In a mountainous region of Nepal, young Aashisrai and other Adventist children faced challenges in accessing education until a local church rented a school building. Despite limited resources and facilities, dedicated teachers strive to provide Adventist education, but the community's dream of establishing their own school with improved facilities depends on support from the 13th Sabbath Offering.
“My name is Aashisrai. I am 5 years old, and I am studying in grade one. I love to study English.”
Aashisrai [ah-sheese-rye] lives with his family in Udayapur [oo-die-ah-poor], a mountainous area in Nepal. Every morning, he wakes up early to help his mother and prepare for school.
Udayapur is situated in the middle of the hills. There are a total of 12 churches in Udayapur. Some of them are on the hilltop, around 20 kilometers in distance, and some of them are on this side. Some of the churches are nearby in the valley regions
A few years ago, the only way Adventist children in this community could get an education was to walk a long distance to a public school. Thankfully, church leaders were able to rent a school building nearby.
“This school is located in Linglinge. In this school, there are two teachers and thirteen students.”
“The key reason to start a school in this place is that there are about 30 to 40 houses of Adventist believers in this place, and their children aren't able to get an English-medium education because such schools are very far away. One of the boarding schools”
“is five kilometers away from here. There is another school in Gaikwad, which is about 25 to 26 kilometers away. If we send our children to other schools, then they will have classes even during Saturday's.”
Even though the need for a school was finally solved, the facilities need significant upgrading.
“First of all, this is not our own school; we are renting here, and we don't have proper classes or a proper playground. And the children cannot play properly because we don't have enough space. That's why we need our own school.”
Regardless of their situation, the teachers are doing their best to provide children with an Adventist education.
“We start out by doing prayer and singing Christian songs. We also teach the Bible here, and they like it.”
“Earlier, there wasn’t a Christian school here. Until now, children have gotten a good education. Since this boarding school was established, the quality of education has improved. Teachers are also teaching them well. And we’re glad to have a Christian school now.”
“My name is Buddharai. I live in Naritar. I am 4 years old, and my school name is Adventist English School. I love to read the Bible, and I love to sing Christian songs.”
School is one of the ministries that can touch and teach young generations to know more about Jesus. Having better facilities will help our Adventist members in this district with their children's education.
“It would be great if we had our own building and a playground so that we could build a hostel to accommodate and provide Adventist education to the students from the 12 churches as well as from the nearby region.”
Not all of the families in this community are able to send their children to the Adventist school because of the facilities.
Please pray for the Adventist English School in Nepal. Your 13th Sabbath Offering this quarter will help this school build new and better facilities to enable more students to experience a good Adventist education.
