Today’s highlight was walking down to Manang Secondary School. This summer, the kids had the opportunity to meet several sherpas visiting Colorado while attending the Wilderness Medicine conference where Greg was teaching.  Talking to the sherpas, they decided to do several things to help at Manang’s school as part of our trip. Tylin choose to gather toothbrushes as part of her Bat Mitvah project and provide the information and ingredients to make toothpaste. This was in response to one of the sherpas mentioning that candy was not preferred as there is limited dental care. The treatment for a bad tooth here is extraction. Cayla chose to get together a collection of toys to allow the teachers at the school to hand out rewards to students as she and her classmates have enjoyed at her school.  All the kids requested donations of colored pencils and pencil sharpeners to bring.  We arrived at the school today and met the headmaster and several teachers.  The kids got to distribute the toothbrushes, pencils and supplies to make toothpaste. Popy-Don had brought a cricket bat and ball to leave for the school as well. The students were in the middle of final exams so we wished everyone good luck!

Traveling through the villages, several of the hotel and tea house owners are operating their businesses while their children are sent to Kathmandu to school. At times boarding school and at other times living with family while in school. The children at the local government schools are faced with limited resources. The government secondary schools often stop at age 12. One of the teachers we met today had sold all his land and taken out government loans to send his second son to medical school. For the children in the local government schools, we were informed that the pass rate for the end of secondary exams was only 20 percent. The teachers feel a large issue is when the children finish their school day (10 am till 4 pm) that many return to work to be done at home. Parents feel the learning should be done at school and upon returning home, the Childs responsibility to the family takes precedence. Things to think about..

Jassica going to give a colour for students in Manang School	how to make a tooth paste

Students of Manang School