Mr. Bushal visited the school himself and reported:
About 6 hours drive from Kathmandu  on the road to Pokhara until Dumre where another Road is branching off to Besisahar which is the end of the blacktop road in the Marsyandi Valley. A bus will take the whole day. After an about 5-6 hours’ walk one reaches Phulmrao, at an altitude of appr. 1700 m. It is a village on the trail from Besi-sahar to Pokhara, a trek which takes about 5-6 days.It is a primary school with 5 classes and about 100 students, including 35 girls. Until beginning of monsoon they used the community hall for part of the classes or wereteaching outside.

Three board-members met the contact person with the school committee, Mr. Gum Prasad Gurung, who made an excellent impression and on a later Board-Meeting it was decided to support this school with Fr. 5’000 which we had in a separate account.An agreement was drawn up and duly signed. Due to the conflict-situation, the back and forth of e-mails took quite some time and when all the signatures were done the first half of the amount was transfered from SNS to the schools’ bank account which took some more time due to the situation. As soon as the decision of the Board was transfered to the school construction committee, they started working.The village Development Committee  contributed Rs. 20’000 and promised – and paid – another Rs. 30’000.

Wooden frames for doors and windows were perchased in Besisahar (5 hours walk one way). The district Development Committee gave corrugated sheets. They had to be fetched in Besisahar,  as well as the cement. Sand to be collected came from a river, 4 hours walk away one way. The community Forest Group contributed timber, villagers  brought stones from close-by and prepared them.  The men from the village gave their free labour to collect all these goods. – By the way, the trail from Besisahar to Phulmrao is a steady up and down, at some places steps like stairs.

When monsoon started the school building was roofed so that the students could get their teaching already inside. During monsoon the inside-works can be done and it is hoped the  inauguration can be held some day in August.
The area is Gurung country. The villagers are all farmers, have small plots on which they grow corn and millet, barley, enough to feed them for hardly 4-5 months a year.There are various activities in the village such as bee-keeping, growing vegetable which they market in the surrounding villages. There is a mothers’ club and a small-credit cooperative.

Mr. Bhusal visited the village and surrounding villages and talked to many inhabitants and encouraged them to donate money or labour. He had an excellent impression of their courage and positive thinking although Phulmrao was considered the poorest village in the area.The villages have found a modus vivendi with the Maoists, who have been informed about the school-building construction.

The second half of the money has been transferred and it should have arrived at the construction committee by now. Due to the monsoon and the difficult trails Mr. Gurung has not been able to come to Kathmandu. The board of SNS feels, that the money to Phulmro is well spent. We hope to get pictures later on about the inauguration.