UNIFIL’s Nepalese Battalion (NEPBATT) commander Lieutenant Colonel Narayan Bahadur Thapa today inaugurated the project “Renovation of Basketball Court and School Garden” at Meiss Ej-Jebel Technical School. The opening ceremony was attended by the Mayor of Meis El Jabal, Abd El Menem Shukair, teachers of the School, representatives of the Lebanese Armed Forces and local authorities.

Lt. Col. Thapa, joined by Mayor Shukair and the Director of School, Farai Kabalan, inaugurated the project by planting a tree sapling.

Over the past weeks, peacekeepers from NEPBATT planted green flooring seeds in the school garden, decorated garden surface with tiles, and refurbished and painted the garden wall. They also carried out some maintenance work in the basketball court.

The renovation work was carried out from 29 November until its completion on 16 December. The Nepalese peacekeepers also gifted some sports items, including footballs and volleyballs to the school.

In their remarks, the Mayor and the School Director expressed their appreciation towards UNIFIL for the support, while vowing to work together in other collaborative projects in the future.

Lt. Col. Thapa expressed his gratitude for the support and cooperation extended by the locals and the Mayor of Meiss Ej-Jebel towards the Nepalese Battalion in accomplishing the mandated tasks in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

Whenever possible, UNIFIL and its peacekeepers work with and extend support to local authorities, municipalities and communities. All these activities have the central objective of sustaining the existing 11 years of calm and stability in south Lebanon, while continuing to work – in the bigger picture – to encourage the parties to work towards achieving a permanent ceasefire.