secondary School was located in a slum. Most of its students wore threadbare clothes. If a hole had worn through a skirt, a girl would simply put on pants before donning the skirt. Some students had only flip-flops to wear to school. Deepa Gurung, a teacher at the school who had served at four schools before, said, “The children in this school are the poorest of those in all the schools where I’ve taught.” They did not have much to begin with. The temblor took away what little they had and aggravated their poverty. Tzu Chi volunteers decided to help alleviate the situation by distributing uniforms and textbooks at 20 public schools in the Kathmandu Valley. More than 2,000 students, aged three and a half to thirteen, each received two uniforms, a pair of leather shoes, and other supplies. Before the distribution, Tzu Chi volunteers asked the uniform suppliers to take measurements of the students so that the uniforms would fit them nicely—not too big, not too small. When Rupen Pradhan visited Adarsha Higher Secondary School in Layaku, Thimi, to measure the students there, he discovered that six out of ten did not wear school uniforms. His observation helped validate the advisability of giving uniforms to needy students. Giving uniforms, shoes, socks, and books to students is a relatively inexpensive thing to do and may not seem like a big deal, but Qiu Yu-fen (邱玉芬), a Tzu Chi volunteer who lives in Shanghai, thought otherwise. She believed that the ability of these things to boost the confidence of the children should not be underestimated. “Children from poor families are often unsure of themselves,” Qiu observed. She should know. Growing up in a poor family, she started working a paper route when she was 12 so she could go to school. Unfortunately, she had to abandon her formal education after she finished junior high because of her family’s poverty. Now she is in a position to help others. She joined Tzu Chi, and she often goes to remote villages in China to extend care and distribute scholarships to underprivileged students. Over the years, she has seen students respond to this type of care and love. Many of them have worked diligently and moved up nicely. Some are even studying for their doctorates now.
Qiu stayed in Nepal for more than a month. She was convinced that keeping students company and cheering them on would go a long way towards helping them reach their goals. She knew these types of efforts would bear fruit in Nepal as they had in China.
Self-esteem One day, volunteers went to Nil Barani Primary School and distributed new uniforms, shoes, socks, and textbooks to students there. When Ram Thapa went to the school to pick up her granddaughter after class and saw the Tzu Chi volunteers, she could barely contain her emotions. She had received folding beds and blankets from Tzu Chi just two days earlier at a tent area in Bode. With those she was finally able to sleep comfortably. Now she saw that her granddaughter had received brand-new uniforms and other supplies from the same charitable organization. She was truly touched by the benevolence of the group. A look at the recipient lists of the 20 public schools that received aid from Tzu Chi reveals a predominance of female students. This is not a coincidence, but a manifestation of a society that values males over females. Parents in Nepal strive to send their sons to private schools, where more resources are available. Most girls, on the other hand, attend public schools. Girls in Nepal face an uphill battle in life. Less than 60 percent of them are literate. This nation also has the ninth highest prevalence of child marriage in the world. Many girls in remote areas drop out of school when they are very young to get married.
When they drop out of school, their stock in life drops as well. Early marriage hurts their chances in life. Without a good education, they cannot reasonably expect to do well in life. Many young intellectuals in Nepal are aware that only through widespread education can their society rid itself of damaging customs, such as getting married prematurely. Principal Dhan Kumar Shrestha pointed out that his school, the best public educational institution in Bhaktapur, had started a program two years earlier in which its faculty donates one day’s pay per year to an emergency fund for students. Another thoughtful measure the school took after the earthquake was allowing students who could not pay their tuition to attend school without having to pay up front. The students were told that they could pay the money when their parents could manage it. They were urged to never quit school over an inability to pay. Principal Dhan Kumar Shrestha lost his home to the earthquake too. And yet, despite his own problems, he managed to submit to Tzu Chi a list of ten students who were in particularly difficult financial straits. They needed special help because they had lost both parents, or someone in their family was sick, or because special circumstances had severely drained the family’s resources. Tzu Chi volunteers subsequently visited these families and assisted them with living or medical expenses. The six prefabricated classrooms Tzu Chi provided for Bagiswori Higher Secondary School and College were turned over to the school at the end of June 2015. Bishnu Nanju, who had helped build the classrooms from beginning to end, was in the audience during the turnover ceremony. He was happy for the boys and girls at his old school who would be able to have their lessons in the safety and comfort of the new classrooms, rain or shine. At the same time, he was melancholy because he missed his mother and because he was unable to build a house for his family yet. He knew what he had to do: He had to continue to work and save so he would be able to rebuild. The next time, he vowed, “the house will be very sturdy and it will not be knocked down by another disaster.” |
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