Video Updates

Dear Friends,

Enjoy the video updates from our peace school.

Peace School Video Updates

Nick's Reflection: Visit to Arupokhari

Here is Nick's honest assessment of his Nepal visit- Subhash

Those who know me, know that I’m honest and open when it comes to business. And I hope that through this posting, all those who are supporting and following the Sarswati Foundation and the Sarswati Peace School, will have a better understanding of the foundation and the current stage of the Sarswati Peace School project.

Overview of the school and the wonderful mountains. Mt. Manasulu.

Over the past month that I have spent in Nepal working alongside Subhash for the foundation, I believe that I have been able to witness the underlying culture of business, perhaps not a culture that tourists seek during their escapades. This experience has put me confusing emotional state, mixing frustration and anxiety with hope and prosperity. And perhaps my mood swings throughout the past month have reflected this.

Nick infront of the school.

To provide you with a context of the work that I have been doing here in Nepal, it has revolved around developing the administrative materials: teacher, staff, and student handbooks; and by-laws for the Sarswati Peace School; and interviewing teachers and volunteers for the opening of the school in May 2011. During my stay, I have also spoken to an audience of over sixty village members about the expectations that the Sarswati Foundation had of the Arupokhari community and oversaw the initial stages of the Sarswati Peace School construction.

It all sounds fine and dandy, but it didn’t run all that smoothly. For the those who like visual representations, work and business seemed to reflect the roads: in the developed world, roads are straight and smooth (okay, this might be a slight exaggeration and generalization), and in the developing world, roads are dusty, full of potholes, and completely chaotic (also a generalization).

Workers mixing water with mud joining brick walls.

There is no other way to describe it.  While in Kathmandu “load shedding” or planned “brown-outs” often turned off our lights and electricity for up to 12 hours a day, internet - on a good day – worked only between 5:30pm-9:30am, not during the working hours, and a single meeting with the foundation’s lawyer (which we never actually met as he would always send his intern) would take nearly an entire day – a mixture of travel, the intern being an hour late, and the paper work needing to be reprinted because they spelled the foundation name wrong. To summarize, work went slowly as we would have to wait for the internet and to call and interview teachers, we would have to wait for electricity to charge our computers so we could continue working, and we would have to wait for another party to finally show up to a meeting. To be honest, I couldn’t wait to escape Kathmandu for Week 3 when we departed for the village, an 8 hour bus ride and 3 hour walk to a place that we could count on the electricity and internet not working for the next 3 months and a place where a meeting would happen on time, and if not, you can find those you want to meet with.

Little did I know, that the roots of being an hour late for a meeting was entrenched in the rural culture of Nepal. One specific instance was our planned community meeting with the local village members to clarify and discuss the matters of the Sarswati Peace School.

It started with lunch – at 9am. “Why?” I asked.  It was because we may not be back until dinner. I didn’t question any further. We then made our way to the school site, where the meeting was going to take place, planned to commence at 10 o’clock. We were 15 minutes late, and no one was there.  I was advised by Subhash that no one was there, not because they had already left, but because people always run a little bit late in Nepal. We took our seats on the hill overseeing the school site and continued to discuss the school, its prospective teachers, and the timeline for construction and implementation.  Time ticked away, and before we knew it, it was nearly 1 o’clock in the afternoon. By then, Subhash’s father and Ishwor (both extremely significant members of this project) arrived and joined our conversations. It wasn’t until 2 o’clock that the flocks of people began to arrive; one after another, joining into small groups, settling on the same hill that we settled on, discussing matters of the current government schools, the prospects of the village being connected to the electrical grid in the next month, and whatever else.

The meeting began at 2:30, only four-and-a-half hours late, and people still continued to arrive until nearly 4 o’clock. It was a frustrating wait and when work needed to get done and yet nothing was being done, I also became quite anxious.

But what do we get out of all this frustration and anxiety?

Hope, and eventual accomplishment.

Children around the construction site.

To begin with the time in the village, the community was excited. Over 60 community members came to the community meeting (which meant they probably represented nearly 150 of the admitted students), and everywhere we went, we were invite for tea and snacks to discuss the school and what it was going to provide. Beyond this excitement, there was a need that was being fulfilled. Although many of the families and students were not directly affected by the civil war, the Sarswati Peace School was bringing families back together: their children and wives of farmers and shopkeepers were going to be reunited when they could finally trust that their children were going to get a proper education in the village itself, rather than spending thousands of rupees a month for their children to attend private schools and live in Kathmandu. 

One of the most heart-warming experiences was when the three illiterate and impoverished women, that Subhash blogged about only a few days ago, arrived at the doorsteps of Subhash’s home in Arupokhari, bearing gifts of food, drink, and trinkets, that they had carried for a three days walk. For what? To ask for their children to be admitted to the school. These women were desperate to provide their children a proper education, and would do anything to make that happen. Not only did this astound Subhash, but it made me reflect on my own culture in the West.  How many North American parents would walk three days straight for their child’s primary school education?

Although this experience brought some sadness, it instilled in me a new hope for the school, a new hope for the people, and that little extra bit of motivation to stay positive and patient in such a slow-moving society.

Construction happens in spurts. In one day, the brick-layers can put up 4 feet of wall on one of the classroom buildings. Unfortunately, they work on average 3 or 4 days a week, needing to take days off when it is too warm, too cold, or a village member’s ox dies.  But it is happening. The school will be built, the policy manuals and by-laws will be completed (they are completed), the teachers and headmasters will be hired, the students will be admitted, and the need for education will be fulfilled for one small village in rural Nepal and the surrounding areas.

For those who have supported the foundation’s ventures thus far, including Epic Change, the Clinton Foundation, and Ania Lichota, thank you. To all those who volunteer their time to the foundation and the peace school, thank you. To Subhash Ghimire, an inspiration, role-model, and life-long friend, thank you. 

It has been an experience of a lifetime, and I look forward to continuing my work with the foundation for many years to come.

Cheers.

Nicholas Kang

Director of Project Development

Sarswati Foundation


PS: Thank you Nick for your time and passion. It was just amazing to have you here. Hope you will spread the good words to our wonderful St. Olaf community- Subhash

School Construction Updates

We are back from Gorkha. I have so many stories to share with you all. These are some of the pictures of the school construction. Photos by Nick.

workers building classrooms.

an overview of the school area.

amazing women from a remote village from northern Gorkha. Will have their story in the next blog.

feels so AWESOME to stand inside the school building.

meeting the parents that took FOREVER.

the gentleman in the right is our contractor.

Off to Gorkha!

Dear Friends,
We are leaving for Gorkha early morning tomorrow and spend a week at the peace school site. I am excited to see the construction updates and we will upload pictures and updates from Arupokhari.

A journalist from Kantipur is also traveling with us. Our story will be covered in their paper in the coming weeks.

Nick finally recovered from his stomach flu. He is now acclimatized with Nepal's climate. He is excited to go to the village.

We will be recruiting teachers, staff and the students during our stay in Arupokhari.

More updates with pictures in few days time.

Namaste and have a good week!

Guest Blogger: Nick is Here!

Time To Hire!

Kathmandu, Nepal

First, I would like to thank Subhash, Bhuban, and Angilla for extending their warmest welcome to my arrival here in Kathmandu and providing such wonderful hospitality to me thus far.

Miraculously avoiding any effects of jet lag (only an 11 hour time difference between here and home), I have been able to spend my three first days seeing Kathmandu and engaging in some preliminary work for the Peace School and foundation. This includes a variety of tasks from reworking and developing a workable balance sheet to work with estimated incomes and expenses dependant on student enrolment, enrolment fees, and scholarships, to developing methods to document and organize future student information and reports.

However, although these tasks keep me busy here in Kathmandu, I spent the day preparing for a series of interviews that we will be holding via skype and phone with over a dozen selected applicants to our teacher and headmaster job postings. After reading through dozens of cover letters and resumes, I have been able to summarize applicant strengths and weaknesses, and develop specific questions to ask each of the second round applicants. From cover letters and resumes alone, it seems like there will be a lot of tough decisions, as many of the applicants have proven themselves extremely worthy of the positions.  In fact, many of the experiences of the applicants have got us extremely excited for what they will potentially bring to the children and community of Arupokhari.

Riddled with this excitement I need to get back to my work. 

Dhanyabad (Thank you) to all those who have supported the foundation and Peace School, and Happy New Year from Kathmandu!

Nicholas Kang

External Director of Operations & Admissions

Sarswati Peace School

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year: Time for Action

Dear Friends,
On behalf of Sarswati Peace School Family, I would like to extend our warmest greetings and wishes from Nepal. We wish you all a very happy Christmas and the New Year 2011. 


The year 2011 is going to be one of the most important year for us. Our first batch of students will begin their schooling with us. We have come along a long way from running a summer camp in 2009 to starting a school in 2010. 


We are extremely lucky to have friends and supporters all over the world from Tanzania to Switzerland to Belgium to Germany and the list goes on. Our special thank goes to Epic Change (Stacey and Sanjay and all others in the team). They have been so helpful in supporting and encouraging us when were struggling with the project. They are doing phenomenal work in Tanzania and elsewhere. 


Also, our friend and supporter Ania Lichota from UK. She has always been pushing us to move forward with the project and helping us in need. She is an inspiration for thousands of mountain climbers and philanthropists. She did climb Mt. Everest in the summer of 2009. 


We also thank President Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative for granting us $6,000 for our project. The people at CGI U are wonderful and inspiring. 


And of course Renu Di who is instrumental to our project here. She has been with us in every step of our progress and failures. We will always be indebted to her. 


Jen Lemen is like an angel to us. She is a constant source of inspiration and guidance. We will always be in need for her support. So is Mama Lucy and her team. Christina Ammon from California. Thank you for visiting us and helping us. And in recent months Sabi Gurung has been a part of our project. She has been helping us in range of issues from preparing student profiles to helping us connect with people and org. here in Nepal. Thank you young doctor. 


Nicholas Kang, my friend from St. Olaf will soon be joining us here in Nepal to help us with the project. We sat in our small room at St. Olaf and designed our foundation's website. We fought and disagreed but at the end we both have a common goal of helping to change the lives of some of the neediest children in Nepal. We welcome him to Nepal. 

The lives of some of these children will now change forever for the better. 

Most importantly, its YOU All who are making this happen. Without your generous support and help, we would not have started this project. To continue and move forward with our project, we constantly need your guidance, suggestion and help. 


Please go to our homepage and donate to change the lives of Nepal's future leaders. We also explore you to consider sponsoring some of our students. 


We humbly request you to be part of this movement. Please go to our homepage and look for donate button. 


There are so many people We have to thank. Please forgive us if you are not mentioned here. You will all be part of our life here. 

Thank you all. 
Namaste from Nepal!

Admissions Nightmare!

I definitely anticipated overwhelming number of applicants for our first batch of students at Sarswati Peace School but not like the report I got from the field today. Just yesterday alone more than 80 forms were filled in. More than 200 forms have been filled in the last three days. We only have spot for 250 students  and we are distributing 500 forms at this point. When my good friend Nicholas Kang will be here in the last week of December, we will travel to the village and select the students. I am still trying to figure out ways and means to make parents understand whose children will not be admitted this year. Everyone is hoping to admit their children and for that we need at least double our planned resources and we do not have the resources to do just that. It seems like our 500 forms will be gone in less than a week. I can see some of the parents ready to thrash me in public. I need to polish my conflict resolution and negotiation skills used during purchase of our school land.

A young girl with her brother. She cannot go to school as she has to take care of her brother. The young brother will be sent to school once he is four but the girl has to stay home. We need to change this. 

On the other hand, we are receiving applicants from extremely remote villages within Gorkha district. Just this morning, four parents came from Lapu Village in Northern part of our district that boarders with Tibet. They have to walk for four straight days to reach our village. They want to admit their children and I just cannot say no. I am excited that even in those places they now realize the importance of quality education and what it means to them and to their families.

We hope to provide opportunities to many of children from remotest part of our district and beyond.

Fever, chest infection, and cough and cold have been pulling me down for several days now.

Stay tuned for our Christmas Special Scholarships Campaign.