Sindhupalchowk, November 11

A well-designed earthquake-proof building of Ganesh Lower Secondary School has been handed over to the local community at Bhote Lamlang of Panchpokhari Thangpal Rural Municipality-7, in Sindhupalchowk district.

Wolfgang Nairz, chairman of NepalHilfe Tirol, Bandi Nima Sherpa, president of Nepal Green Tara Foundation Nepal and District Education Officer of Sindhupalchowk, Gauri Shankar Pandey jointly handed over the newly-built facility to the school family yesterday.

The 11-room building was constructed by NGTF with financial support from Austria-based NepalHilfe Tirol, according to the school’s principal Nirmala Silwal. The project also provided student uniforms, installed drinking water system and built restrooms at the school.

Speaking on the occasion, Wolfgang, 74, who has visited Nepal 94 times since he first came here for a mountaineering expedition in 1970 said he got inspiration from Edmund Hillary, the legendary New Zealand mountaineer, for his philanthropic work. “Hillary often told us that if we wanted to support Nepal, we needed to render our support in the education sector,” the climber who led the historic expedition to Mt Everest with Reinhold Messner recounted.

After meeting Tashi Tenzing Sherpa, the grandson of legendary climber Tenzing Norgay, Wolfgang has chosen the needy community in Sindhupalchowk to lend his support in the education sector. Along with Sherpa, who is also a renowned mountaineer, Wolfgang through his NepalHilfe Tirol, decided to carry out the project through Nepal Green Tara Foundation.

“I have decided to support the school when I visited Bhote Lamlang in September, 2015 when the building was reduced to rubble after the earthquake,” he said.

He and his team provided USD 220,000 for earthquake relief and reconstruction work in Bhote Lamlang. Sherpa said. “We also provided immediate relief worth USD 20,000 to the local community,” said Sherpa, who was also the Australian goodwill brand ambassador for Nepal from 2015 to 2017.

Tashi Lama, chairman of the Panchpokhari Thangpal Rural Municipality expressed his commitment to support the school by making arrangement for more teachers at the school. School Management Committee chairman Devraj Gurung hoped that the new infrastructure would help local people access quality education. The school currently has 165 students.