6,500 schoolchildren were beaming with joy when they received their school equipment.
Thousands of school children are smiling. And it seemed as if half of Gorkha was wearing green and yellow - proud and happy to have their own new uniform and school equipment. With the "Caring - Giving Warmth" project, we are distributing tracksuits, school rucksacks, exercise books, woollen hats, shoes, socks and T-shirts to pupils at remote schools in the Himalayas.
The reach of this relatively inexpensive project (CHF 47 per pupil) is immense. Hard to imagine for us in Switzerland - but receiving a tracksuit means an indescribable amount to a child in Nepal. They receive a school uniform that they don't want to play with so as not to get it dirty. Because this is the uniform they wear to school every day. The tracksuit gives them freedom to play, to change, for leisure and in winter for much-needed warmth (it then serves as a second layer) - it can get very cold in the high-altitude villages.
The same applies to the school backpack. They don't have one and have to carry their exercise books to school in their hands. A journey to school can take up to three hours. Exercise books are also not available. The children have to buy them themselves - which is not possible for many and makes school attendance impossible. And many children have no shoes or hats. Hence our "Caring - Giving Warmth" set.
The reactions from everywhere are touching. Every Nepali knows what this means for the children ...
You can find more about the report here: Sorge tragen - Wärme schenken • Sambhav Nepal
