Report #1
December 2015
ISAK’s ProjectNEPAL
 Introduction
Contents:
 Projects
 Timeline and Challenges
 Financial Details
 Future Plans
Students holding an ISAK placard in Baasdol,V.D.C, Kavre, Nepal. July 2015
Introduction
ISAK’s ProjectNEPAL was started two days after the devastating earthquake in Nepal on April 25, 2015. In
the wake of this calamity, the students of the International School of Asia, Karuizawa (ISAK) decided to
undertake a fundraising project to help the victims and families whose lives had been put into turmoil
because of the earthquake. For a day or two after the earthquake, we couldn’t help but worry and do
nothing else, but because of the resources and facilities ISAK has provided, after that, we decided we could
help our home country with the help of the people at ISAK.
Initially, we did not have a very colossal aim, and all we wished to achieve was to raise some money, send it
back to Nepal to the group we were in contact with so the earthquake victims could be provided with
immediate relief supplies. However, our aim and goal transformed and escalated dramatically after our
conversation with Mrs. Lin Kobayashi, our school founder. She encouraged us to aim higher and bigger.
Around the same time, we were in the middle of our Spring Project Week, during which, we learned about
aiming high and having a ‘Big Hairy Audacious Goal’, or a goal that may be impossible to achieve, but still
motivates us to attain it. This provided us with all the confidence, reassurance and fortitude we needed to
start something of tremendous responsibility and commitment for the first time in our lives.
Our project started out with two main goals:
 Short Term Goal: To provide help in rural areas in Nepal because the urban areas were already
receiving adequate help and relief services whereas many of the rural areas, which had been
rendered inaccessible by the earthquake were relatively neglected.
 Long Term Goal: To help restore affected rural areas around the country with special focus on
educational institutions and world heritage sites. (As our project expanded and developed, our
team decided to focus more on educational institutions on the basis of what is most important to
us. World Heritage Sites were already under reconstruction and were having more than adequate
international coverage and support.)
While all the changes mentioned above haven’t been as prominent, our goals did morph in response to the
needs we evaluated from our interviews with experts and local members of the community and onsite
observation that some members of our team conducted. There were several challenges we faced during
and after our fundraising, which delayed the use of our funds for our initial aspired goals in the desired
time. Nevertheless, we still were able to achieve our aspirations, all things considered.
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Projects
Since the inception of the project six months ago, we have accomplished a lot with the tremendous help
from our donors, supporters and advisors. We have accomplished projects and the projects we are
currently working on.
Phase 1: Accomplished Projects
To date we have fully or partially helped other volunteer groups and accomplished the following:

13 Temporary Learning Centers – We worked with Let’s Build Schools Campaign
(www.letsbuildschools.org), a campaign run by a Member of Parliament based in Kathmandu to
build Six temporary learning centers for children to study in after their school buildings were
destroyed by the earthquake in rural areas around Kathmandu, including Sindhupalchok district.
BEFORE

AFTER
Contributions to Free Medical Camps – We worked with a volunteer earthquake relief group,
Phulping EQ Relief Project, and individual monks to distribute medicinal supplies in Tsum Valley,
Gorkha (one of the most remote areas in Nepal) and Sindhupalchok. We donated funds to buy
medicines thrice, and in each case, the medicine was distributed at free medical camps in the above
mentioned locations. We also bought special supplies for pregnant women and newborn babies.
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
Rebuilding Kitchen in Monastery – Although we initially hadn’t thought of helping victims or
institutions outside Nepal, when a monastery in Darjeeling, India, whose kitchen had been
destroyed because of the earthquake, approached us, we re-evaluated our focus, as we wanted to
help earthquake victims in general, not focus our aid anywhere. Therefore, we donated money to
them to help rebuild their kitchen, which would support around 100 monks.
Phase 2: Ongoing Projects

Health Post – This is one of the first and one of the most major projects we have undertaken so far.
A health post is a healthcare centre that is similar to a clinic, and is common in villages in Nepal, as
they cannot afford to maintain a hospital.
Why?
The existing health post in Phulphingkatti, Sindhupalchok, was destroyed. The district SIndhupalchok was
the worst hit from the recent earthquake. The devastation wrought by the earthquake was further
aggravated by the floods and landslides that followed soon afterwards. During our summer in Nepal, we
met with a local member of the Phulpingkati VDC of Sindhupalchok, who was already taking
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initiative to help the people in his village and discussed our plans; thus we agreed to fund the building costs
for the new building which will be earthquake resistant.
Akin to many of the villages in Nepal, Phulpingkati also rests on a hill far from the luxury of modern health
care and facilities. Phulpingkati is a village development committee consisting of more than 10 villages. To
get to the nearest health post, the locals must travel through treacherous trails. Therefore, a few years
back, a health post was built in a hub of this many villages, so that all villagers could have access. Also, the
hub village, Narayanthan is the only place that actually has road access, though a highly treacherous one.
But the health post that once stood there was destroyed and hence we decided to rebuild the health post
but better and more capable than before.
How are the villagers faring now?
Currently, we have a temporary medical tent up and a health worker hired to meet the current needs of
the villagers.
One of our member’s (Karma) mother
We have already received the full construction plan, however, due to road blockades and continuing
landslides the construction was delayed. Nevertheless, we started our construction project despite the
extremely high cost of oil. This will certainly cost more of our funds than what we previously allocated. Our
contact in Nepal will calculate the extra amount spent because of the high oil prices and send us a report.
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Price Details for the Health Post
Item
Rate
Cement
Bricks
Sand
Rod
Concrete
Total in Nepali
Rupees
Total in Yen (¥)
900/p
15/p
1700
7900
7900
7500
Quantity
Type
Total
425 sacks
6500
20 truck
4 Quintals
2 Quintals
35 trucks
A grade
1 No.
---4mm
2mm
Rs. 382,500
Rs. 97,500
Rs. 34,000
Rs.47,400
Rs.
Rs. 262,000
823,000
919,482.16
Construction Images of the building of the Health Post
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Before (the Previous Health Post)
Floor Plan + Planned Structure of the new Health Post
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Timeline and Challenges
Date
Action
27th April, 2015
Start of ISAK’s ProjectNEPAL
1st May, 2015
Launched GoFundMe
25th May, 2015
Reached our goal of CA$15000
15th June, 2015
Meeting with a local member (Mingmar Sherpa) and starting our
project to rebuild a health post in Sindhupalchok
20th June, 2015
Meeting with a local member (Phurba Sherpa) and started our
project to help rebuild school in Sindhupalchok
4th July, 2015
Funded and worked with Nepal EQ Relief Project to provide
medicines
15th July, 2015
Funded and started our collaboration with ‘Let’s Build Schools
Campaign’
Funded rebuilding of kitchen in Dechen Choling Monastery in
Darjeeling, India
26th July, 2015
Collaboration with a monk to provide medicines to a 7-Day Free
Medical Camp in Tsum Valley, Gorkha (one of the most remote
areas in Nepal)
29th July, 2015
Worked together with the local member (Wangden, monk) from
Sindhupalchok and bought and send medicinal supplies there
Challenges

GoFundMe – It was the first time we used a crowdfunding website and it presented a lot of
challenges. After researching through a lot of other sites as well, we finally settled upon using
GoFundMe because of its easy to use features. However, it had its downsides as well. To start a
campaign on GoFundMe, we required a bank account in one of the following countries: UK,
Australia, Canada or the United States of America, but none of us did. We overcame this by using
the bank account of one of our team member’s family member who lives in Canada and is helping
us with the project.
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
PM’s earthquake relief fund – The Prime Minister of Nepal announced any funds coming to Nepal
will have to be sent through the ‘PM Relief Fund’ and then they would be allocating the funds as
they deem fit. This was a huge shock to us as we had different plans for using our funds.
Fortunately, this declaration was not accepted and recognised by the international community and
the Nepali citizens, and it did not come to pass. Nevertheless, it did halt our progress to some
degree.

Accounting – The funds donated to our project were in two different currencies, Canadian Dollars
(CA$) on GoFundMe and Japanese Yen(¥) through others. The funds on GoFundMe would be
managed in Canada through our team member’s family member and the funds we raised in Japan
managed using the school’s bank account. To get the funds to Nepal, the money (both in CA$ and
Japanese ¥) had to be exchanged into Nepali Rupees (NRs.) and then be allocated to a specific
project. Because of the constant fluctuation that incurs with currency exchange rates, keeping track
of how each amount has been used has proved to be a very daunting task. Currently, we are using
the current exchange rate and then converting each amount we use into four currencies (US$, CA$,
Japanese ¥ and NRs.). We have yet to find an efficient method for doing so. Our team will be having
further ideation sessions on this and come up with a better, more efficient and coherent system of
doing so.
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Financial Details
Sub-Project
Amount
Allocated/ spent
(¥)
Working
Partner in
Nepal
Description
Medicinal Supplies
26,967.26
Phulping EQ
Relief Project
Medicines Phulphingkatti
VDC, Sindhupalchowk
Temporary Learning
Centres
574,676.35
Let's Build
Schools
Campaign
Free Medical Camp
114,935.27
Wangchuk
Rabten
Medicines to Tsum Valley,
Gorkha
Rebuilding Kitchen
45,625.49
Dechen Pema
Choling
monastery
Reconstruction of kitchen in a
monastery in India
57,467.64
Wangden
Sherpa (Monk)
Medicines in Phulphingkatti
VDC, Sindhupalchowk
Health Post
919,482.16
Mingmar Sherpa
Re-building a health post in
Phulphingkatti VDC.
GoFundMe
1,858,782.27
Founders
1,450,000
sum
3,308,371.27
Total Amount spent (¥)
1,739,153.68
Remaining Amount (¥)
1,569,217.52
ISAK’S PROJECT NEPAL: REPORT 1
Accomplished
Built 6 Temporary Learning
Centres (TLCs) in rural areas Accomplished
of Nepal
Medicinal Supplies
Total
Fund
Raised
(¥)
Remarks
Accomplished
In progress
Accomplished
Ongoing
Important Note:
The donations were made to us in different currencies: Japanese,
US dollar and Canadian dollar. For easier reference, we have put
the exchanged amount of all currencies in Japanese yen. The
exchange rate is of 22 October, 2015.
As the currency exchange rate fluctuates periodically, we have yet
to find an efficient method of keeping record that can be easily
understood and referred to. We would like to sincerely apologise for
this.
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Phase 3: Next Project

Permanent School
This is our most important and biggest project that we have undertaken. With the help of our
contact in Nepal, we plan to build a permanent school in Narayanthan, Sindhupalchok, in place of
the school that existed and was destroyed. The school that once stood was up to grade 3, but with
our project, the grade will be extended until grade 5.
WHY?
The reason why we are focusing on this area specifically is because of its remoteness. The parent
generation of this area are all uneducated and if this school is not rebuilt soon, the current generation of
youths will live the same future. From the interview with our contact person, Phurba Sherpa, also a young
member of the locality, by introducing and extending and improving the quality of education, we will not
only be giving education to the children of the society but changing the whole concept of education. His
exact words, “By building a school and sustaining it as well will bring a revolution”.
What will the new structure look like and how will it be different
The previous structure was made of mud and stones, but the new one will be made of concrete so
that it is not as susceptible to earthquakes. This is necessary as Nepal is an earthquake-prone country. Here
too, we will be funding the construction costs, as the government has stated they would be able to provide
teachers, furniture, books, etc., if the school’s infrastructure is sound.


The main problem with the previous school:
Children from nomadic family cannot attend school because they have to constantly move around
with their herd of animals
Students from another village needs to walk through treacherous path to get to the school and it
takes excruciatingly long hours to reach the school
These are the main problems our project aims to solve with our new construction.The new school
will be built such that it can host and accommodate students for residential living as well. - the
maximum number is 15.This way, the children of nomadic family who move around constantly with
their herd and cattles and children from faraway villages are provided with equal opportunity for
education. This is a long term project, not only in terms of the time it will take to construct the
school, but because we plan to further support the students of that school once they finish their
primary education.
The total amount required for this project is Rs. 2,986,853.53 which is approximately ¥
3,450,674.183; however, we currently only have ¥ 1,569,217.52 remaining (after using the total
funds for other projects. (See Table: financial detail). Therefore, the amount further needed for this
project is ¥1,881,456.66.
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Permanent school
Amount Needed for the construction (¥)
Current amount in possession
3,450,674.183
1,569,217.52
Extra funds needed (¥)
1,881,456.66
Here is the more detailed information for the costs needed for the construction of the school.
S.N
Work/ Materials
Price (NRs)
1
E/w in excavation for Foundation
19,937.35
2
Dry Stone Soling
15,645.96
3
Stone Masonry wall in 1:6 c/s mortar
160,912.64
4
PCC work in 1:2:4 for RCC
513,717.26
5
Reinforcement work for RCC structure 2%
749331.86
6
Form Work
132,422.00
7
Brick Masonry wall in 1:4 c/s mortar
276,401.68
8
Local Hardwood work
252,793.43
9
Dry stone soling work for floor
87,885.10
10
PCC work in 1:3:6 for floor
218,860.32
11
12.5 mm thick cement plaster work
385,505.60
12
Painting Work
73,401.69
13
Collapsible gate
20,000.00
14
Electrification Work
80,038.64
Total Amount
NRs. 2,986,853.53
¥ 3,450,674.183 (exchange rate of 2 Dec, 2015)
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Images of the destroyed school
Sources of our funds:
We had two major sources of our funding. (see table: financial detail)
 ISAK founders
 GoFundMe
P.S: Many of the founders also donated through GoFundMe as well.
We also had donations from other sources as well such as
 Students from other school who took the initiative to do fundraising in their respective school
 Cash donations made by ISAK students, staffs and others
How are fundraising for the extra funds needed (see phase 3: Permanent school)
So far we have had multiple fundraising events or people donating to our cause.
 GoFundMe is still active
 Karuizawa winter festival
 Donations from individual person from the fundraising they conducted on their own
From the above activities, we have raised approximately ¥55,000.
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Future Plans
Coming back to our vision for this project, our team now aspires to accomplish what we all postulate to be
the ultimate success for our project.
Our ultimate goal is an extended version of our school building project. The school we are building will be
up to primary school level (up to Grade 5). While rebuilding this primary school itself will be a huge
accomplishment, we also need to think beyond that. In remote areas of Nepal, families often consider a
primary education enough and stop children’s education so they can work at home or in the fields, that is,
if they are fortunate enough to go to school at all. This is exacerbated by the fact that secondary and high
schools are almost always in urban areas and require village students to travel a minimum of 4-6 hours by
bus and can be as far away as many days walking and traveling by bus from families’ homes.
To tackle this problem, we came up with a strategy of renting (or if we have enough funds, buying) a house
in Kathmandu, where there are many secondary and high schools. By doing this in Kathmandu, we will
provide the primary school graduates from the school we will have built, a free residential life in
Kathmandu. The place will be their home and from there they will go to different schools in the city. Their
education throughout and until grade 10 will be funded either by us or sponsors who join us. And finally,
we will try and find scholarships overseas for their high school education; at the very least getting one of
the students to ISAK. This will provide them with the opportunity to gain more experience and knowledge.
The same opportunity we have had and found invaluable.
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