The community of Hardahani, Nepal in the Kailali District of the Western Terai has a new school funded by Team Dayā and its supporters. This is the second school Team Dayā has completed in Nepal. Since the groundbreaking of this sixth Team Dayā school in March, the new three room schoolhouse and the accompanying new boys and girls latrines have all been completed.

The Team Dayā school project will benefit ECD (early child development), first and second graders currently using a simple single room building. With 82 current students (34 girls and 48 boys), teachers need to use additional buildings in the community to accommodate the students. There is one teacher for ECD, one principal and one teacher from the ward (both teach in grades 1 & 2) and one school office assistant. There are 45 ECD students (15 girls and 30 boys), 16 first graders (6 girls and 10 boys) and 21 second graders (13 girls and 8 boys).

Former Ward Chairperson, Hariram Chaudhary (pictured above) is a fifty-one-year-old resident of Hardahani who has been striving to improve the public facilities in Hardahani for years. Having grown up in this community, Hariram deeply understands the challenges that residents encounter throughout their lives. He grew up during a time when Hardahani did not have a school. This resulted in him and his peers having to walk substantial distances to access an educational institution. So once Hardahani’s school was established, Hariram kept his eyes on its development. For the past decade he has advocated for the construction of new educational infrastructure, but until this partnership, this dream had been deferred.

Here are photos showing the final months of construction:

Beyond funding from Team Dayā supporters, the development methodology is an “all hands in” model with commitments from the community (equal access for girls and boys, all manual labor from community members, land and local materials); local education and government support (ongoing support for teachers and materials); and Team Dayā NGO partner buildOn (community selection, project oversight, skilled labor and project delivery). By the end of the project, the men and women of Hardahani had proudly contributed 1,198 volunteer work days to the building of their new school.

Team Dayā could not have done this without our 2024-Nepal team (new members Michel deRijk, Purwa Jain, Shyam Karki, Ruth Rafalovich, Lauren Rose, Sean Tan, Alex Yang along with returning members Mike Benedek, Head of Recruiting Jaryd Knutsen and Founder Jay Sears), corporate support from SecurityPal and the support of our 1,000+ donors around the world.

Over time, it is expected the community will petition for additional school buildings to accommodate additional primary grades. Currently these students must walk to neighboring communities for their schooling. Third graders need to walk about two kilometers into another municipality and students beyond third grade must cross a river to reach their school location.

Please consider a donation so Team Dayā can continue its work.

Three Ways You Can Help

1. Make a Donation Online
2. Example investment opportunities:
   • $250 All the nails, nuts, and bolts to build a roof for the school
   • $500 In-country mason during the entire construction of the school
   • $1,000 Paint for a school
   • $40,000 Fund an entire school
3. Spread the Word
   • Share our mission with your friends, your company and your industry
   • Invite us to speak about our mission to your network
   • Follow us LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
4. Join the Team & Travel on a School Build
   • If you have a combination of fundraising chops, an adventurous spirit and the belief each of us has the capacity to be Building Change, get in touch with us and have a conversation.

Team Dayā 2025 Plans

Our last school project for 2024 will be in Guatemala (December 1st 2024 start, limited availability). We are now actively recruiting members for our 2025 groundbreakings. These builds represent our second schools in Nicaragua and Malawi and our third school in Nepal. 

Our Team Dayā 2025 school building dates:

Nicaragua, Central America
Sunday, February 9, 2025 – Saturday, February 15, 2025

Malawi, East Africa
Sunday, June 22, 2025 – Saturday, June 28, 2025

Nepal, South Asia
Sunday October 26th, 2025 – Sunday, November 2nd, 2025

If you are curious to learn more about joining a build, please reach out to our Head of Recruiting Jaryd Knutsen. 

Thanks again for your continued support,

All of us at Team Dayā