Courtesey of Nepalnews.com:

American Ambassador to Nepal Nancy J Powell honoring Mahabir Pun, the recipient of the prestigious Ramon Magasaysay Award, in a programme felicitating 26 social leaders for their special contribution in the field of social development in Nepal, organised by Antenna Foundation in Kathmandu, Wednesday, Jul 02 09.

Andris Bjornson is a professional photographer who visited Nangi and surrounding areas in Nov-Dec 2008. He took some great shots of the area, and has kindly permitted us to republish here. Check out the mindblowing pictures on our Facebook album (and share yours if you have some good ones from your trips to Nangi!) 

Don’t forget to visit Andris’s site for more pictures and commentary - http://www.andrisbjornson.com/

Robin Shields is one of the earliest volunteers to visit Nangi (we need to get your profile page up Robin .. and now, this fall, he will walk all the way across Nepal, east to west, all 900-odd kilometers through the mountains and the valleys on foot.

Here is a link where you can find more information, and send Robin encouragement and also tips on some of the routes where he doesn’t have much information.

Namaskar from Dolakha (east of Kathmandu) and Happy St. Patrick’s Day….what a crazy combination! Despite it being the day of the green leprechauns there’s ‘nar a bit of green in these hills as the last of the arid season pelts us with dry, blowing winds. The land is parched and a far cry from the green flowing terraced fields of my last fall visit. But I am getting ahead of myself……

The team of Pediatricians from Geisinger Medical Center spent the first week at Kathmandu Model Hospital teaching Pediatric Advanced Life Support and Neonatal Advanced Life Support to the nursing and physician staff. Several CMA (Certified Medical Assistants) also attended. These are the women and men who work out in the rural areas and have medical educations ranging from a paramedic to a nurse midwife. Medical education in Nepal is taught in English so language wasn’t a huge barrier except with the CMAs….but we broke through with hands on practice and help from the Nepalese doctors and nurses. They did a great job and everyone had a successful mega code test…all the pretend kiddies survived.

Seeing Kathmandu through the eyes of “newbie’s” is almost more entertaining than Kathmandu itself. There has been no lack of surprises and laughter each day as Janis, Lexi, Anna and Tessy marvel or more accurately stare in shock at the unusual sights that define this city. As we toured Pashupatinath, Nepal’s most revered Hindu temple, Anna summed it up the best when she looked around at the sadhu (wandering, painted Hindu holy men) and declared “Dorothy we are not in Danville any more”!

Despite Janis taking out the electric lights in two rooms with her 110V surge protector….electric here is 220V….we have not had too many mishaps. Our most funny misunderstandings occur due to Tessy’s heritage. Born in the USA of East Indian parents she can easily pass for a Nepalese woman. Several times people have approached her speaking rapid Nepali and insist she is Nepali despite our objections. I think we could have offered her hand in marriage a few times too.

They were fortunate…or not…depending on who you ask….to be here during Holi Festival. It’s kind of a water sport festival….a harbinger of the drenching monsoon season to come. And drenched we were….everywhere you go in the city people….well, mostly kids and teenagers….throw water balloons at you…..filled with colored….let me elaborate….day glow colored bright red and orange dyed water. The more ambitious throw buckets of water and balloons from the roof tops. It’s a toss up when walking….look up to avoid a balloon and risk taking a direct face hit or dodge through the streets commando rabbit style.

The second week we were off to Dolakha’s Gaurishankar Hospital for more PALS and NALS…..stay tuned.

Debs

The women started producing paper again this January. So far they have produced 1,454 sheets of 20 grm paper and 91 sheets of 40 gm colored paper.  97 kg of lokta bark has been harvested from Nangi and 194 kg lokta has been harvested from Ramche village in February. We purchased lokta @ Rs.50 per kg. The weather is good and sunny for lokta paper making, so the women are doing a great job.

Chitra Pun

You can help us sell paper products in the US and Canada.  The Himanchal Educational Foundation has a supply of handmade paper writing journals (70 pages/book) for sale.  For a picture, see the earlier post on paper making.

Our homemade Nepali Paper Writing Journals are easy to market.  90% of the times that I have visited businesses in the Northwest, the buyers are happy to purchase our journals @ $10.00/each and sell them at whatever price they want.  We supply bookstores, stationary shops, or small gift shops with everything that they need: information on our Paper Making Project and the Himanchal Educational Foundation, and information on fair trade.

I will send you a demo journal.  Armed with our information, most shop owners are genuinely happy to support a remote village in Nepal where no middle man is involved (taking a portion of the profits).  All you have to do is email jane@himanchal.org to discuss your participation.  Thanks so much.

The Blood Drinking Festival was conducted for five days from 02-06 March 2009; there were 205 people involved. All these people are from around the villages of Nangi, Paudwar, Ramche, Shikha , Narchyang, and Pulachour.  During the festival, 11 yak was killed and sold for meat. Blood was sold @ Rs. 60 per cup. A minimum of 12 to maximum of  21 cups of blood were taken from each yak. Blood is drunk as a medicine for intestinal problems and to get energy. Another festival will be conducted at Khopra Hill in mid-July. The total profit was Rs.141,000, which was alloted Rs. 70,500- for each school of Nangi and Paudwar .

Another aspect of the Yak Fundraising Program is the development of yak herds at Mohare Danda. Two male yaks were taken to Danda for the cross breeding project. It took a couple days from Paudwar to Mohare Danda. The villagers and members of committee of Nangi village did hard job to bring yak.

Chitra Pun, Program Officer

It is always a great day to be headed back and visit my bighearted and spirited HEF friends in Nepal. I look forward to long talks around the fire and sharing cups of tea as we discuss present and future projects for HEF.

The purpose of this visit is multi-faceted. The first few weeks will be in Kathmandu. I am bringing a team of Pediatricians to Kathmandu Model Hospital where we will give a course in infant and child resuscitation. Kathmandu Model Hospital has been using Telemedicine wireless communication with their remote outlying hospitals and clinics with the help of Mahabir Pun http://www.phectnepal.org/contents.php?id=3

Than Mr. Chitra Pun, dental student, and Mr. Chitra Pun, Field Project Officer and I will organize the dental clinic. We will research the purchase of dental equipment for the clinic and oversee the renovations. The dental Clinic is scheduled to open in late spring 2009.

After completing an infant and child resuscitation course in Nangi for local healthcare workers, given by myself and Rupa Pun, I will go to other villages on the wireless system to evaluate the medical clinics. Working with the healthcare worker I will help them develop a plan for clinic improvements and plan their continuing medical education needs.

It won’t be all work as I know I will have plenty of fun time playing with Mahabir’s and Ommaya’s daughters in Pokhara, Frisbee competitions in Nangi and a whole lot of trekking around the Annapurna region!

Deb

The work of Himanchal Educational Foundation (HEF) continues to support the original mission (to provide financial support to the development and operation of Himanchal Higher Secondary School).  The changing conditions (simply put—continued increased costs in the operation of the school and the declined US dollar) have kept us at work with our fund raising.  A major blessing to that challenge has been the expansion of the Board of Directors to bring new skills and energy to the management of the foundation.  With help from volunteers from both coasts, we are about ready to streamline our communications with our supporters about the evolving mission and the resultant need for additional resources.

The volunteer program continues to be a major factor in our work in the village.  We have also “evolved” into an operational philosophy that directs more energy into the teaching mission.  We have learned that, while a volunteer completes tasks that help the village or school or economic development or other goals, we can develop capacity and consistency if we focus more volunteer energy to teaching  the villagers how to do those tasks and less volunteer energy on direct delivery of services.  It is a wonderful example of “If you give me a fish, I will eat today—If you teach me how to fish, I will eat every day”.

As Mahabir’s vision for a college in the Nangi region develops, we can see some very exciting involvement with the teaching mission of volunteers with college experience and skills.

We are also helping, as a conduit for financial support, the Wireless Network project that Mahabir is starting.

We are excited about our evolving mission and we cherish your support—financial, encouragement, and ideas.

Leonard Skov
Chairman, Himanchal Educational Foundation

Download the 2009 January Newsletter

To spread the word out further, we are now on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Himanchal-Education-Foundation/53593235002 . If you are on facebook, please become a fan of this organization and pass the link to your friends. Bonus materials on facebook: recent photographs from our volunteers!