As you may know we returned from Nepal last Sunday night. Our group was small, 7 teachers including Rob and I (4 phys. ed. teachers) Six women and Rob…he certainly gets the medal for holding it together on shopping day!! Our goal was to visit Thakani and Sermathang to do teacher workshops.
When (running) Tshering heard we were coming he decided that he would go ahead with his plans to conduct a sports symposium (for phys ed. teachers of the Helambu region) at Yangrima School. The idea for this symposium was to teach Physical Education teachers at village schools how to run a program for children of all ages and abilities. (You may not know that he and Maya (his fiancée) moved up to Yangrima and are keepers of the hostel which houses about 10 children so far…)
So, with (computer and banner maker) Tashi (now known as director Tashi) at the helm and Tshering as an symosium organizer they got 23 schools to register and participate in a 6-day sports symposium (all funded by Run for the Hills!). Funds we raised (by your generous donations last year) not only paid for the cost of the workshop but for all 23 participants from all over the valley to attend, sleep and eat. The national running coach (Tshering’s coach) and the national table tennis coach both attended and ran workshops for 3 days and then our group ran workshops for the other 3 days. We did everything from low organizational games, cooperative games, initiative tasks (led by Rob, Nancy, Anne and Liisa) and then basketball! That’s right, Sandy (Falco) (who is a basketball coach at St. John’s Kilmarnock school here in town) was one of the phys. ed teachers and she taught them to play ball! It was the first time playing basketball for many of them and they loved it as did we watching Sandy! Tshering also made a basketball court of which we had to move the rocks out of each day to play. It was fantastic. Finally, the money we raised also paid for each participant to receive a goodie bag of sports equipment for their school. Each participant received a parachute, 50 juggling scarves, skipping ropes, yogi elastics, a low organizational game handbook (made by one of our group members), a set of 16 skipping games posters, a basketball coach’s manual, basketball coaching poster, kids football shirts, and a basketball! We also were able to pay for the transport of all the materials up to the school.
We first visited Thakani for 2 days and did an ESL workshop with their teachers building a word wall. Then, we climbed down the valley to the river and were now able to take a bus up to a village only a 20 minute walk from Sermathang (4 hours on the roof of a brand new road was a bit of a nail-biting experience). While in Kathmandu we also had time to shop for books to create a new library (stamp, catalogue and put pockets and cards in each book thanks to Monika,Liisa and Nima) at Yangrima. Our trip was short but we did a lot.
The school is about to have their 1-year anniversary celebration (see the facebook page for the Yangrima Boarding School) on April 14th. They hope to double the number of students for this upcoming year and be ready for students grades nursery to 8! They’ve done a remarkable job! Finally, Tshering and Maya’s wedding will take place at Yangrima on April 15th following the school celebration if anyone is available and perhaps in the area!! Check out the album below:
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| Nepal 2010 |
