We welcomed the return visit of Alan Sweetman, Executive Director of Pahar Trust Nepal (PTN) to give an progress update on recent projects and its plans for the future.
PTN was founded in 1993 our Club has been supporting PTN for many years as Tim Mitchell, formerly of this club and now of RC Bristol is it’s current Chairman.
The main focus of the trust is to provide education by building safe secure and comfortable schools and supports and trains teachers to provide high quality education. It’s first school was completed in 1991 and we now deliver 4 – 6 new construction projects each year. Today there are 248 completed projects in 21 districts of Nepal including 159 schools, 51 libraries and 38 other projects such as health centres and toilets. Over 40,000 students have benefited from PTN's work.
It also provides and improves access to health services and advice in isolated rural communities and ensures that schools have safe water and sanitation facilities in many communities.
Communities are welcome to apply for support at any time and we have a very long waiting list of projects with a current estimated cost of over £6,000,000. In order to support the communities most in need we carry out site visits and assessments for each application and use this to prioritise the projects which helps to ensure that we are able to direct our funding to those communities that will benefit the most from our help. Schools must subscribe to the ethos of PTN through ensuring that the school will be cared for by the community after completion and that they will show a willingness to continuously strive for high educational standards.
Many of our members have visited Nepal to see PTN at work. The photograph above shows l-r Cecelia Lock, Keith Bonham, John Witham, Jill Bonham and Alan Sweetman chatting at the end of Alan’s informative and truly inspiring presentation after which the club committed a further significant donation to PTN