In April of this year I made my way to the remote village of Chisapani in the Gorkha region of the Himalayas.
The village of Chisapani was totally destroyed in the April 2015 earthquake that killed 9000 Nepalis and destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes, temples, schools etc.
The fact that Chisapani was just a four hour walk from the epicentre of the 2015 earthquake meant that not a single home was spared, nor was the small primary school named Shree Shimbhu.
IEU generously donated $1000 to help rebuild the Shree Shimbhu school. My trip to the village was to see how the building of the new school was progressing.
Reaching Chisapani was a challenge due to its remote location. I hired a four-wheel drive that was intended to get me to the end of a road from which I would trek for another six hours.
At the end of the road, my driver and guide decided that we might make it to Chisapani by following some hill paths and sections of a new road being built.
Many hours later when we reached Chisapani we were told that ours was the first vehicle to ever reach the village. I was also told that the last time a ‘foreigner’ visited the village was over 30 years ago. Yes, the village is definitely remote!
Because of its remoteness Chisapani never benefits from western trekkers who make their way through the more well trodden regions, eg Everest, Annapurna, Manaslu, Dauligiri, etc.
Its remoteness made the IEU’s $1000 donation especially important. The new six room school is now 95% complete, only a clean up and the painting remains to be done. Chisipani now has a primary school that will be used for many decades to come.
The village people held a special program while I was there to thank the IEU and the other Australians who donated money for the rebuild. We were able to donate a total of $20,000, far beyond our original goal of $13,000.
I want to extend my special thanks to IEU Secretary John Quessy for his willingness to assist in making the new primary school a reality in what is a very poor region of Nepal.