A school in 20 days:

Who is who?

Have you followed the day by day progress of the green school in Janta Nagar, built in less than 20 days? Here is a little more about the people that made this great building possible

Sonam Wangchuk

09. October 2008

The communnity volunteers are residents of the freed Kamaiya settlement of Janta Nagar in Kalika VDC, Bardiya. For centuries the Kamaiyas belonging to the Tharu ethnic group were bonded labourers working for the wealthy zamindars, bonded from generation to generation in a vicious circle of debt. In July 2000 after a successful movement, in which BASE played a crucial role, the Kamaiyas finally got liberated when the government abolished the system. Over 150,000 people were released from their debts and slavery. While many kamaiyas like those in Janta Nagar are lucky to get their own land and settlement, there are thousands who are still living like squatters in the jungles waiting for their settlement. Former kamaiyas are naturally very hard working and in Janta Nagar they provided all the unskilled labour voluntarily. This was perhaps the first time they provided free labour — for their own cause, for a change.

The masons:
We had 17 paid masons most of whom were Tharu from the surrounding areas. The construction was also a training period for the masons in earthquake resistant construction with CSEB. In the end, they were given a certificate each.

Names of the masons from left to right:
Dhanbir Chaudhari, Bir Bahadur Basyal, Bunu Ram Chaudhari, Kulbir Chaudhari, Raju Bhusal, Haridutt Chaudhari, Mani Ram Chaudhari, Chamu Narayan Chaudhari, Sukh Ram Chaudhari, Chhallu Ram Chaudhari, Gobind Chaudhari, Dil Bahadur Chaudhari, Prem Bahadur Tharu, Sita Ram Chaudhari, Ram Jeet Chaudhari, Lal Bahadur Chaudhari, Chhedu Ram Chaudhari.

Mahrajya Tharu:
This hard working woman was the mother of all the masons. Feeding them early in the morning at 8 and then snacks at 12 for all the volunteers and masons and then dinner again. Her day would start way before sunrise and end late after sunset. Without her the masons would never have been as efficient.

So behind 17 successful masons she was the woman.

Jhali Ram Tharu:
Jhali Ram ji the ever-smiling Chairman of the School Management Committee (SMC), was a star organiser during the construction. 

Jhali Ram would hover around the building whether it was work time or not as if it was his own house being built.

 

Chandra Bahadur Chaudhari:
The soft-spoken and tireless overseer was at the site all the time organising everything. He had the difficult task of bridging the easy-go attitude of the volunteers and the demanding desires of the professionals.

Anne Mette Nordfalk:
The Danish information Advisor at MS Nepal, without her you would not be reading what you are reading now.  She has done a great job of helping us bring to the world, all the news of the 20-Day building with day to day progress, through this website.

Anne Mette also works to promote the green schools in Danish and Nepali media.

Nirmal Kumar Tharu:
A sub-overseer by training. It is amazing how much he has learnt while on work. He has taught himself software like AutoCAD and is in-charge of construction at BASE Bardiya. 

Nirmal also made all the detailed drawings of the building and all the cost estimates.

Satprem Maini trained Nirmal K. Tharu and Sonam Wangchuk in using CSEB for earthquake resistant buildings. Later he provided free consultancy support for the school and volunteered at the construction site. Satprem is French and lives in Auroville, India, since 1989. He is a postgraduate architect from France in earthen architecture. He is the director of the Auroville Earth Institute, where he works as an architect, builder, consultant, researcher, trainer and lecturer. He has worked in 27 countries and since 1990 Satprem has trained more than 5,400 people from 57 countries on earth architecture and technology which is cost and energy efficient.

Satprem has been granted 12 awards: 11 Indian Awards and the “Hassan Fathy International Award for Architecture for the Poor in 1992”. 

Sonam Wangchuk is from Ladakh. A Mechanical Engineer by education, he has been mostly working in the field of education reform in government schools for the last 20 years. He has also designed and built many solar heated school buildings in Ladakh. Seeing the need in Terai planes he conceived the current school design and has been working on climate responsive school building designs for different climates of Nepal.

Apart from spearheading an education reform movement called Operation New Hope in Ladakh, he has also been on the National Governing Council of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (EFA), Ministry of Human Resource, Government of India. Currently he is working as Education Advisor for MS Nepal and BASE Bardiya.

Sonam has been granted several awards, such as: India Real Heroes Award by CNN IBN Channel in 2008, Green Teacher Award by Sanctuary Asia Magazine in 2005, Ashoka Fellowship by Ashoka: Innovators for the Public (USA) in 2002, Man of the Year by 'The Week' magazine India in 2001 and others.