I would like to thank all of my readers across the globe. In total, this blog reached readers in 63 countries! If you are interested in viewing the 2012 annual report of Carving Karuna, I have copied it below.
As for an update on my end, I am currently living in Cambridge, MA with plans of moving to Baltimore, MD early 2013. My aspirations have been keeping me busy as I move in new directions, exploring more research opportunities utilizing writing and photography to tell meaningful stories. I hope to be more active in regards to updating Carving Karuna, as I do have lots to share. Do not hesitate to get in touch and stay in touch( levi.gersh@gmail.com) and keep an eye peeled towards my new website: http://www.levigersh.com
Be well – wherever you are – Happy New Year. May this be one of health, happiness and grand discovery.
Many Blessings, Levi
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 2,900 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 5 years to get that many views.
“My eyes strained to see the arbitrary lines that dictate where life is allowed to be lived and where it is not.” Photo taken on top of Mt. Hermon, 40 km from Damascus. At waste line, you can see a small Druze village located right beyond Israel’s boarder with Syria.
With so much in the air right now, it seems unlikely that writing a single op-ed piece could succeed in shining light on any truth besides the one I struggle to decipher for myself. The past three weeks in Israel have involved a tightrope routine –navigating the murky boundaries between modern Zionist ideology and the pervasive anti-Palestinian sentiment. Life continues to unfold as a series of conversations with the undying humanist alive in my soul.
Three days before, I stood atop Mt. Hermon. My eyes strained to see the arbitrary lines that dictate where life is allowed to be lived and where it is not. On my way to the Hermon, I passed through Majdal Shams, the largest Druze villages in the Golan Heights. Since Israel’s occupation of the Golan from the Six-Day War of June 1967, the people of Majdal Shams have been separated from their Syrian brethren. Although the Israeli government now permits Shams’ citizens to file for Israeli citizenship, the Syrian authorities still consider the villagers to be citizens of Syria. Boarder crossing is permissible, however, sometimes only out of Israel. It is one thing to contest over boarders and land, it is another to contest over people.
For those who have never seen The Syrian Bride (2004), it is a compelling film that tells the story of a woman forced to decide between marriage and the one place she has always known. The filmed was shot in Majdal Shams and offers an authentic view of life for natives in the Golan. A full version of the film is available on youtube and embedded here.
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This afternoon I returned for the fourth time to the welcoming village of Kfar Manda. It was here, in the home of my dear friend, with the familiar sting of Arabic coffee in my throat, that I witness the election of Mohammed Morsi. Egypt’s new president marks a great transition as well as trepidation for those who feel threatened by the Muslim Brotherhood. It is important that I write now, though there is only so much I can unpack in one sitting, because tomorrow morning I will leave for three days in Amman, Jordan.
I would like to share some resources related to Israeli and Palestinian-based resistance movements. Though I have not had the opportunity to become an active participant within the resistance movement, I commend those who place themselves at risk in order advocate for the rights of others. In my opinion, this is a subject that requires quite a bit of education before action should be taken (on either side).
Too many times I hear the words “Israeli” and “Jewish” being used synonymously. Israel is not exclusively a Jewish nation and members of many other ethnic, social and religious groups hold citizenship here. I write these words as the sole Jew in Kfar Manda, a village of 15,000+ Muslims. As Avi Melamed explains, “the Arab Israeli conflict is a struggle over narrative –symbols, names, awareness and identity are all central, and of utmost importance. By continuing to allow mistakes and misconceptions to live and evolve on both sides, the conflict perpetuates a process of flawed perceptions and those perceptions become reality.”
This is especially important when long-term conflicts span generations because mistakes become set in collective consciousness and soon are accepted as facts. “And the danger is” Melamed states, “that sometimes there is no desire to change the awareness even when people know it’s wrong. More alarming, the conflict does not just breed this process; it is bred by this process. And thus a vicious cycle is created which is very difficult to break. And the conflict continues and gets worse…”
I was privileged enough to meet Avi and to learn about his mission which reminds the world that “Israel speaks Arabic”. Melamed, an Israeli Jew, is the founder of Feenjan, an organization that addresses the Arab world about Israel using the Arabic language. Feenjan’s goal is to add an Israeli–Jewish voice to the narrative in a balanced, objective way. Feenjan fosters an online community of Israelis and Arabs that communicate with each other, thus contributing towards more understanding and tolerance. As Kurt Tocholsky observed at the time of Nazi Germany, “A country is not only what is does, but also what it tolerates.” Tolerance of a misrepresented narrative is something that I would like to see change in Israel.
It is getting late, though I feel the need to at least mention the work of a young poet and activist named Moriel Rothman. His leftist politics and poetry is accessible via the blog The Leftern Wall. Moriel serves as an advocate for Palestinians who are currently loosing their homes to Israeli zoning laws. Like Moriel, I reject Israeli bulldozers destroying the homes of Palestinians and want to help spread the word. Two days ago there was an important peaceful demonstration in the village of Susya, which the poem below describes. Here are also two pictures posted by participants in the demonstration. Please listen and then follow along to The Leftern Wall to learn more.
Thank you for reading. Please share your response or comments. Perhaps an approach to the question: Where Do I Stand?
Blessings from my journey to the experience of the Human Heart,
Levi Gershkowitz June 24, 2012 Kfar Manda, Israel
Protest in Susya, South Hebron Hills, 22/06/2012. About 350 Palestinian, Israeli and international activists gathered in Susya village to protest against the 56 demolition orders distributed by the Israeli Civic Administration which, if carried out, will destroy the entire village.
“Tonight is March 31, the last day in Women’s History Month; let’s see if we can make history for these women tonight.”
For those who were unable to make it to tonight’s Women Empowerment Program, here are some of the notes I went off of to begin our conversation about the need for developing skill-based training for Kathmandu’s incarcerated female prisoners.
It is important to keep in mind that not all prisoners in Nepali prisons are Nepali. A large number of political and foreign prisoners are incarcerated for various crimes. Yes, that includes Americans.
Rehabilitation and training programs have been found to increase morale among prisoners and decrease levels of despair of helplessness. In the past, not all prisoners have been allowed to participate in these programs and their involvement may depend on personal matters within the prison system, ie relationship with prison officials. The recommendation for providing prison rehabilitation to prisoners has been discussed in Nepal since the early 1970s. Again, this is not the first time that an ex-judge of the Supreme Court has made recommendations concerning prison reform, however, this is the first time that an ex-judge has been the one willing to do the ground work. Thank you Sharada. Due to Nepal’s limited info structure and facilities capable of treating the mentally ill, many women who suffer from mental illness are sent to prison, whether they have committed a crime or not, instead of being admitted to an appropriate hospital. In 1988, legal staff working at Kathmandu’s Central Jail reported that 75 our of 125 female prisoners suffered from some form of mental illness. The hostile environment of prisons is greatly intensified by high numbers of mentally ill (untreated) prisoners. In order for the prisons to run smoothly, healthy women are often forced to become caretakers for their fellow prisoners. Released prisoners have reported that prison administration often take advantage of these mentally ill women and chose to withhold ample supply of food and clothing. In addition to being caretakers, healthy prisoners have organized hunger strikes and protests within the prisons in order to rally for equal rights.
After starting this work, the question people ask me most is some form of: “but what have the women done?” My understanding of this popular question reflects a widespread hope that the women we are talking about are generally not guilty.
Q: Historically, what do you think is one of the most popular crimes that women are guilty of and committed to penitentiary?
Theft, attempt to divorce, prostitution…
A: Abortion
[Let’s have dialogue now]
Thank you to all of our supporters and to those who attended this special event.
Join Friends of Nepal-New Jersey as we continue to work towards the betterment of underprivileged women in Nepal
This event will focus on the experiences of two marginalized groups in Nepal: female prisoners and women seeking reform from working in brothels. Tickets are $20 (which includes a delicious meal) and all proceeds go directly to establishing skill-based vocational trainings for these women as they embark on a life changing course.
Please register ahead of time. This will help us to prepare an appropriate amount of food and set up for the event. Still, last minutes guests are always welcome. The evening will also include a presentation by FONNJ’s Goodwill Ambassador, Levi Gershkowitz, who will be reflecting on his months spent in Nepal and the situation for female prisoners in Kathmandu.
FONNJ has been successfully supporting low-caste and underprivileged women in Nepal through micro-credit loans. Strong examples of this work are our goat distribution projects and sponsoring female student education in government schools. Now that these program are running strong, we are expanding our female empowerment program to include women incarcerated within the Kathmandu prison system as well as women reforming their lives from living/working in brothels. Eat with us on March, 31 and the money for your plate will go to supporting this meaningful project. Thank you. Pass this invitation along to any you feel would be interested.
With additional questions contact Dr. Tulsi Maharjan: 908-369-4318
We are grateful to St. Lukes Lutheran Church for offering their space.
DIRECTIONS:
St. Lukes is located just south of the center of Dunellen.
From the intersection of Washington Avenue and North Avenue in Dunellen, continue south on Washington Avenue and under the railroad tracks. After the railroad tracks continue south to the first traffic light at Walnut Street. Make right onto Walnut Street and follow one block to stop sign, St. Luke’s Church will be directly ahead.
While the festival of colors filled the streets of Kathmandu, we celebrated our own palette of diversity at the International Institute of New Jersey, calling together the first meeting of the Nepali-Bhutanese-American (NBA) Coalition. ("B" may have to double for Burmese, thank you for hosting Mya.)
The Hindu festival of Holi, popularized around the globe by pictures of people covered in brilliant colors of paint, took place this week and marks a time of merrymaking and welcoming Spring. Similar to the Jewish holiday of Purim that is celebrated on the same full moon, Holi is a time for disregarding social norms and reinvoking the wilderness and playful joy that often remains dormant in “civilized” society.
Here in New Jersey, we observed Holi in a different way. Ten members of the Bhutanese-Nepali refugee community were called together and joined by executive and program directors of the International Institute of New Jersey to give voice to their needs. With a growing understanding of the Nepali language, I listened to stories about friends and families left behind in refugee camps inside Nepal. As the IOM works to relocate the remaining 40,000+ Lhotsampas still living in refugee camps, less and less attention is being paid to the individual bodies that actually make up that number. Although it is sad to learn about people being treated as numbers on a screen or piles of papers sitting in a file cabinet, I am learning the ways of a refugee case worker, learning what is possible and how to facilitate greater understanding on both ends.
Together with my mentor Dr. Tulsi Maharjan, we marked the coming of Spring within this community by distributing packages of seeds for planting, fresh deer meat and laptop computers -not quite the bright colors of Kathmandu yet a diverse palette of our own kind. Happy Holi to those who joined and may the light that was in that room know no limits.
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An important comment was sent to me by e-mail in response to a past post:
“about your blog’s comment that Gurung are lower caste people. …in Nepali Gurung are called Janajati and in English the word is indigenous, they don’t fall in lower caste.”
Thank you for bringing this to my attention and helping me to navigate the intricacies of the Nepali social structure. I did some reading about what specifically defines a group as Janajati and found some fascinating resources.
Janajatis are defined as persons who have their own language and traditional culture, and who are not included under the conventional Hindu hierarchical caste structure (NESAC 1998). The Janajatis are thus for the most part indigenous people. Given their isolation, which results from the mountainous terrain in the north of the country and the (till the 1960s) malaria- infested forests in the south, they lived what seemed to be lives separate from the rest of the country. While the number of members of each Janajati community tends to be small, Janajatis are spread out nearly all over Nepal, constituting 35.6% of the total population (CBS 1993). Thus far, the Government has recognized 61 communities as being Janajatis, but the count may not be totally complete, and in the case of certain communities there is controversy as to whether these people are to be counted as Janajatis or not (Himal 2000).
The situation of the Janajatis, economically and otherwise, varies widely from one community to another, and depends on many factors such as physical isolation, whether or not they are nomads, the role relegated to them historically by the ruling elite, and loss of their traditional community-owned lands as a result of actions by the Government or other groups within society. The Janajatis that appear to be the worst off are those living in the Terai and the midhill regions.
Programs targeting Janajatis were initiated in the late 1980s, and with the coming of democracy there is more awareness of their situation. The Government established the National Committee for Development of Janajatis (NCDJ) in 1997, for the purpose of coordinating its programs for the upliftment and development of indigenous people, but thus far, its activities appear for the most part to be limited to distribution of funds to various Janajati organizations. For example, during fiscal year 1999/2000, of its total budget of NRs10 million, slightly more than half was distributed to several Janajatis organizations. The other government program is the Praja Development Program (PDP), which is primarily active in the upliftment of Chepangs of Chitwan, Dhading, Gorkha and Makwanpur, which are the largest Janajati group, and the most backward of all Janajatis. In the case of the Janajatis the Government faces an even more difficult task, since unlike the Dalits who face more or less the same issues regardless of where they live, the Janajatis comprise different groups of people at various stages of development, who live in varying degrees of isolation.
Again, thank you for shining light on my not-knowing and encouraging me to discover so much more in the process.
Dilmaya Nepali, age-38, supports five family members and is one of ten women from Batulichour, Pokhara to receive the helpful gift of a female goat.
On 25 Feb, 2012 Businesses Professional Women (BPW) of Pokhara initiated their first goat distribution program focused on the Dalit women of Batulichour, Pokhara. The successes of this program would not have been possible without our valued donors sponsoring the gift of these much needed animals. An additional thank you to Laxmi Gurung for believing in this vision and making it possible to expand Friends of Nepal -New Jersey’s impact to the Pokhara valley. We are fortunate to have your organization as a partner in this important work. Let this mark the beginning.
As I think back on the green hills of Pokhara waking up to spring, fields of mustard and peach blossoms offering their scent to a welcoming blue sky, I am filled with gratitude for those who continue to carry the torch by bringing new opportunities to those who are truly deserving.
Proud to announce that starting in April 2012, students at the Shree Udaya Higher Secondary School will begin receiving scholarship support from FONNJ and the Damauli Rotary International Club. It was both an honor and true learning experience to establish this scholarship and facilitate the process of bringing together a group of people whose agreement immediately impacted the lives of students and their families.
Nursery children at the Shree Udaya Higher Secondary School welcome a returning visitor to their classroom.
Even for parents who admit that educating their children is most important, it just isn’t something that most Dalit and Janajati* families can afford. On average, full tuition (including registration, monthly fees and exams) cost the equivalent of 180 USD. Get this, that amount covers a child’s entire ten years of schooling. Unfortunately, harsh financial constraints still keep many children from completing school or even being able to afford the uniform which is necessary to attend in the first place. (Note: preschoolers are not required to wear uniforms.) Like everything in Nepal, school fees can fluctuate from year-to-year based on the current government’s education policies. However, despite rising and falling numbers, the steep cost structure remains the same. For example, when students transition from the 5th to the 6th class, the annual fee more than doubles (from 700 to 1520 NPR), leaving many families unable to afford continuing their children’s education. For families with multiple children, as is customary, some will be sent to school while others are kept at home.
*Dalit and Janajati refer to low-caste groupings of Nepali society. In the area of this particular school Dalit includes the sub-castes of Kami, Damai, Sarki and Sunar – Janajati includes Darai, Kumal, Bote, Gurung, Magar and Newar.
Sangam Gurung
Although the needs of the children outweigh the support we are able to offer, the benefits of one single child’s education is enough to transform an entire community. This year’s scholarship will begin with 12 recipients, all of whom will receive full support for the duration of their entire education. Unlike what a typical scholarship distribution may look like in America -metal placard on the wall and check in the mail- the awarded money will be given directly to the students, every six months, in the form of cash. Pictured here are the two youngest students who will receive their scholarship over the course of the next nine-and-a-half years.
Kiran Nepali
—–SCHOOL BACKGROUND—–
Shree Udaya is a government school in the Tanahun district of Nepal, located 50km east of Pokhara and 4km outside of Damauli northwest of Prithivi Highway. For those unaccustomed to Nepal’s geography, this means that Shree Udaya is relatively easy to access, yet remote for the villagers living there. It was established in 2032 BS by civic societies working towards the benefit of educating Dalit and Janajati students. In the beginning, the school only ran up to the primary level. After 22 years, Shree Udaya rose to offer secondary education and then higher secondary in 2067.
As anticipated, the school’s facilities are limited. There are currently four buildings which do not offer sufficient space for all the students. The majority of students come from marginalized groups reflecting the intricate demographics of the area. Within this particular school, the split between male and female students happens to be even, as well as the balance among staff and faculty (10 male to 7 female). Never-the-less, 70% of the students selected to receive scholarship will be girls. Most of the student’s parents are manual laborers involved in farming and construction. There are not enough job opportunities or steady employment available for families in this area to meet their daily needs for food and shelter. Many struggle and therefore can not afford to support their child’s education.
The school successfully ran a fund raising program last year called Maha Yagya, which raised enough to support the construction of a new toilet facility and the purchase of eight computers. The computers sit in a room that has yet to become the school’s library. In the coming years, we hope to initiate a library program here as well and support the administrators movement in the direction of a computer lab. The fundraiser also made it possible to begin offering more courses for the class 11 and 12 students. This curriculum is gravitating towards a technical based model that will require the integrating of computers and other technical trainings. English medium classes are being run from the first four years. This means up to class three because one of those years includes a preschool program. The school’s vision is to continue to expand to the point where they can construct a student hostel on site to house children who travel great distances by foot or those who do not have homes. In the future, their full aspiration is to offer Bachelor level education to the greater Dalit and Janajati community which is estimated in the thousands.
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With the echo of 200+ students calling on my name, Leviji, I left the hills of that place forever changed. The final blessing upon leaving the village was being waved over by a young man into a field to photograph his lovely family. Three weeks prior I had met him and his (then) uber-pregnant wife. Now, she had given birth to these beautiful twins and wanted their new pride to be documented.
In my mind they remain resting in the nest of their mother’s shawl strewed across the lap of a fertile village growing with the sun
“Their laughter is infectious, honest and real. What once animated itself as silence, down-turned chins and embarrassed eyes, has hatched into a room full of fluttering hands. Laughter lingers on late into the afternoon. My students are learning! I am learning. Together, so much becomes possible once we commit ourselves to a common goal.”
Wednesday, February 1, 2012.
Gita, Lal Devi, Levi, Noina and Sushi
I am proud to share that three weeks ago, six of my female students completed their 36-hour Thai Yoga Massage training. Now I know why so many people have been encouraging me to write. Because even as I do, I hardly believe my own story. Each piece was so precious as it fell into place and allowed for our course of study to unfurl. After a month of service to working at the Nepali Yoga Women Trust (NYWT), a gem of experience and wisdom was revealed. It brings me so much pride to know that a dozen gracious hands are now on the loose in Pokhara. These women are not a force to be reckoned with but a strong fleet of massage robots waging war with compassionate touch.
On any single day in our class, the bodies in one room often came to represent eight different countries of origin. What could be more beautiful than a diversity of individuals all sharing one experience, together for hours and asking to return for more tomorrow?
Sometimes, when I lay back in bed before taking the smooth road to sleep, I amaze myself through recounting the many accomplishments, lessons and fresh ideas conceived, born, grown and passed in one day. Despite how marvelous this phenomenon is each night, the one thing that amazes me more is the simple thought “so, what is possible tomorrow!?”
Today is Sunday, February 19th, 2012 and though my heart seeds have been scattered all over the vast green and blue, my feet are now once again walking familiar sidewalks. I returned on Friday to the lingering bareness of a belated winter. My face and forearms carry the red hues of many afternoons sunned on the shores of Phewa Tal. The freckles on my neck, which usually lay dormant until Spring, shine bright in a sky of skin that is healthy and radiant. My eyes are alive. They have seen different ways and have learned to turn towards inner horizons for orientation and stability.
I
gracious soft quieted
feel
In the best way I know how, I miss people, many many people. Some of them have already left from where my memory holds them to swim in new currents, further their exploration, embark on fresh adventures or return to landscapes and languages that they call home. Blessings to the ones who have touched my life in the past several months. You have nutrified and inspired me to grow into my own footprints. To be-come and to share. You have been my family, teachers, students, colleagues and friends. I stepped into the unknown and met hands to hold and eyes to gaze into. Some have used their words to paint portraits of me that otherwise I would have never seen. Thank you for being so courageous and honest with your brushstrokes. Thank you for daring to dream with me. Thank you for tending to the fire when its heat became too much for me to withstand alone.
There is so much that had to be let go of before leaving Nepal but I have not let go of the light that was given to me.
The following is a poetic abridgment composed by Tom Bassarear of an article originally written by Rachel Naomi Remen. Tom is a gentle and intelligent soul, and whether he knows it or not, he served as a major catalyst in my decision to resume my life’s conversation with the people and cultures of Nepal. I have been carrying a copy of his writing with me for several months and feel like sharing it with others.
During my time here, I have met several people to embody the type of service described in this poem. Devika Gurung is one of those magical people. In the coming weeks I intend to write more about her inspirational work. For now, follow the link provided at the bottom of this page which features a brief documentary made two years ago.
Blessings my friends. There is a delicate balance of both laughter and tears which keeps us whole. This poem highlights a lot of what so many of you have taught me just by being yourselves and allowing me to witness you. It sits in me like good medicine.
In The Service of Life
When we help, we use our own strength to help those of lesser strength. When we help, we may inadvertently take away from people more than we could ever give them. We may diminish their self-esteem, their sense of worth and wholeness.
When We help someone, that person generally feels a sense of debt, of owing us. But serving, like healing, is mutual. There is no debt. We are as served as the person we are serving. When we help, we have a feeling of satisfaction. When we serve, we have a feeling of gratitude. These are very different things.
Serving is also different from fixing. When we attempt to fix a person, it is easy to perceive part of them as broken, and their brokenness requires us to act. When we serve, we see and trust the wholeness that abides in every person. It is what we are responding to and collaborating with.
There is a distance between ourselves and whomever we are fixing. However, we cannot serve at a distance. We can only serve that to which we are profoundly connected, that which we are willing to touch and be touched by. This was Mother Teresa’s basic message: We serve life not because it is broken, but because it is holy.
If helping is an experience of strength, fixing is an experience of mastery and expertise. Service, on the other hand, is an experience of mystery, surrender, and awe. Over time, fixing and helping are draining and depleting. Over time we burn out. Service is rewarding. When we serve, our work sustains us.
Because we are humans and imperfect, there is some helping and fixing in all our service. It is not black and white. However, my experience has been that when my intention to fix and to help becomes less and my intention to serve becomes greater, I feel and know the difference.
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The Nepali Yoga Women Trust is a grass-roots organization focused on empowering women in Nepal. The organization is run by the spirited Devika Gurung and is based in Pokhara. I reached out to Devika upon reading about the vocational trainings her center offers and volunteered to lead an informal Thai Yoga Massage class. Within one day I had five eager students ready to delve into this ancient art. Devika is a native to Nepal and has a deep understanding of Nepali culture and awareness of social issues. Emma lives in the UK. The two women are from vastly different horizons, but met at Devika’s yoga centre with a desire to help the women of Nepal. They decided to start a project that would allow women to reassert themselves in society by developing their unsuspected, inner-skills. Their desire is to create a positive environment where Nepali women can learn how to heal and support themselves. Guess what… it’s happening.
Spreading awareness about this project helps to bring empowerment to the efforts put fourth by Devika and all of the organizations supporters and volunteers. I will be writing more soon about my experience teaching in Pokhara as it unfolds. In the meantime, read more on the websites below and let me know how it makes you feel. Really, this blog is meant to be interactive. Let’s make it live!
Devika Gurung founded the NYWP with Emma Despres in November 2007.
The Nandi Ratri School (est. 1947) is located in the ruins of Kathmandu’s Naxal Bhagwati Temple and supports the learning of boys and young-men who are determined to complete grades six through ten, equivalent to a high school graduation. The school’s multi-generational approach caters to the needs of these students who struggle from within a limited socioeconomic system to achieve their education. In order to accommodate the outside work schedules of its students, the Nandi Ratri School runs its classes in the evening, from 5:30-9:00pm.
Since 2005, Friends of Nepal-New Jersey has supported scholarships for the boys and men of Nandi Ratri. On 13 December, we completed the 2011 award ceremony and facilitated a program including all available students, teachers and administrators. As encouragement to the school’s unique mission to motivate underprivileged learners, FON-NJ’s scholarships are given specifically to students in the middle echelon of academic performance. Over the years, Principal Bijaya Lakshmi Sharma has observed how giving attention to students whose scores rank below 3rd in the class helps to raise the overall performance of all students. To date, each student who has received FON-NJ’s scholarship support has excelled during exam time.
Academic funds often go further when viewed as investments for future learning, rather than rewards for past accomplishment. Because of the difficult nature these boys face, poor academic performance is not necessarily a sign of inability or lack of effort. As most of these students are required to work from a young age to support themselves and their families, poor performance in school can be seen as a clear reflection of their greater life-situation. The money that is received in scholarship is enough to fully reimburse the cost of annual tuition or ensure that an individual student will have enough money to continue their education the following year. As long as students maintain good marks, once received, their scholarship will follow them concurrently throughout their school years.
Based on the USD increase in relation to the value of the NRP, the donated $600 was able stretch further and provide an additional 3500 NRP worth of scholarship funds which were distributed to a group of young students. Less than 10% of the total scholarship fund was used to purchase non-cash prizes which were distributed in the same fashion as awards for academic excellency and progress.
Pawan, a teacher at the Nandi Ratri school for the past 27-years, shows his exuberance for life.
Thank you to Principal Bijaya Lakshmi Sharma for hosting this program and to all the students in attendance, many of whom are included in the slideshow below.
A special thanks to Pawan, for his time spent explaining the details of this important program and much more importantly, for his 27-years as a devoted teacher at the Nandi Ratri School. Shree Pawan, your dedication is an inspiration to all who teach selflessly.
After suffering near-complete destruction from an earthquake 12-years ago, the Naxal Bhagwati Temple, where the school is also built, was never properly restored. At the bottom of this post are links to articles talking about the history of the temple and its plans for reconstruction. Increased attention in this project would similarly benefit the community’s reinvested interest of the Nandi Ratri School. Like the temple, the students of Nandi Raitri School are in great need. For those interested in contributing to the scholarship fund, please contact Tulsi Maharjan (trmaharjan@gmail.com) and visit our website:Friends of Nepal-New Jersey
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On 13 December, 2011 the following ten students received scholarships sponsored by FON-NJ.
Carving Karuṇā 