Last year I made a promise to the School Master of a village school near are project area. Actually, I made a few promises to him. The first was simple enough to fulfill. Obtain a couple of used laptop computers for staff and students to use for record keeping and conservation education. My old employer, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, came though today and donated one to the project. As crazy as it made seem, computer use in this area is not common. So, computer training will also part of the commitment. I do not want to make the school dependent on computers or technology. I am merely providing a back up to their current records collection method (paper) as well as providing conservation education material. (Most of the records I observed at the school were mildewed.)
The other promise will not be so easy to fulfill. Assist the village with finding a way to safely provide heat for the classrooms during the winter. Insulating the building will help but, currently, body heat is the only source of heat in the rooms. The winter cold is particularly tough on the younger students, making it difficult for them to concentrate. Think about it. The school sits at about 3,000 meters in the Himalayan foothills... It snows up there.
Ideally, I would love to have a big company donates solar collectors for the building. Any one have contacts or leads?
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| Floor of class rooms need improvement |
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| Gutters need to be installed to channel away rain water |
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| Monsoon rains are causing erosion around the class rooms |
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| Village school |
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