Newsletter, February 2023

Kia ora, Namaste.  We’re hoping the year has started well for you.  A quick update…

Kailash Bodhi School, Jumla

Things seem to be going quite well in the KBS Jumla School. For several years the school was not able to run Year 9 classes – due to some political changes, students were required to move to government schools for year 9 – but the rules now seem to have changed a bit and the school can operate these classes again. They seem to have gone well.

A highlight of the week seems to be the ‘Friday activities’ (the school week runs from Sunday to Friday, with the only day off being on Saturday).

Tashi the Principal tells us: “We organized inter house solo song, and quiz competition. Apart from that we had inter house senior futsal competition. We also had wonderful times with the students on Friday by organizing interclass speech, poem reciting and group dances in which everyone enjoyed it including parents.”

Little Sisters Fund  (LSF)

LSF is doing well, with record numbers of girls achieving their goal for higher education. This story, told by Akina, one of their sponsored ‘little sisters’, paints a picture of how LSF works in Nepal:

“Life and death are natural rules, which we cannot eliminate.  This is the reason one unlucky girl was born in a poor family without her consent.  And, that girl is me. I do not know, maybe because of a past life’s sin I had to grow in this as punishment. My mother married with another man and left me behind.  I was three years old.

“There was only my father to take care of me, but due to the social customs of my village my father was compelled for another marriage. Then I could not get parental love and care. My step-mother never loved me. I was treated as a servant of the house. Grazing the animals and cutting the grass was my daily routine. My father changed into a type of devil. My heart started breaking up. Pain and sorrow started filling my heart. So I learnt hate more than love.  I lived this way for seven years.”   But then her mother returned…

“My mother took me to Kathmandu, but her financial situation worsened. She used to work 24 hours straight. She started sending me to a school nearby. I was about to drop out while I was in Grade 3.  My future took a turn and LSF/UGESP rescued me. It started providing me good education. I am in the 9th Grade now because of this help.  I am dreaming to be successful in my life. I want to stand on my own feet.”

A visit to Nepal by an ITT sponsor:

One of our local sponsors, Hugh, recently made a visit to Nepal and to the Little Sisters Fund office in Kathmandu. When I had visited there in 2018, I came away feeling inspired, encouraged and enormously appreciative. I was delighted to find that Hugh, who had visited Nepal several times before, felt just the same as I had. A few impressions:

·         He met with all LSF staff including a number of mentors at the main Kathmandu office, and was very favourably impressed. Staff morale, dedication and motivation seemed extremely high. The students themselves apparently continue to have very good education outcomes, with a minimal drop-out rate. The model that has been developed is clearly an effective one.

·         He found that Covid has ceased to be the major disruption experienced in schools and elsewhere in 2020. The country and education services are not yet back to normal, but they’re heading in the right direction.

·         He found that the staff and mentors were very grateful for the support sponsors in NZ were providing, but do wish to be independent in the longer term. He said they were appreciative of any contact, and were “busting to communicate” with supporters.

All of which augurs well for the future, and for vulnerable young girls and women in particular.

Trustees

My thanks once again, to our Trustees: Kay, Lakma and Tessa. And a special welcome: at our last Trustee meeting, Tessa attended with her son, River, who was just one year old and most of us were meeting for the first time. Great to see you both!

Thank you, Dhanyabaad!

Once again, thank you so much everyone for your support, whether by way of donations, sponsorship or encouragement. It’s greatly appreciated, here and in Nepal. Very many thanks!

Bruce Gilkison, Chair - In Time Trust

Kailash Bodhi School, Jumla: Early morning exercises and inspiration

Newsletter, July 2022

Kia ora, Namaste.  We’re hoping you’re well.

Some good news from Nepal to start with.  After a major spike in Covid cases around the start of the year, the rate of new infections there has dropped and stabilised. And schools, which had been closed for most of 2021, reopened in October and have been open most of the time since then.

Kailash Bodhi School, Jumla

The school has had a successful but rather bumpy year. It had to close for one further month for Covid, in February 2022, but is getting back to a ‘new normal’ now. Jumla, in a very remote part of Nepal, has some benefits from its isolation (Covid surges take longer to arrive which gives time to prepare) but it also has more limited medical facilities.

It has been a rough year for the Principal, Tashi, whose mother died in India. And his wife Tenzin, who also works at the school, has had some medical problems and has had to spend a few months in Kathmandu for treatment. Our very best wishes go to Tashi and Tenzin for her speedy recovery.

One breakthrough for the school was the reopening of the Year 9 class. The government had closed the senior classes for all but its own schools a few years ago, but is now reversing this policy.

Not only did Covid disrupt classroom work in the past year, but the ‘fun’ part of being at school was also affected. However, Tashi told us recently:

“…last month we managed to entertain our children by providing an opportunity to play football at school. It was called a friendly match just to entertain them. It was really glad to see the face of all kids in a happy mood.  We are planning also to focus more on games and sports activities so that the kids enjoy physically too…

“And we now have a special program for junior kids… balloon blasting for Nursery class, sweet plucking for LKG, spoon and marble for UKG and sack race for class 1. It was really great fun for the kids and we all enjoyed too.”                                                                                                                      [We’re not sure of the rules for some of those activities, but they do sound like much-needed fun! ]

Little Sisters Fund  (LSF)

LSF – a larger organisation administered from Kathmandu - has also had a very good year in challenging circumstances. Some of its successes are shown below.

The LSF 2021 Annual Report is available from this link: https://bit.ly/3ahnUVS?blm_aid=3167233

And a reminder of why this work is so important:

Half the population of Nepal lives on less than $2 a day.

Even for families above that line, quality education can be prohibitively expensive. Gender bias means that, if faced with a terrible choice, parents tend to invest more money in the education of boys. As a result 66% of men can read and write, but only 43% of females can.

The risks are real

• 7 out of 10 girls in rural Nepal drop out of school before the age of 16.

• 10,000-15,000 girls are trafficked from Nepal each year.

• 30% of girls are engaged in child labour.

• In rural areas, 2 in 5 girls are married by the age of 14.

Little Sisters, learning and staying safe.

And an opportunity

For anyone keen to help, there is an opportunity to sponsor a ‘Coordinating Mentor’. These are young women who had once been at risk of dropping out of school, perhaps even of being trafficked out of Nepal, but had been found and supported by LSF to attend school. Then, having graduated, these former students have remained with LSF to support and mentor perhaps a dozen or several dozen girls each. These mentors are particularly effective in this role, having come from similar ‘at risk’ backgrounds as the young girls they are now helping.

Sponsorship of a Coordinating Mentor requires a contribution of NZ$75 a month. Some sponsors share this contribution between two or more people. It's a great way to support a number of young girls, who might in turn go on to support an even greater number of young girls in the future.

Trustees

In Time Trust has had one recent change on our Board. Pat Amos, who has done a brilliant job as Treasurer over the past five years, has retired to focus on other challenges. Thank you so much Pat.  We’ve thoroughly appreciated your mahi, your ideas and your company!

Lakma Godigamuwa has now taken over the role of Treasurer. Our thanks to her, and also our congratulations: she has also recently qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Well done, Lakma!

Thank you, Dhanyabaad!

Thank you so much everyone, for your support, whether by way of donations, sponsorship or moral support. It’s hugely appreciated, here and in Nepal. Many, many thanks!

Bruce Gilkison, Chair - In Time Trust  

Newsletter, October 2021

Kia ora, Namaste and a quick update since our last Newsletter in May 2021.

Nepal

The news from Nepal on the pandemic is still quite worrying, with about 1,000 new infections per day. However this is well down on the peak level in May this year, so the curve might be heading in the right direction. There have been more than 11,000 Covid-19 related deaths notified since the pandemic began (population is around 30 million) and there might be many more that are not identified as such.

Apart from those statistics, I received a message last week from a young person I met when I was there in 2018. She’d been hospitalised for a few days “due to lack of oxygen” and had recovered, but was still very weak. Hearing about a personal experience makes it seem more real. She was probably fortunate to be living in Kathmandu in easy reach of a hospital – many Nepalis would not be so lucky.

Kailash Bodhi School, Jumla

We were able to make one further transfer of funds since the previous newsletter. The Principal, Tashi, said: “Thank you very much for sending the fund in this critical moment of Covid where there is chaos and panic around Nepal due to Covid second wave.” At that time the school had been closed for several months. With not much access to computers in that region, online education opportunities were limited. At the time this newsletter is being completed (late September) the school is still closed.

Little Sisters Fund

LSF has been a bit better placed to deliver education in some of the areas it works in. Their system of appointing Coordinating Mentors – former Little Sisters, now trained as supporters of vulnerable young girls, seems to be even more valuable in lockdown than it was before, delivering education and support while schools are closed.

I received a message recently from a young woman I sponsor. She seems quite at home with delivering education online, as well as delivering soap and masks to students. She said “LSF is really a backbone for us.”

LSF’s Annual Report tells us: “The Mentors encouraged each of their Little Sisters to stay engaged in studying and learning activities while schools were closed. LSF also helped Little Sisters gain access to mobile technologies and data packages so they could attend virtual lessons when they were made available. But even more importantly, the Coordinating Mentors became a lifeline for Little Sisters through regular phone calls, encouraging text and video messages and physically distanced outdoor meetings. Because of their incredible commitment and dedication to be there for the Little Sisters when they needed them most, nearly all of the 1,900+ Little Sisters were ready and able to return to school once they opened for in-person classes. In fact, we expect to continue our string of success where our year-on-year continuation rate is above 98%.”

A Computer Saga

You might recall that the Trust provided the Jumla School with funding for 15 fairly basic computers for educational use (pictured). These have had fantastic use – the quietest classroom I went into there. Imagine the Trustees’ shock when we received an email in June from Tashi, the Principal, with the message: “A gangs of thieves stolen laptops… I can’t believe and I feel very very embarrassing to inform you too... I have been inquiring the case personally so as to the police department whom we have lodged complaint to...”

And a week later: “Thorough investigation going on and so far no clues found. We are presuming that we will soon find out the culprits. Let’s be positive... 15 laptops aren’t a small number and these thieves surely come out in the market to sell or try to…”

This happened during lockdown and was complicated by the fact that the Night Watchman (I met him in 2018) had died during lockdown, and the Principal had given his job to his widow, so she would still have some income to look after her young children. No doubt she was diligent and was sleeping in the building with her daughters at the time, but the Principal thought it wouldn’t have happened under her husband’s watch.

This was not only embarrassing for the school, but also for the Trust. It hadn’t been feasible to insure them, and I’d enquired earlier about the adequacy of security in lockdown and was assured it had been OK.

But how would we break this news to our generous supporters who had donated these funds? We decided to wait two more weeks for any news, then to request a police report.

And then, a breakthrough. Someone in the community heard someone talking ‘suspiciously’ on a phone. She told a teacher who told Tashi, who told the police. 12 of the computers were recovered (and there’s a good chance the other three will be tracked down too). And the thieves, four young men, were caught.

Tashi said: “I was in fact totally in despair and thinking myself being unfortunate and careless person in the world. Sleepless nights were spent thinking who had stolen and what we had done wrong to anybody, instead we had been helping and supporting many children. It was a nightmare for me to think of those stressful 26 days and nights…” We sent our appreciation for all involved, and said “We hope there’s an opportunity to make the thieves into better people, not just to punish them for their stupid actions.”

So… not exactly a happy ending. Apparently thefts have increased since the pandemic hit. But at least these greatly-valued computers are back, and students can continue to learn with these, once school reopens.

In Time Trust: What next?

Until last year, ITT had been considering a number of possible projects, at the Jumla school or elsewhere. But at this stage, with the school still closed and uncertainty around, for example, the number of students who will be returning to school when it reopens, consideration of any such projects is ‘on hold’. All funding available for the school will continue to be put to good use, supporting students, teachers and their families wherever possible. Meanwhile, opportunities exist to support additional Mentors through Little Sisters Fund, if additional sponsors are available. Overall, no new projects are likely in the next few months, at least. We will just continue providing support where we can.

Thank you, Dhanyabaad!

Thank you so much, for your support, whether by way of donations, sponsorship or moral support. It’s hugely appreciated, both here and in Nepal. In difficult times it’s been more important than ever that we continue to help and to stay connected.  If anyone is interested providing support or sponsorship, for the school or for one of the Little Sisters mentors, please get in touch.

Bruce Gilkison, Chair ITT  

The future of Nepal – children near Jumla, Western Nepal

Newsletter, May 2021

Kia Ora and Namaste to our dear sponsors, supporters and friends.

Nepal & Covid-19

When we last reported on the pandemic (July 2020) Nepal was in lockdown and schools were closed, but there seemed to be a chance that the country might somehow be spared from the worst of this. For a time, this continued to be encouraging, and schools did reopen late 2020.

Unfortunately this has turned much worse with a ‘second wave’ in 2021. There has been a lot of news coverage of the impacts of Covid-19 on India in recent weeks, with hospitals overcome by demands for help. The border between India and Nepal is open and is crossed by large numbers of people from both countries, so it was inevitable that the situation in Nepal would deteriorate.

To date (mid-May) there have been about 450,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases, and almost 5,000 deaths. In the past month, the number of cases has soared from around 100 to over 8,000 a day. Almost certainly, these are under-reported.

On a per capita basis, Nepal’s rate of new infections is now on a par with, or worse than, India’s. And the UK Guardian reports: “The country of about 30 million people has only about 1,600 intensive care beds and fewer than 600 ventilators for its population. There are 0.7 doctors per 1,000 people, a lower rate than India.” The newspaper called it a ‘human catastrophe’.

Recent correspondence with our own contacts puts this in context. Tashi, the Principal at the Kailash Bodhi School in Jumla, told us this week:

“The Covid’s second wave has been more and more serious day by day here. Country like Nepal being very small... death toll per day 225... so scary and even in Jumla 200 plus Covid cases so far… luckily no death till now but some are serious too so we don’t know. From today the lockdown in Jumla has extended for another 10 days with strict rules… All grocery shops are not allowed to open at all... before we can buy foods from 6-9am but now no... we did shopping yesterday.” He has told us that many businesses have had to shut down, so this too will have an on-going impact on families and other folk in the Jumla district.

In an earlier message (March 2021) Tashi gave some indication of the difficulties in his role there:

“After 8 months of lock down the government was bit flexible to allow all schools to reopen. So, I was quite excited and left for Jumla from Kathmandu. That journey of mine was a nightmare… With the rain and landslide coming continuously we keep heading with our heart on our palms, such a dangerous journey, stone rolling from the hills but we are still walking running and shouting… Then the next day we headed for Jumla, but again same problems roads closed but somehow we got some lift for a short period and sometime walking later in the evening in Jumla. When I arrived the very next day government has changed their mind stating that the school may not be opened for another month.”

Our partner organisation, Little Sisters Fund, said:

“As is consistent with all disasters, it is the poor, under-served and vulnerable who are hit the hardest. 2,000 Little Sisters and their families are struggling mightily. Many parents of Little Sisters support their families through day labour and housekeeping jobs. The government lock down once again means they are unable to journey outside their homes for work. With little to no income, and no resources to fall back on, the families of Little Sisters are struggling to put food on the table.”

A Little Sisters Coordinating Mentor wrote to us recently:

“Right now, in this pandemic situation everyone is praying to end Covid-19. I am very much aware of this and trying my best to make aware to all my little girls through phone counselling and visit. I was able to visit my girls for two times throughout this lock down. In my visit I distributed Covid-19 support and supplies maintaining social distance and being aware from each other. I have been planning to visit the girls of four different schools after finishing my festivals. This time I am going to distribute mask and soap to the girls provided by LSF Team.”

Kailash Bodhi School, Jumla

How can we respond? In Time Trust has continued to support the school, teachers and students in Jumla, in any way we can. We have transferred available funds to the school in the past week. This time it has not been appropriate to ‘tag’ the funds in the way we would like (i.e. with sums to be used for particular purposes) and instead have requested just that these be used in the way that provides the greatest benefit and relief from suffering for the most people. At this stage, with the school closed and no income from fees, there is currently no other source of income.

The Trust could not do what it does for these children without the support of our sponsors and supporters, and we do thank you all so much for this continued support. We are sure that one day we will see the benefits of education to these children.

 Little Sisters Fund

With the support of our New Zealand LSF sponsors, the Trust is continuing to support seven Coordinating Mentors in several parts of Nepal.

Trevor from Little Sisters Fund said: “We are deeply grateful for your partnership and I must convey that the CM's are doing an incredible job, doubly so during Covid.  Thanks to you all for your wonderful support.”

And in an earlier message to sponsors he said: “Nepal has just recently re-entered a countrywide lock down which means schools are once again closed. Prior to school closings, the Little Sisters had enjoyed a few months of a partial return to "normal" with classes taking place in person and small gatherings with family and friends. We were even able to finally celebrate our 2020 graduates. Once again, we are incredibly proud of all the work they have put into their years of education and are excited to see them continue on their path to becoming doctors, nurses, engineers and more!

“With all the ups and downs of the past few months, LSF's Nepal Team and Coordinating Mentors have remained steadfast in their commitment to overseeing the well-being of each and every Little Sister. We are incredibly grateful to them for their dedication and to you for your continued support and belief in the Little Sisters.”

Namaste, dhanyabad, thank you!

Our partner organisations, staff and students are facing huge challenges in Nepal just now. The help we can provide is quite limited. But it’s direct, it’s personal and it’s needed more than ever! And however small, it must be reassuring for them to know that people 12,000 km away are thinking of them, and helping where they can.

 Thank you so much to you for making this help possible.

 Bruce Gilkison, Chair ITT  

 Happier times in Jumla (Kailash Bodhi School, 2018).

And hopefully, more to come..

Newsletter, July 2020

Kia ora, dear sponsors and supporters. A quick and overdue update…

Nepal & Covid-19

Nepal has been in lockdown since March 24th, starting about the same time as New Zealand, and this has included closures of all schools. This presents real difficulties for many people in Nepal, who have no financial reserves and need to leave home every day to earn a few rupees or to grow or gather food. The country will also be affected by the loss of some of its major sources of income, particularly tourism. International trade and aid, and the distribution of food and other supplies have also been impacted.

How does this affect students and teachers at the Kailash Bodhi School in Jumla? We have stayed in close contact with the principal Tashi, and his wife Tenzin. Here are some snippets from their emails:

March: “I am not scare of the pandemic but worried about future of people of the world and of course Nepalese citizens as we may in shortage of foods if it remains like this. So far seems ok but once it went worse it can affect the income of Nepalese people as we won’t be receiving any help from the government as most of the people here depend on daily earnings. Like in European countries governments provide help but Nepal being one of the poorest country will never rely on government...”

June: “…the stress of lockdown making all of us more boring and being home quarantined... being very scary of continuously bringing the death rate and positive cases increasing day by day. Our government being not capable of controlling the pandemic is more scary for the people’s here in Nepal.

“Currently total 9561 People have been found positive and it can go up for sure no doubts... Though the lockdown has lifted from last week but people are still not very convinced of being going out of their houses. The government has solely lifted lockdown to collect taxes... so this includes all the shops, factories and all private companies but the schools and colleges has not been open yet....

“So it is really hard to say what is going on here in Nepal… It is now almost more than 3 months of lockdown… things are still not normal here.”

There are now around 15,000 confirmed C-19 cases and 32 deaths up to July 4, but Nepali people are very stoic - they do not seek help unless they feel very bad and would not rush to get tested, so the numbers of cases are likely to be hugely understated.

How we have responded - Jumla

Teachers have continued to receive some payments from the school during lockdown. The Trustees decided that this was a good time to provide whatever support we could, and sent some funds in May, that we had previously hoped would be available for building or other projects. Tashi said:

“…thank you from the bottom of my heart for being so generous. It is said that making oneself happy is good but bringing happiness in others life is the best in the world. Yes surely this is going to be great relief to all the staffs and children…

“We have at least given some relief by providing funds to all the teachers through the fund we received from In Time Trust. And at the same time making them little busy by taking some classes in the villages. Students are getting TV classes and online classes, phone line classes and especially live classes by teachers themselves.”

Thank you so much to our supporters and sponsors who have made this support possible.

Teacher Training - Jumla

Prior to lockdown, some worthwhile training was provided to teachers at the school in Jumla, funded by the Trust. This had been some months in the planning. It is hard for schools in remote areas to stay up to date with teaching methods. Tashi said:

“Well, it was kind of coincidence that the training ended exactly Covid19 arrived but the teachers are doing their best sharing their classes of the training to the very limited children staying next to them. Sometime they do online classes and phone line classes so it has never been wasted. Since the online classes are very limited but phone line classes and coaching classes has been our major targets so that at least we are well aware of their daily schedule. So in a nut shell the training has been very helpful and it will totally change the concept of teaching once the school reopens. So far all our senior and junior teachers are taking limited classes in the villages with maintaining social distancing.”

Teacher Training, Jumla

Little Sisters Fund

We have also kept in close contact with Little Sisters Fund through this period. This area of our work has also been affected by the school closures, but the support of Coordinating Mentors by generous sponsors has continued and is providing real benefits. These Mentors are young women, formerly ‘little sisters’ themselves, who are now each supporting and mentoring a number of vulnerable girls from broken or impoverished families, helping them get an education.

Here is part of a message I received from a Mentor earlier this month:

“I hope you are doing well. I, my family and relatives are fine here. The government had announced a nationwide lockdown because of novel coronavirus from spreading out of control and extending it for uncertain time. All the people have been asked to stay in their homes… So I am spending my time by reading books. Recently, I have got a book from one of my Little Sisters called “Becoming” by Michelle Obama. I was eagerly waiting to read this book for a long time…  I feel happy to share with you the meeting of my Little Sisters who are nearby my place during this lockdown by maintaining social distancing.  I visited Little Sisters of three schools in two different areas. When I met them I was much relief to know that they all are safe. Some of the Little Sisters are from school of Kavre district which is far and not possible to go during this situation so I frequently call them and know their status. I always encourage them to study at least two to three hours a day daily…”

Trevor (Co-founder/Director, Little Sisters Fund) told us last month:

“The Mentors are so vitally important to everything we do right now especially when the team is under lockdown.  The Mentors have proven absolutely essential to monitoring the 2,000+ Little Sisters and helping us get the COVID food and essential needs support out to the families.  Thank you and In Time Trust a million times over!”

Trustees

We continue to enjoy the benefits of having a great Board.

For a number of years, Brittany Norman has done a brilliant job with our Child Sponsorship work. With three young daughters, home-schooling and various other involvements, though, she needs a break. Lakma Godigamuwa has stepped up to take on this role, so you might receive some correspondence from her in future about any child sponsorship issues. Brittany is happy to stay on the Board for now, but hopefully with more family time.

Finally…

The only way we’ve been able to do any of this is through your own fantastic support. We know that many of you will have been having a tough time yourselves, as a result of the pandemic and lockdown, and we are greatly appreciative that you are still there with us, helping young people in Nepal to achieve a better future in any way you have been able to. Namaste, dhanyabad, thank you!

Bruce Gilkison, Chair ITT