Dear Friends of NAG – Namaste!

The year 2020 was also marked by the Corona pandemic in Nepal and at NAG. Government-imposed school closures, restricted mobility and closed shops were just a few of the problems that Nicole and the team in Kathmandu had to deal with.

A big challenge was the conversion of the school to distance learning at short notice. Because of the pandemic, the Nepalese government had decided to stop face-to-face teaching. To protect itself from the virus, NAG also closed its gates and did not allow visitors or teachers to come and go. Nevertheless, NAG found a solution within a very short time to continue teaching. The teachers were technically equipped so that they could hold lessons from home via live streaming. The ‘NAGers’ who live in the home follow lessons in the classroom on a large screen.

We have recently been allowed to teach the day students on site at NAG again, which has not been possible since March 2020. We hope that this will continue, as the day students suffer particularly from the Corona measures. At home, they often do not have the appropriate environment and infrastructure to participate in distance learning. In addition, the day students receive a hot lunch when they attend school at NAG, which is a great relief for poor families, in particular.

The government’s measures also hit the local population and the families of our day students hard. Since public life was completely shut down in the beginning and is still restricted now, many local people lost their jobs. However, the population did not receive any compensation from the government, which caused hardship for many families. NAG helped, and still helps, families with donations of food or money, so that they can continue to pay the rent for their flats, for example. NAG also provided financial support to nurses, some of whom were no longer paid by the hospitals, despite their hard work.

The Corona pandemic has thrown a spanner in the works of our construction plans. We could not finish work on the northern part of the school building as planned, because all construction work in Nepal had to be stopped as well. As soon as the situation improves, we will finish the school building, as planned. As previously communicated, the new part of the school building will include classrooms, a staff room and toilets, so that teachers will no longer have to share them with students.

Despite all the precautionary measures, the virus could not be completely kept away from NAG. In September, all residents were tested for Coronavirus. A few tests were positive, but fortunately none of those affected had severe cases of the disease, from which we have also been spared to date.

Despite everything, after a long wait, we received our first electric vehicle at the end of 2020. Our old minibus, which we used to transport smaller groups, urgently needed to be replaced. Even though electric vehicles are not yet widely used in Nepal, we wanted to focus on a sustainable solution and therefore ordered an electric vehicle already in 2019. Unfortunately, the delivery was delayed by more than a year. All the more amazing and gratifying that it suddenly materialised in the middle of the Corona crisis. This electric vehicle has been in use for a few weeks, working reliably and without any problems so far.

Even though we were unable to realise numerous plans in 2020 and had to improvise a lot, we hope all the more that normality will return this year. Either way, we can only continue the work thanks to your support. We sincerely thank you for this and your trust in us. Especially in times of crisis, like now, the population in Nepal is particularly dependent on support and we will continue to do our best with NAG in 2021, to help as many people in need as possible, even outside of NAG. On behalf of Nicole, all NAG staff and the Foundation Board, we wish everyone a happy and successful year.

Important: our traditional NAG event will take place this year on 29 August 2021, as always, in Horgen. You will receive the invitation and the program in due course.

On behalf of the NAG – Foundation

Nicole Thakuri-Wick, Foundress NAG

Sophie Winkler, President of the foundation NAG