Assisting flood victim children to resume their school

We thank people from New Zealand for their generosity in supporting flood victims in Nepal. Supports were provided also through couple of other organizations in Zealand and together we could assist thousands of people.

Our initial priority in raising donations for Nepal flood victims was to provide them basic items of necessity such as food, medicine & building temporary shelter etc. We were evaluating the situation closely and observed that numerous organization and common people came up for this support in terms of relief materials which really helped the flood victims in their immediate need. The president of New Zealand Nepalese Association, Mr. Shreedhar Basnyat was in Nepal during the period, and was in regular communication with the people working in field. From the field information, we noted that there are hundreds of small school age children affected by flood and did not have study materials to go to schools. They were not focused on initial relief works and we thought that these children need support so that they could resume their schools.

The donation collected through Give a Little was expected to be received in between 20 to 25 September. We need to thank Mr. Basnyat also for lending the fund to the organization so that support could be provided immediately. We later reimbursed him once funds were credited by Give a Little.

We were able to coordinate with a volunteer organization in Nepal Pragyik Bidhyarthi Parishad Nepal, who were working in flood districts. They identified five schools in three districts where students were badly affected. While selecting the schools, we also had to take care that we spend as little as possible for transportation and logistics so that maximum amount could be used for the students.

Distribution Details

We could support around 1305 students in five different schools of three district as mentioned below:

1. Saptari District

a. School- Janta Ma. Bi., 300 students supported.

2. Mahottari District

b. School- Dorik Ma. Bi., 360 students supported.

c. School- Balgyan Adharbhut Bidhyalaya, 280 students supported.

d. School- Yagyabalkya Adharbhut Bidhyalaya- 140 students supported.

3. Rautahat District

e. School Saraswati Pra. Bi, 225 students supported.

The focus was on providing minimum required materials, so that we could reach as much students as we could. Each student supported were provided with: 5 copies, 1 ballpen, 1 pencil, 1 eraser and 1 sharpener.

Financial Details

The financial details are:

1. Total Fund credited by Give a little- $1062, Cash received- $100. Total fund received- $1162, equivalent to Nepalese Rs. 87,150 (at exchange rate of $1=Rs.75)

2. Expenditures:

a) Copies- 6000 no. X Rs.11.5=Rs. 69,000

b) Pen- 1200 no. X Rs.3.5= Rs. 4,250

c) Pencil- 1200 no X Rs.3.5= Rs.3,000

d) Eraser- 1200 no X Rs.2.5= Rs.3,000

e) Sharpner- 1200 X Rs. 2.5=Rs. 3,000

f) Transportation= Rs. 6,620

Total Expenditure= Rs. 88,870

Excess of Expenditure over Donation collected- Rs.1,720

The team was able to negotiate bulk purchase discount and were also able to request additional discount on grounds that the purchase was for good cause.

Overall, a support of $100 was used for around 102 students, thus making it $1 per student.