Yoshie in Setograss Pre-school

As I said in the previous blog. I wanted Yoshie to see Setograss, and see all the things they make for the school, and lucky for us it was the start of a new year and we got to see all the mothers helping, both with cooking the food for the children and making many things from recycled materials, as educational or just for storage purposes.

They have a great system of mother involvement, I think it's great to see what they have achieved here in Bandipur. First, they have a purpose built building on the edges of Bandipur and second they are also part of a Setograss community, originally from Kathmandu. They provide advice and experience exchanging and teachers from all visit each others in order to gain inspiration, and just see what others are doing.

You can see in pic 2, they are using bamboo sticks painted blue and testing the children's co-ordination skills, Yoshie getting involved too! And the teacher in purple is Mon's wife, Rupa. In pic 3 you can see Yoshie with another teacher, some mothers, and children making mallas (necklaces) from corn sticks, cut and painted in bright colours. Pic 4 shows how their rooms are decorated and as much as possible is handmade, it saves money and allows, teachers and mothers to use their creativity.

Pic 5 shows the mothers doing their best to deal with the smoke, as they cook and create the lunch which all children are provided for by the pre-school. Actually, they eat this lunch between 12.30-1.00pm, but the parents are told to give the children also a little snack/s to bring with them which they eat about 10.30am. It was the food programme here in Setograss that we have taken on in the Aandhimul school, and Mon's wife who helped with what ingredients to buy and quantities.

We still have a long way to go in Aandhimul, but any help, exchange of ideas and inspirations are so welcomed. We have also planned for our two female teachers to come and visit Setograss in a few weeks time, which will be great for them to see so much stuff and speak to all the teachers.