About five years ago, Mrs Brell travelled to Nepal to teach teachers how to teach.

She was followed by an interpreter, Prakash Aryal, who saw the difference education can make to a community. He asked Mrs Brell if she would come to his village to do the same thing. 

“Some of these teachers travelled three hours to be there everyday and, again, three hours home every evening,” Mrs Brell said.

“That’s how dedicated they are.”

For the best part of eight months, Mrs Brell lobbied the Rotary board in America to consider giving the Orange group funding to return to Nepal to continue what she started. 

She said “the champagne flowed” when she got the call saying the group had been successful.

“It’s the first time in the district that this has ever happened,” she said.

District 9700 covers an area from Griffith to Wagga Wagga, Bathurst, Orange, Forbes, Narrandera and Leeton and half of the grant came from   members of the district. 

From selling items at farmers’ markets, volunteering, cooking and setting up stalls, members worked hard during the last year to raise thousands of dollars.

Contributions from the Orange community to the Rotary Club of Orange Daybreak will go to helping children in Nepal get a brighter future. 

Mrs Brell will travel with six teachers from Australia for two weeks in March. 

“We wouldn’t be anywhere near doing what we want to do without it [the grant],” she said.