“Now the students won’t have any problems during the monsoon,” said Ishwor Poudel, a teacher at the school. “When we were confused about how we should proceed, the local youth club helped us out.”

When four locals belonging to the club—Nabin, Raju, Anil and Rajkumar Gurung—had reached Mahakali Secondary School with relief supplies on May 30, the school building was in ruins. After Principal Pramila Khadka Thapa told them that a stopgap plan would be created after consulting with school staff, the youths gathered some locals and started removing the debris themselves.

“We were removing the debris when we came to realise that what we were doing was not enough,” said Anil Gurung. “We then decided to rebuild the school itself and we collected Rs 600,000 from various donors for its construction.”

Andrew Duncan, a foreign volunteer, provided 30 bundles of zinc sheets for the project, and 25 youths laboured relentlessly for 10 days to build the new school, said the club’s representative Nabin Gurung. “A lot of people have praised our work and other schools have also asked us to help them.”

Students of the school also helped in the club’s initiative. Suntali Tamang, a ninth grader in the school, said she helped during the rebuilding by carrying bricks. “The club members have put in a lot of hard work for us,” she said. “I was glad that I could help build my own classroom.”

Out of 15 classrooms in the school, 11 have sustained damages. A total of 410 students are enrolled in the school.