Main objective
Developing a project from scratch, fundraising and teaching in Nepal
HumanIIE 2017 team at Lubra school, Nepal
Context
HumanIIE is a humanitarian association under 1901 law, created by ENSIIE students. Every year, a group of student volunteers work together to build a humanitarian project, mostly aiming to share their computer skills with those in need. They prepare trips with the help of partners, elaborate classes, do fundraising, and finally fly to their target country for onsite action.
Our Project
HumanIIE 2017 team was composed of ten ENSIIE students, including our president Magdeleine Lebrun. We first defined our one-year project: Nepal was chosen as the destination country. Our partner Club Tibet, who actively helps Tibetan people through educational and solidarity actions, assisted us in defining the actions to be carried out on site, as well as preparing the logistic side of the trip.
After that, the whole year (from October 2016 to June 2017) was devoted to fundraising and trip preparation (logistics, game development - cf. Main Roles). We finally flew to Nepal at the end of June 2017 for one month, where we taught to students and teachers of Lubra school how to use office software applications.
Fundraising
Three main strategies were undertaken:
Food sales: Every Monday throughout the year, our team prepared and cooked savory and sweet crêpes to students for lunch, which became our main income. For some of the night events held by the student clubs, we were in charge of selling foods.
Thematic events: We organised two events during the year, during which we charged the entrance fees. We also participated in the Téléthon, where one of our professors committed himself to pay 1€ for each kilometer we ran (we finally ran 184 km!). We also wrapped gifts in a high-tech store and get a percentage of the profits from the auction organised following the closing of the school in Strasbourg.
Find sponsors: The business forum organised in the school buildings was a perfect opportunity to both selling foods and present our association to the companies. However, most of them could not decide on the participation of their company to our project: the operation was unsuccessful. We also made phone calls to local companies, but there was also no outcome. Hopefully, four institutions which followed our project (Hager, ENSIIE, EDS, Drinkiit) have generously supported us financially.
Other actions performed were participating in two competitions (but we did not win) and launching a platform donation for individuals who want to support us. For the latter, we heavily relied on communication and our efforts paid off.
Onsite Action
The first part of the trip was intended to be acclimated to the Nepal culture by spending a couple of days in Shree Srongsten Bhrikuti school in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. During these first few days, the team was split into subgroups of two or three: each subgroup was in charge of a class. When it was possible, we attended computer science classes, during which we taught word processing. Else, we animated the classes through games and culture sharing. We visited the city and learn about Nepalese culture during our free time.
Then, we joined our local guide, sent by our partner Club Tibet, who ensured the smooth running of the (very adventurous!) trip. We took two days (first day by bus to Pokhara, second day by jeep to Lubra) to reach our main destination: Lubra school in the Annapurna mountains. We taught the use of every office software applications (Word, PowerPoint, Calc, Paint, etc.) to students and their teachers. The days were organised as the following: we were in charge of the classes of the two highest levels (7 and 8) during the mornings, and the classes of the next two levels (5 and 6). The communication with the two last classes were more complicated as their English speaking skills were not good enough to communicate. We also had to manage days when there was power outage: we counted on the battery of some laptops to show English movies and interact with children.
Main Roles
2016-17: Treasurer and Active Member of HumanIIE 2017
My role of treasurer was mostly to manage the association bank account, and track the cash inflow and outflow.
As an active member, I also participated in trip preparation by attending all internal meetings and external ones with Club Tibet, as well as getting the visas for all members. I was also one of the main contributors of our Facebook page.
Regarding fundraising, I helped in crêpe preparation and cooking, as well as event organisations. I was also in charge of designing promotional posters for thematic events. Other actions I undertaken were contacting potential sponsors, which includes presenting the association in a convincing way.
As to the preparation of classes, my friend and teammate Anthony Araye and I had decided to develop the hangman game in Java, with the code structured in MVC (Model-View-Controller). The game was intended to help children learn and memorise new vocabulary while getting familiar with the computer. Once the project was finished, we turned it into a functional Windows application.
Finally, I was part of the trip (described in subsection Onsite Action of Our Project). When we were in Lubra, I personally assisted one or two students from each class.
2017-18: President of HumanIIE 2018
After being an active member of the association last year, my main role this time was to assist the new team on different steps of the projects and advise them on project management. In addition, they decided to pursue our action in Nepal with the collaboration of Club Tibet.
During my mandate, I was faced to administrative difficulties. As our school branch in Strasbourg closed in the summer of 2017 and the main office of the organisation was in Strasbourg from the legal point of view, I needed to move the main office to the main branch in Evry. The laws that regulate associations being different in Evry, new documents needed to be provided and it took many months to get registered. That was important as the new team could not have a bank account if the main office had not yet legally moved. The bank account was needed once the team flew to Nepal. Hopefully, we got everything sorted a few weeks before their departure.
Experience Feedback
That was definitely one of the most enriching human experiences I had in my life. For the first time, I lived in a completely different culture close to the local population, with minimal comfort, poor Internet connection and frequent power cuts. With my teammates, we went back to a simple life free of new technologies and based on sharing and love, and I truly enjoyed it.
My most memorable moment of this trip is when all the children in Lubra did my surprise birthday party as they thought my birthday occurred when I was among them (in fact, our local guide read 09/07 but my real birthday is 09/01). The last day of class, they all offered customised cards with drawings and flowers to me (at that time, I could not understand at all what was happening lol). At night, all schoolgirls brought me to their room to put Nepalese scarves on me (in Nepalese culture, these scarves are a sign of goodwill and offered to guests) before going back to the main room where my teammates were waiting. They put me at the middle of everybody and sang a song for me. We took this opportunity to share our French culture: that was a beautiful and genuine time with the school. We ended the day with music and dance. That was one the rare moments in my life when I was so overwhelmed with love and joy, that I will never ever forget.
I will always remember the sympathy and the resilience of Nepalese people. The journey was very complicated with frequent rockfall on the way and deaths unfortunately. These caused huge traffic jams (we could be stuck many hours in the same place). Sometimes, roads were impracticable because of the weather and the lack of road maintenance. Despite these inconveniences, the trip was really worth it and I will always keep in mind and be grateful for what the Nepalese population has taught me through their lifestyle.
Thank you Nepal for your hospitality 🌄
Thank you to anyone who made this project possible ✨
And Big Love to my teammates Anthony, Eléna, Anthéa, Diane, Pierre and Léo who spiced up this amazing trip, and to my other teammates Hanna, Théo and Magdeleine who supported us in our troubles throughout our project 💖
Useful Links
HumanIIE Facebook page Hangman game development Report (French)