Volunteer Link Taiwan assists in Nepal school rebuild

2016/02/05

A school reconstruction initiative launched by Hsinchu City-based Volunteer Link Taiwan is helping more students continue secondary education in post-earthquake Nepal.

Launched in November last year, the NT$ 2.4 million (US$70,989) program aims to have two buildings with nine classrooms opened in July at Shree Shanti Adarsha Higher Secondary School in central Dolakha province.

VLT President Wang Shiao-fang said Feb. 3 that she was inspired to start project while volunteering in Nepal and seeing the school’s students continuing to attend classes in corrugated iron shacks after two earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 and 7.3 devastated large swathes of the landlocked Himalayan nation last April and May.

“I was moved by their willingness to learn despite the disaster,” she said, adding that VLT seeks to heighten public awareness of the challenges faced by the school’s 396 students.“No effort is being spared in encouraging collaborative reconstruction work in the school community.”

Comprising mostly students and graduates from Hsinchu-based National Tsing Hua University, the volunteer group is teaming up with Nepalese on the initiative.

Lin Yu-hsuan, VLT field supervisor and an NTHU graduate, said some difficulties had been encountered in communicating with Nepalese on how to construct the buildings. “I sketched diagrams to better get my ideas across and, much to my surprise, this approach proved effective and helped speed up the process.”

VLT also plans to springboard off the completed project by offering educational and medical subsidies enabling more temblor-affected Nepalese get back on their feet.

Founded in 2014, VLT is devoted to training volunteers for educational and social services in Taiwan and abroad.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=242079&ctNode=2194&mp=9)