Corona relief action Children's masks from Thailand for Ramechhap
With the reopening of schools in Nepal in November and the new hygiene regulations of the Nepalese government, the issue of protective masks suddenly became important at Gaiyashwori School. After a small hand-washing station had been successfully set up at the school with our help in December, now the next challenge came up. Despite the strict rules, there was no prospect of financial support from official sites. In a talk with Sudip, the question came up if it would be possible to organize reusable fabric masks for the school children to wear while in the school area. He mentioned another school in the district that was also in urgent need.
Unexpected help came this time from a completely different corner of the world - from Thailand.
A former colleague of Beatrix - Mrs Natnaree (her Thai short name is Pla) - who lives with her family in Bangkok, heard about the request and immediately started a private relief action, the result of which surprised us at the beginning of January. In a swift completely unbureaucratic way she mobilized her family and friends in December to sew fabric masks for the school children in Ramchhap. Pla personally purchased the appropriate fabric with colorful, child-friendly motifs. At home the masks were cut and sewn together, ironed and also professionally packed for safe transport on the long journey. In 4 weeks, a total of 300 double-layered fabric masks were created in Bangkok by many dedicated hands.
But how to get the masks from Thailand to Nepal in the fastest way? Here, too, Pla helped us and took over the organization straight away. On 17th January, the package was sent by DHL and arrived at Sudip's home in Kathmandu on 25th January. From there, Sudip's mother personally took the masks in her luggage to Ramechhap in February and handed them over.
Of the 300 masks, 100 pieces remained in the Gaiyashwori School. Each of the about 30 currently attending children received 2 pieces for exchange. The rest were put aside as a reserve. Together with the other teachers, Mr. Saroj gave all the children a short instruction on how to wear, wash and handle them properly.
At the beginning of March, the remaining 200 masks were handed over by our partner association "Shree Dip Bahadur Karki Memorial Foundation" to another school in the Ramechhap district, the "Shree Naagkanya Secondary School". A teacher at this school, Mrs. Laxmi Karki Budathoki, is the treasurer of our partner association and established the contact. The school is located in the capital Manthali and takes care of children, of whom 85% come from the so-called Majhi caste, which is officially classified as a marginalized community by the Nepalese government. Also, here the masks were distributed to the children with a brief training by the teachers.
Even though it is currently not a pleasant reality that children have to wear a mask at school, we are glad that we were able to help at short notice and without bureaucracy. The material and production costs for the masks were completely covered by Pla and her team in Thailand. The transport costs were borne by a member of our association.
On behalf of our German association as well as the two schools mentioned above and our partner association "Shree Dip Bahadur Karki Memorial Foundation" in the district of Ramechhap, we would like to say to our friends in Thailand from the bottom of our hearts
Thank you / Dhanyabad or in Thai ขอบคุณมาก (Khob Khun Maak) for this extraordinary and fantastic international relief action!