THE AWAKE AND SHINE SCHOOL
in Samthar Valley, Kalimpong, India
Speakers on 21st March 2016 were Colin McDonald, RC Benalla & Janine Koch, RC Geelong East. Colin is a mechanical engineer who has been involved in the water harvesting project, sponsored by the RC Benalla and Janine is a teacher who has visited the school.
Lt Gen ( Retired) “Jimmy” Singh is a local philanthropist who built the school in this very remote area and runs a village tourism business to fund it and supply local employment. The idea of the school originated from the conviction that that rural development must focus on improving village education.
The Rotary Club of Benalla have been supporting this project for some years.
Rotarian teachers have visited, books have been supplied and 2 local teachers were brought to Benalla for training.
Many children walk to and from school for up to 1½ hours morning and afternoon but only had 300 ml. of water to drink each day. It was found that due to the lack of water and a high salt diet a number of families and children have kidney disease. It was therefore decided to provide and install the infrastructure required for rain water harvesting and filtration at the school.
Two water tanks and filters have been installed so far but the project is on-going and it is proposed that our club might be able to help the RC Benalla by providing more filtration systems next year.
Janine described the progress being made in the children's education and showed us examples of the teaching books which were locally designed.
Currently parents are contributing 15 % of the school expenses, whilst the balance comes from individual scholarships. The cost per child per year is INR 12000, which is about $240.
Individual or club sponsorship for children is also sought. Benalla currently sponsors 42 of the 150 students each year.
Chairman Gaynor Schools