Lee County contingent makes impact with Nepalese

LEE COUNTY - Rebuild Nepal Education Foundation’s educational mission trip concluded in late June 2024 with 10 volunteers spending time in 32 schools, across five provinces in Nepal working with more than 25,000 students.
It was tremendous working with volunteers from Earthbound Expeditions and the large group of other Nepalese volunteers and supporters.  
While in Nepal, here are just a few of the accomplishments we achieved, thanks in part to the volunteers and to the hundreds of donors and supporters of our 501c(3) Foundation. 
We handed out more than 2,000 backpacks filled with educational and health supplies to the poorest Nepalese children.  Each backpack included four paper copy or notebooks, numerous pens and pencils, a Rebuild Nepal active fit t-shirt, large tube of toothpaste, new toothbrush, large bar of soap.  Older children received rulers and assorted educational equipment.  Younger children received stuffed animals hand-sown by a group of women in the Basalt, Colorado area, along with coloring books, crayons, and books to read. 
We worked with 46 of our college students who helped with the backpack program, or they volunteered with us at the schools we visited and interacted with.  We heard reports from each of the college students and summaries of their educational progress.  Several will finish their college degrees, due to the help from the donors of Rebuild Nepal Education Foundation.  They were also reminded of their responsibility to ‘pay it forward’ three (3) times in their life.  Some of these students will become computer technicians, some IT teachers, science teachers, math teachers, medical doctors, dentists, farmers, ag educators, nurses, civil engineers, environmental engineers, surgeons, public health professionals, etc. 
We also worked with four schools for the specially impaired: Blind, Autistic, Handicapped, Deaf students providing special learning support, from providing a bed to sleep on, providing a water-proof roof, to supplying the blind students with white canes, to installing white boards, large screen flat screen televisions for the student’s education, to providing other needed educational materials specifically needed for the special needs children.  And even providing a special snack at least once a week. 
All or part of our contingents  and volunteers were interviewed by local newspapers, digital news programs, Nepalese radio shows, etc. to discuss our role in improving educational opportunities for Nepalese children. 
We have improved our presence in the Ag portion of presence to improve the quality and quantity of ag products.  Our ag partners and ag schools have helped us to reach out to students interested in improving their ag skills and to help us reach out to the poorest farmers providing them with a pregnant goat, with the 1st offspring being given to the next poorest farmer to help them establish a small goat herd.  We have provided better genetic hybrid seeds to farmers and to young ag students, increasing their productivity.  We’ve invested in youth hostels, where students walk for several miles to attend schools, especially the ag schools, and have to stay someplace in order to receive an education.   We’ve provided baby chicks to help instruct students on poultry production, and as a result now there’s a protein source for lunch or dinner, a boiled egg for the students.  And we’ve provided a herd of goats, water buffalo and cows and calves to student ag groups to help them learn better ag practices with animal production. 
We opened five schools’ technology rooms with computers, smart boards, etc.  This was a stretch for our budget, but we got some local buy-in, like a school would try to raise a few dollars to help us spread our monetary commitment to more schools.  This partnership was accepted and so much appreciated. 
At each school, volunteers interacted with staff and students throughout the course of the day, teaching or talking to the students.  Quite successful interactions with students, all educational, nothing religious, as our group is designated not to work with religious overtones, nor try any conversion techniques based on religious aspects.  Our work is strictly educational, not religious.  Our work in education and providing educational opportunities to the Nepalese children seems to be continually sought after and respected by all aspects and all groups as we travel through some of the most remote areas of Nepal, and some of the most wonderful and scenic mountainous areas that see no tourist, nor volunteers. 
Here are the Lee County members who went with Rebuild Nepal Education Foundation.  Aiden Dostalek and Holden Fraise (both 16 and will be Juniors at FMHS this year), David Kearns, Chuck Holmes, Noe Trejo (Senior at U of IA) and me.