A partnership between Bordertown Rotary Club and Kathmandu Rotary Club means girls in Nepal will have better access to education.
It was on a trip to Nepal in 2022 that club president Jeff Wiese first met Rajendra Guatam, from Kathmandu Rotary Club.
From that meeting came a partnership between the clubs, which was the start of the Nepal Toilets project, which saw Bordertown Rotary lead the charge to raise money to build girls toilets and schools in Nepal.
Mr Guatam visited the region recently where rotarians got together to hear more about the project and other achievements of the Kathmandu Club.
The project started in 2022 when Mr Wiese asked Mr Guatam what projects they could partner up on.
“I was leading the toilet project – there are lots of problems in the rural communities at schools,” he said.
“Some schools have toilets. Some schools do not have toilets.
“More than 20 per cent of the government schools do not have separate toilets for the girls, and during menstruation, many girls do not attend school.”
Bordertown Rotary Club jumped on board the project and in the past year have raised money to construct a toilet block in Nepal.
Every club within the Rotary district – which includes Western Victorian clubs – donated towards the project.
The project has already had success with the toilet completed and attendance increasing.
“We constructed that toilet and it is helping like more than 100 girls in the school,” Mr Guatam said.
“After construction of the toilet block, the attendance of the girl students increased by 80 per cent during the time of menstruation, they were not missing school.”
He said it was only the start of the partnership, with three more toilets planned.
He met with clubs from all around the district which had supported the project in Penola last month.
