Trip to Dharapani Secondary School, Pandhur, Nepal.
23rd December 2002.

Launch slideshow

Dharapani School is located in Pandhur, about 45 km north of Pokhara, Nepal. It is home to between five and six hundred students of primary and secondary school age, drawn from the surrounding area. The school is set off the road and reached via a twenty minute walk down a hillside. We were met at the roadside by what seemed like most of the school and many other well-wishers from the surrounding villages. From the huge number of people who had turned out, it was clear we were in for a day to remember. After initial greetings and presentations of sacred garlands and flowers, a Nepalese band began playing the Panchai Baja. With the sound of drums, cymbals and pipe music filling the air, the assembled crowd formed itself into a procession and we began to make our way down the hillside towards the school. As gaps appeared in the river of people coming down the hill, periodically the horn players at the front stopped to produce great blasts of sound enabling folks behind to catch up.    More ...