Support Group > Message from group

Namaste! If you are currently in Sermathang, you won't need me to tell you about the warmth of the welcome you will be receiving or the pleasure you will have had in seeing the children at work at Yangrima School.

The school provides an education for children from all over the region. This will help them to build their own futures and to contribute in many ways to the life of their villages and to Nepal as a whole.

The success of the school, and the growing number of children who enrol each year, is a great tribute to all those in Sermathang, whose vision and hard work over many years have been rewarded in the happy faces of generations of pupils! The role of honour includes dedicated Head Teachers and Principals, teachers from Kathmandu and other regions and all those in the village who have worked since the mid 1980s to make the project a reality.

It also includes a long list of young (and not so young!) volunteer teachers. Without their hard work, much of what you see today would not have been possible.

There are of course many other partners in this story. They are the supporters from countries all over the world whose financial help has made such an important contribution. Since 1990, the UK group has been helping to fund a growing number of Nepalese teachers at Yangrima. It was also largely responsible, in the mid 1990s, for the funding of the new school building. The major contributors at that time were Clare College and Queen's College Cambridge, the British Gurkhas and the many individuals who make up our support group.

More recently, we have had help from Central Television, Logica and Andersen Consulting. However, most of the funds needed for ongoing teacher salaries come from ex-volunteer teachers and their families, and from trekkers who visit the village and provide sponsorship or financial help on their return. Perhaps you will feel like supporting the school and becoming part of the growing Sermathang family abroad.

Apart from money, the UK Support Group also sends volunteers to the village for periods of 3-5 months. Mostly they teach in the school, seeing the experience as a major part of the 'gap year' between school and university. Some of the volunteers are older and can provide more specific skills. All have to be of the highest calibre and there is a constant need for young people with skills and enthusiasm to join our team.

Please note my address and contact me on your return home. We love to hear from all those who visit the village and who want to keep their links alive in a really tangible fashion. It is a source of pride that in over eight years of support, and with some £80000 raised, not a single penny has been spent on administration or overheads! Our network of friends are the key to all this.

Best wishes

Anthony Lunch
Chairman, UK Friends of Sermathang
October, 1998