We are a school to be proud of and our children are overjoyed with their new syllabus
In every letter or email to their Mentors, the children excitedly say how they love the sport and creative lessons now in their daily timetable. At last, we have the space and resources to add in music and art. Sport is also timetabled: boys and girls play football, badminton, short tennis, and table tennis – with matches! Girls also now have space to play – including football. Yes, we’ve done it! It hasn’t been easy. Before, boys dominated the playground, with male teachers also wanting to play volleyball. We have divided the Tiffin break into two (older and younger students) so girls have space to play
In the last newsletter, we asked for old (or new) laptops for children to use in projects and for school leavers (who have no access to computers). Thank you to some Mentors and two businesses (Attraqt and K3 Business Technologies) who have stepped up. Alfred Ashley Group is wiping them all for us, if necessary. We always need more, so please ask your company for any laptops that can have a 2nd life in Hangdewa!
Our Sponsored student, Bharosha Bhattarai, earned her way to a bursary
…to study Agricultural Science at University in Itahari by volunteering at the school, setting up some admin. processes and teaching our teachers IT and English. Here she is, centre group, having come second in an agricultural quiz. Below is part of her letter back to us after Year One:
“Being a student in a completely different environment, far from home, was very challenging and overcoming my personal struggles was not easy, but I continue to strive for the best and I am loving things now. I have been able to develop the way I learn and interact with others to a degree that has also helped me to mature into a better person. I always believed that learning new things is not only based on books. We need to explore and be practical in life. As a student in a new place on my own it has taught me self-regulation, adaptation, and self-actualization, which I would have never learned only from books. Along with studying, there is the fun of gossiping with friends in my leisure, participating in all sports, although I don’t know how to play table tennis properly, mixing different chemicals in the lab to get different reactions without the teachers knowing…these are some of the good memories that I will cherish when I get old.”
Studying away from home in Nepal is challenging in many ways – it requires positivity in all things. Suman, now in Kathmandu, says, “My daily budget is about Rs.200 (about £1.30) and sometimes it is very hard to manage on this. There is food at the college, but the quality is low, and the price is high. I believe that as much hard work as I do to manage my money well now will help me in my future.”
To help prepare our alumni for life beyond Hangdewa, Millfield School – 2 to 18, boarding and day is giving online lessons, prepared by their sixth formers. We have two in the pipeline: ‘Managing yourself away from home’ and ‘Making the most of a mentor and building a social network.’
Excitement at the School
Life in Hangdewa follows the agricultural and festival cycle. Ploughing, planting, picking; the wet season follows the dry season, with major festivals at the beginning of the dry season and the wedding season at the end. The children like the warmth of the wet season but dislike how it limits play. This year was different: in the middle of the wet season, in July, one of our Trustees, Karen Cove, accompanied by three young volunteers (Owen, Georgie and Thomas) arrived at the school. Between them all, 162 students contributed to large-scale art works and a house sport competition. The difference that even a fortnight of volunteering can make in our school is immense, brightening lives and bringing new skills and ideas. Volunteer-in-Hangdewa.pdf (qlearningnepal.com)
Our Ambassadors and Mentors together make our school possible
We have 55 Ambassadors and Mentors or about 25% of students, aged 4-15. Semi talks about what it means to have a Mentor and be an Ambassador – click to hear (3) Facebook The children write to their mentors, send photos and drawings and are curious about the outside world, whilst working hard to improve their English. The children consider it a huge honour to be chosen and plead for inclusion in the group. Many Mentors engage with us and find more Mentors from amongst their friends and family; we would like to congratulate Sarah Holmes and Rich Duffy (two Mentors) on their recent wedding! Kinjal and Sneha will be thrilled to receive photos. If you know anyone who might sponsor/mentor a student, please tell us. Sponsor A Child | Q • Learning Nepal Trust CIO (qlearningnepal.com)
And, of course, there are the Ambassador Parties
Competitions, races, football matches and great food for our Ambassadors. Below, the older girls are running a race and the boys are engaging in ‘cock-fighting’ – fortunately without cockerels.
- Exams take place at the end of every term in Nepal. This is an example of where Western viewpoints don’t cut the mustard. Parents (often illiterate) expect them and can gauge how their children are doing. Children work hard to do well in them. Even the smallest children, aged 4, want to show what they can do…and most get a score above 95%. It is amazing is how well our Montessori children can write in English and Nepali, especially as most speak Limbu at home.
Congratulations to our Prefects. Back row left: Indra, Head Boy and front row, 2nd left: Ashika, Head Girl. Also: Suman & Sadiksha (School Decoration) Semihang (Visitors) Santosh (Health and Safety) Ambika (Welfare) Semi (Extracurricular) Liza & Unchho (Events) Kamala & Bibash (Sports Captains) Shisekhang & Arpan (School Improvement).
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