The Nanyang Technological University of Singapore (NTUS) has donated benches, desks, stationary and clothes to Shree Jana Prakash Secondary School at Bhandarik Lekhnath Municipality, to the value of 130,000 rupees. NTUS has also donated beds, mattresses, pillows and medication to Beni Hospital, to the total of 50,000 rupees.
ITE Bishan has made many generous donations to various Nepali schools.
A generator, educational materials and clothes were donated to Bhagawati Secondary School at Tirkhe Dunga. Dolls and educational materials were donated to the SOS Kindergarten School in Chhorepatan, Pokhara. New furniture, educational materials, clothes and tracksuits were donated to teachers and students. Sport uniforms were donated to Beni High School. Educational and sports materials were donated to Gyanodaya Primary School, Dhampus, and Birethanti High School. Carpet, educational materials and clothes were donated to Seto Gurans School, which was also painted. The total value of these donations was 520,000 rupees.
ITE Bishan also donated pillows, mattresses, baby cots, steel pans, blankets, medication and other equipment to the maternity wards at Beni Hospital, Myagdi, to the value of 250,000 rupees.
In 2001, the Lions Club of Pokhara Annapurna began a deworming program, to detect protozoa and other worms, which are transmitted by contaminated drinking water. We discovered that approximately 70% of students in the Pokhara valley have serious diseases because of contaminated water. Since then, we have attempted to combat this issue in multiple ways. We have held many health camps to screen and treat children and adults for worms. We have also distributed 70 water purification machines in different government schools. However, this was found to be an insufficient long term solution, due to the maintenance requirements of these machines.
Therefore, we have come up with a new vision, and the International Youth Mobilization for Social Service Program has begun. This program entails building heavy duty water tanks underground. These tanks will last at least 100 years, which means children will have a continuous supply of clean water. Norwood Secondary College, in Australia, has partnered with us to install these tanks at the Shree Ram Adharbud School. Norwood Secondary College students have also repainted the Shree Ram Adharbud school buildings.
This program is designed to encourage the younger international generation to get involved in social service. It has the added benefit of facilitating cultural exchanges between Nepal and other countries. Installing clean water supply systems has a huge and lasting impact for our school students. This has also been an eye opening experience for our partner volunteers, who have become aware of how Lions help those people in need.
