Sixteen of the 23 children have arrived at school, and boy, it’s been a process!
Due to border and ward area shutdowns (similar to council areas in Australia) and no public transport, the children couldn’t travel to school. There has been a lot of red tape. We had to get approvals from various ward officers to allow the children and their parents to travel. They then all had to do PCR tests to make sure they were negative for COVID–19 – this was very difficult as there aren’t enough test kits to test those with symptoms, let alone using test kits for people not showing any signs. Once the tests were done and came back negative, they then had to get a travel pass from the police.
Now factoring in Nepali time, this process took a long, long time!
In the meantime, the monsoon has come and stayed. Five of the children that haven’t arrived yet are from a village which is up in the steep hills (these are hills for Nepal but mountains for Australia). They started their journey to school several times but each time had to turn around and go back home as the river has risen and they are unable to cross. They keep checking so as soon as the water subsides, they will head straight to school.
The other two children who are still coming are currently locked in Kathmandu as they went to visit their extended family and have been stuck there ever since. Once the border opens and public transport starts again they will go to school.
The children who have arrived at school, are participating in some classes via zoom and some in person practicing social distancing. It’s been a long time since they have been in school and they are very, very excited to be there!
