Rithepani School

Duncan and I arrived at Rithepani school (my first school) at around 12:30 PM after the scary drive down the Chitwan highway.

The civic reception we were to enjoy was, as usual unbelievable. With garlands and sashes and firm confident handshakes we walked down at least 300 yards of smiling faces all bearing gifts of flowers or foliage.

Our reception was hosted by the chairman of the School committee Captain Danbahadur Gurung.

John and Hemchandra look at some changes.

School photo with teachers and management team

This was only a brief visit (by Nepal standards!!)with a promise to return in around a week.

As you can see they were very pleased to see us!!

Having said our farewells to Maj Lil he set off back to Kathmandu to meet the other team of Yorkshire Rotarians arriving from the UK.

The Kathmandu to Chitwan highway!!

We were collected at 6:30 AM in a minibus Accompanied by our good friend Major Lil Bahadur Gurung PHF, President of the Rotary Club of the Himalayan Gurkhas Kathmandu. (RCHGK)

The journey from Kathmandu to Chitwan was to meet our host also from the RCHGK Captain Ash PHF  Rotarian from the Kathmandu club who were sponsoring the computer scheme at the SS C.

I had travelled the road three times in the past so it is best described by Duncan on this occasion. "208 km (130 miles) in six hours. In many parts the road was unmade and with high volumes of traffic at times and deep ravines on either side hairpin bends, three lanes of traffic coming towards you on occasions" seems to sum it up quite well. (See YouTube for further information)

Kathmandu

We arrived in Kathmandu and after a short wait we were met by Narayan men who have been inevitably stuck in traffic.


We arrived by car to a hotel where I stayed last year. Once again we were on the fourth floor a great trek to the top but thankfully we have the assistance of porters.

We made friends some children playing in the street who were pleased to recieve tennis balls and a football we had taken with us..

With then went to a nearby restaurant for evening mail and back to the room to sleep before an early start.

Abu Dhabi

The excitement of the flight to Abu Dhabi was enhanced slightly when jp found that he had dropped his passport on the aircraft prior to disembarking.
Imagine the look on Duncan's face when John was told he would have to return to Manchester if the passport could not be found?!
The first search revealed nothing!
However, intervention by the supervisor did locate the document and it was returned with five minutes to spare , before boarding the plane to Kathmandu! 

Here we go!

Left home with Duncan around 2 PM arrived  in Manchester airport at just after 5 pm. after a couple of circuits on pne roundabout we arrived at the meet and greet car park then out into Terminal 1.

Planning

John Proud and Duncan Davison  are Rotarians from the Rotary club of Northallerton in North Yorkshire, district 1040. The together with their wives they have been friends for nearly a quarter of a century.

Former Round Table members from Northallerton 341 they enjoy golf, whisky, foreign travel, the their families and above all else a challenge  (in no particular order).

Duncan is an agronomist (Cereal Killer) working for BCS Agriculture and he is looking forward to the trip enormously.

John is a Local Government Officer for Hambleton District Council and this will be his third trip to Nepal, his first being in 2011. Initially John  and three fellow Rotarians provided commissioned and trained staff in the use of computers and software at the Shree Bir Lower Secondary School, at Rithepani near Pokhara.

The main purpose of this forthcoming visit is to install 15 new desktop PCs and refurbish five existing computers to current standards on an internal network. Fortunately the school at Smarak employs a teacher who has IT skills.

John visited this school with his son Mike and other members of the project team in 2012 where they received at extremely generous welcome.

In addition to Smarak, Duncan and John will also visit a new school who have requested assistance to receive 10 computers and associated infrastructure for their school. This is a mini adventure within the whole project as we are unaware of the details. They also intend to revisit and audit the systems are to Rithepani and meet with old friends.

As you can imagine we have been and continue to be extremely well supported by our friends from the Rotary club of the Himalayan Gurkhas Kathmandu in particular Rotarians Major Lil, Captain Ash and Narayan.

There itinerary is flexible but in essence they planned to leave England from Manchester airport on the evening of Tuesday, 12 February 2013. There are flying to Kathmandu via Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirate's and they will be met in Nepal on the afternoon of the 13th February by our good friend Narayan.

Both John and Duncan are extremely grateful for the help and support they have been given by their fellow Rotarians in the Northallerton Rotary Club. Duncan has also been generously supported by his customers and this has the allowed us to boost the funding of this project by over £2000.

Best wishes

John and Duncan