Former University of Wisconsin student Leona Mason is asking current UW students to build a school for the village of Tsharka, located in Nepal.

Mason studied in the village while writing her masters thesis for UW, and has since been asked by the members of the community to build a school for their children. Mason will be working with Drokpa, a non-profit organization that has been involved with building traditional Tibetan schools and medical facilities in recent years.

“They asked me a few years ago to help them with a school, so I have been fundraising and returning to Tsharka to help,” Mason said.

The village does not currently have an educational institution, and only a select group of young boys are picked to learn to read and write for religious purposes. Other wealthy families often send their children to schools in other villages or in India. Mason hopes these children will return to Tsharka to teach at the new school.

In the past, the government has paid for teachers from other locations to travel to the village to educate the children, but on many occasions the teachers collected checks from the government but never went to the village to teach.

The government of Nepal will still provide money to hire teachers, but Drokpa will supplement that income with extra money for traveling and living expenses. When the new school is complete, the community members will have authority to alert the government if hired teachers do not show up for classes.

Mason said the construction for the new school will begin next month and should be completed by October or November, when winter weather makes the passage of materials to and from the village impossible.

“Drokpa has already committed to solar lights and a solar cooker, and we are working with plans of orienting the building so that we can incorporate passive solar energy as well,” Mason said.

According to Mason, the people of Tsharka have been receptive to the plans and have taken the initiative to process the necessary paperwork with the government of Nepal on their own.

“Teaching local people to become self-sufficient is generally the end result of projects such as this,” Mason said. “So the fact that the people of Tsharka have been instrumental in the success of the project from the beginning is fantastic.”

Drokpa is holding a fundraiser for the new school Thursday at Chautara Restaurant, 334 State St., from 9 to 10 p.m. The fundraiser will feature traditional Nepalese snack items as well as a slide show, a raffle and photography available for purchase. Admission is by donation, and the event is open to everyone.

UW sophomore Liz Sauer said the fundraiser is a great way for Madison to encourage education internationally.

“Education is something that is really taken for granted in America,” Sauer said. “The fact that [Leona Mason] is providing educational opportunities to these children is wonderful and should be applauded.”