Charity Work – John Yearley (Tr 56) improving life and education in Nepal

OH John Yearley (Tr 56) (below) runs The Yearley Trust, which exists to improve life and education opportunities in Nepal. Here he gives us an update on his work in the country – with opportunities also available to young OHs.

Overcoming health, education and economic problems in Nepal

COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns have caused major health education and economic problems around the world. Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world and one that I love, is no exception. This is where my NGO – the Yearley Trust – is trying to improve the life of the people of the country; the lockdown has given me the opportunity to consider the current situation in more depth.

New initiative to improve education and life skills

(Above: under construction – the Yearley Trust Centre of Excellence at Nalang)

Now, following their financing of a total refurbishment of the Nalang Model Academy school the Trust is announcing a new initiative. In order to help to meet our objective to improve education, standard of life, and equality for women and girls the Trust is opening The Yearley Trust Centre of Excellence based at Nalang.

The Centre will use the hostel and kitchen facilities and the conference room donated to the school as a base to provide free residential courses to people from rural communities in Nepal. All food, accommodation and tuition fees will be covered by the Trust.

How it will work

I decided that the best way for us to involve as many communities as possible was to bring them to us, rather than us to go to them, especially when we are using international tutors.

The program already planned in the first year include courses on Agriculture, Teacher Training (including teaching pupils with special needs, Health and Wellbeing, Equality for Women, and Business opportunities and training for rural communities.

The Trust is also in talks with the principal University in Nepal to run a 3-year course on agriculture aimed at 16 to 19 year olds starting in 2022. The course will lead to a place at the University and although the Trust will have to charge fees for the course it will subsidise the course so that it costs around 50% of comparable courses.

Outreach and collaboration

(Above: what it’s all about – educating children to achieve a better life in one of the world’s poorest countries)

Three Trust employees will also conduct outreach programmes. The Trust is working with American NGO Ical who have developed a very successful system of teaching English to young children for whom English is not their native language. The Trust’s English Teaching Ambassador will be visiting schools throughout rural Nepal to train teachers in how the use the system and the Trusts two Sport Program Officers, both of whom are sporting legends in Nepal, will be visiting schools to coach and use sport as a way of teaching girls equality and empowerment issues.

The Trust has also just been joined in partnership by the international organisation Volleyball4Life to help bring empowerment for girls through sport. The Trust’s Sports Program Officer Kopila Upreti will be implementing the program as soon as lockdown in Nepal is over.

Young OHs – a special opportunity to help

(Above: John Yearley, with some of the many children his charity supports in Nepal)

The Centre of Excellence is the first initiative of this sort in Nepal and I am looking forward to it making a real difference to peoples lives.

During the current situation the small medical centre that we donated at Nalang is working overtime to provide the only medical support to the 37,000 people in the Nalang area. Next year we are planning a campaign to improve the health of people in another five communities and we would welcome help from anyone with medical knowledge.

We would also welcome any pupils or OH’s who would like to volunteer and help with what we are doing to improve the lives of people in this wonderful country., even if it is just helping to improve pupils English by just talking to them (and maybe trek to Annapurna or Everest at the same time??). See below to get in contact.

Find out more or donate to the Yearley Trust…

Young OHs looking to help John – and enjoy what could be a very rewarding trip of a lifetime – you can contact him here .

If you would like to learn more about the Trust you can visit the website or its Facebook page.

See what other OHs are doing to support charities worldwide

Haileybury instils in all its pupils and alumni the notion of Spirit of Service. Many OHs support charities and charitable initiatives throughout their lives and encourage others to do so too. To find out more, click the button below.

More OH Charitable Initiatives

Please donate to The Haileybury Society

As a charity, The Haileybury Society relies on its income from membership fees, legacies and donations of all sizes to achieve our charitable aims, and to help fellow OHs of all ages. It is only through your help that we are able to do this; any donation, no matter its size, is always appreciated. Donate here

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31