• Teacher Ann Marcer describes the relief effort in Lamjung District, following the devastating earthquakes which affected thousands in April and May.

IN the past I have often wondered how the money I donated to emergency appeals for major disasters in other countries had been used. 

Working now in Nepal as a volunteer with Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), I am experiencing using emergency funding at first-hand. 

As Tavistock has close links with Nepal, through the partnership of Tavistock College with Adarsha Saula School in Kathmandu and I know there has been much fundraising for the Nepal Earthquake appeal around the area, I feel sure many would be interested to know where some of your money has been spent.

Very many schools in Nepal were damaged or destroyed by the two major earthquakes that the country experienced on April 25 and May 12. 

As attending school is a good way for young people to feel life is returning to normality, VSO, along with UNICEF, are using emergency funding to help damaged schools begin lessons again.

In Lamjung District, an area of similar size to Devon but with much more remote hilly and mountainous terrain, we are working with 58 schools to start with. Here are several aspects to the work that I am involved in.

Schools with damaged and unsafe classrooms need alternative places in which to teach. 

I visited one school where lessons were being held outside, in the hot sun, but this is not an option now that the monsoon rains have arrived. 

Thirteen schools in one week been provided with plans and the materials to erect temporary classrooms. 

These are being made with a bamboo frame, roofed with sheets of corrugated iron. Classroom sides can be made from bamboo strips or tarpaulins.

The cost of each of these is around £1,000. Another three schools are having temporary toilets as theirs were badly damaged.

In the more seriously affected areas many more schools will need temporary classrooms, but people there need to sort out somewhere to live before they can think about schools.

Teachers from all 58 schools involved so far, more than 400 teachers, have been trained to recognize signs of distress in their pupils caused by the earthquake and how they can help them with games and play therapy. 

As this is two days of training we have been working very hard to accomplish this.

UNICEF has donated boxes of resources for schools; supplies for everyday classroom equipment, early years classes and sports equipment. 

These have been distributed to the schools by tractor and trailer as the schools are remote and have no road access. 

Each school has received a quantity proportionate to their pupil numbers, with every school getting at least £300 worth of equipment.

Forty young people have been recruited and trained as youth volunteers to help in the villages.

Their role is to work with the village communities; helping schools with building their temporary classrooms and organising extra-curricular activities of sports and games for the pupils, especially during the summer holidays. 

As Nepal had made such good progress in terms of education in recent years, it is important to be supporting these damaged schools, so that pupils can continue their education without serious disruption, and education in Nepal can continue to improve.

Again — ‘thank you’ to everyone from the Tavistock area who has donated to the Nepal Earthquake Emergency Fund.  

Rest assured that the money is being well spent to help the poor people of Nepal who have been affect by two big earthquakes this spring.

• To find out more about Ann’s work and experiences in Nepal go to annmarcerinnepal.blogspot.co.uk