Fausto De Stefani’s Nepal School Project to Aid Disadvantaged Children
This will surely be the most important climb in his life that Fausto De Stefani has recently undertaken. It doesn’t involve scaling one of the highest peaks in the world, but instead Turned towards those whom life has not given much satisfaction.
Purpose of a Solidarity Initiative
We are talking about populations living in deep poverty in Nepal. Populations in which, as often happens, children are the ones who suffer the most. In his numerous travels, the climber, born in Asola in 1952, has had the opportunity to see and dominate the highest peaks in the world, one of the few in the world to have climbed all the eight-thousanders (14 in total, including Everest, where in 1996, De Stefani placed a banner with the word “Peace” alongside a Lions Club badge).
Among these wonders, however, he often faced situations of shocking misery. “I received a lot from Nepal,” said De Stefani in Manerba del Garda during an evening at the Splendid Sole restaurant, organized by the Lions Club of Valtenesi to raise funds for his initiative – “and it has always been a thought in my mind. Now, the idea of an intervention has turned into a concrete project: a school that can welcome and care for even the poorest.”
For years, I have cared for some unfortunate Nepalese children, and through this, I had the opportunity to meet the right people to support the realization of my project. That’s how I learned about the non-profit “Rarahil Memorial School”, which has long been concerned with issues related to poverty. An organization navigating through many difficulties, with rent costs that have now become unsustainable for equally modest spaces. Feeling in tune with their methodologies and their problems, I offered myself for concrete help.
Project Details
My project is certainly ambitious, both due to the amount involved, around 300 million rupees, and the effort it entails. Essentially, it involves purchasing land and building a suitable facility for the school, including a nurses’ station, laboratories, and a hostel for the accommodation of poor children.
The approach that the mountaineer intends to follow reflects the long-tested method of “Senza Frontiere” Foundation, which is that of “emancipation through full self-sufficiency while respecting local culture”. The school in Nepal will be sufficient to host and provide services to about 700 students, of whom the paying students should be able to support the stay of the neediest.
“The timeline for the project,” De Stefani concluded, “depends on how quickly we can raise funds. I am committed to conferences and shows to promote and finance the initiative. Unfortunately,” he admits, “after losing the first phalanges of hands and feet in my climbs to succeed, I fear I will not be able to raise the entire amount solely through the proceeds of my endeavors.”
I am also aware that I do not have the presumption to solve the problems of child poverty in Nepal through the construction of this school. But instead, I believe it’s possible to contribute to that process of improvement to which even those children are entitled.”
Meanwhile, next March, De Stefani will undertake an ascent of the Himalayas.