The speaker at Aberystwyth Rotary Club’s lunchtime meeting before Easter was Eleanor Mathias, a former student of Ysgol Penglais who is currently studying for a degree in educational policy at Queens’ College, Cambridge.

Eleanor gave an interesting account of her six-week visit last year to Nepal, supported by the Rotary Club’s Lionel White Scholarship.

Her placement was arranged by the Halambu Education and Livelihood Partnership, which supports schools in remote villages in Nepal.

After two days at the bustling state capital of Kathmandu she, along with a university friend, were taken by a bumpy five-hour Jeep ride to the village of Lapsé, where Eleanor taught five to 12-year-olds who were learning English as a third language, at the local Shree Sarawati Basic School.

She settled in well, despite the rather basic accommodation and some unwelcome cohabitants in the form of spiders and bugs –and the occasional visiting rat.

“The sense of welcome by the local community, symbolised on our arrival by people placing scarves around our necks, was something we experienced throughout our stay,” she said.

She was also involved in after-school outdoor activities which gave her an opportunity to see and explore the beauty of the region, and some strenuous trekking in the Himalayas.

After returning to Cambridge, Eleanor has joined a community that provides support for schools in Nepal by the provision of books. She added that she would love to return to Nepal, if the opportunity arose. Her talk provoked a record number of questions by club members, and a lively discussion.

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