Fire cadets back from trip of a lifetime to Nepal

The education of Nepalese children in a secluded village has been changed for generations thanks to Cheshire Fire Cadets.

Fifteen cadets and eight leaders have been on a life-changing two week trip to South Asia as part of a project to build much-needed new classrooms on the side of an existing school in Kangel, which is in the Solukhumbu District in the Sagarmatha Zone of North-Eastern Nepal.

They trekked for five days to get to the village before starting work getting the new classrooms ready for children to use. In total the project cost £80,000 which was all raised by the cadets and leaders.

Accompanied on the trip by a doctor from the United Kingdom and Dawa Geljen Sherpa and his team of Sherpas the group paid for building the classrooms, the groups flights, accommodation and the equipment needed to finish off the project, which was delivered through the charity Classrooms in the Clouds (CiTC).

Deputy Chief Fire Officer for Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service Mark Cashin is a trustee for CiTC. He said: “Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is dedicated to developing our Fire Cadets and young leaders and this project is evidence of the commitment we have to enhancing young lives both here and in Nepal.

“This is the second school project that Cheshire Fire Cadets have been involved in with CiTC and we are planning another next year with a group of apprentices because the projects have been such a success.”

Many Nepalese children receive inadequate education or in many cases, no education at all. Nepal is the 12^th most illiterate country in the world with 54.9% of men and 72% of women not being able to read or write. 47% of girls of primary school age do not attend school and 77.6% of the population are living below the poverty line. 50% of children aged between the ages of 10 and 14 work instead of attending school. Those that do attend school often have to walk long distances to study and maintaining such schools is essential if the rural way of life is to be preserved.

Head of Prevention at Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, Nick Evans and Cadet Manager Vicky Wrest have been involved in two Nepalese projects. In 2015 they helped cadets build new school in the mountain village of Thulodhunga. This year’s group visited the school to catch up on how it was going.

Nick said:  “We wanted to incorporate a visit to Thulodhunga into our trip because we wanted to show the 2017 cadets the difference their project can make to a community. Unfortunately due to flight issues and cancelations this could not be done”

“Our fire cadets have been truly amazing young people, not only because they raised all the money to fund the building of six classrooms this year, but also for trekking through the Himalayas for five days to get to Kangel. This was an achievement in itself for everyone in the group including me, but we all made it and couldn’t be happier to help school children in Nepal to get an education. Letters are already being prepared for our 2019 project and will go out to all our fire cadets shortly.”