A team of 18 students raised a school building in a nepalese village, Thakurdwara. After almost 2 years collecting funds and planning construction and design of the building, we realised the project within 4 months.
The daily challenge was not just about carrying bricks and cutting bamboo. Every day was about to improvise, distinguishing and solving problems, and communicating properly with the future users and within the team.
Challenges were high in number. So how do you meet your responsibility, make the project become valuable and gain the trust and commitment of the community? How can you find the best solution? To understand people's needs, you have to understand them and their mindset first. And this is not about creating questionnaires, implementing workshops or puzzling out strategies far from the real world; it is rather about gaining true empathy. To work alongside, meet in your leisure time, share stories; in short: live together.
