Reading and Reflection Project: off to a great start

Our first meeting with our community partner (SPA) took place on June 10th. The meeting lasted from 6:30pm to 8pm. Everyone was friendly and most importantly, eager to contribute to our project. We started off by explaining to the SPA people what our project is about. SPA explained what and how they work. Jackie and I got introduced to all the members who will be directly involved with helping us with the project. Each of them have expertise in their special areas and it was helpful to sketch out their responsibilities. The most helpful and satisfying part of the meeting personally for me, was probably realizing our link with our partner organization, SPA.

SPA is a budding organization working to help students who are having difficulties in class. The director of SPA, Praveena said that they have about 20 children at the moment that they counsel, meet with their teachers and family and try to make everyone work towards helping the student. Working with SPA, we are not only involving the local community partner in this project, but we are also providing SPA with a stepping stone to further their goals in reaching out to an additional school and establish themselves even more in the community. Although in the beginning the members of SPA weren’t sure what exactly their role would be in the project, we explained to them the importance of this Reading and Reflecting project in a broader context in the future. Once this project is complete, Jackie and I hope to create a bridge between SPA in Kathmandu and CPS in Gettysburg College so that Gettysburg students can volunteer or work further with SPA and projects in Nepal. SPA would be an integral partner in directing volunteers and helping them in their projects. SPA would be the direct link from Gettysburg to Kathmandu and so it is important for them to be directly involved in every step of the project to understand the objectives of the project.

At the end, Jackie and I both left the meeting very satisfied. This is going to be a learning process for all the partners involved. Yay!
-Sneha

On June 18, we had an all exclusive meeting where the community partners (SPA, a local and newly formed NGO) and we put forward our conditions for the library project to the school’s management committee and other teachers and staff. We explained the project in detail and were pleased to receive their support, time, and dedication. Many times meetings start late and there is little turnout but much to our surprise we were very impressed by the 19 teachers and staff that attended the meeting on time at eight o’clock in the morning. The hour and a half meeting was very energetic and dynamic. There were lots of questions and concerns about future sustainability from the teachers and staff. Specifically, they wanted to know how SPA would be supporting them in five years and where future funds would come from for the library. Other concerns of the teachers and staff were the size of the room, the time table of the set-up, and the type of books that will be included in the library. We answered these questions explaining in greater detail about our sustainability plan that includes extensive trainings and ten percent of the royalties from the books we will publish. After these lively discussions, the school agreed to do the first part of carpeting and painting the future library within two weeks time. A Library Management Committee (LMC) was also formed during the meeting and consists of five teachers/staff members and two students. Challenges we foresee for the school are working on a tight timeline, ensuring teacher’s attendance at the trainings, registering books, and making sure the library is used to its full capacity by the teachers and students.

Other than that, I’ve been heavily immersed into Nepali culture and by the end of this week even more so…because it’s the wedding! Sneha’s cousin is getting married and it’s a big deal. Five days of parties and lots of different outfits for each. Also, I finally began Nepali classes because I just can’t be in a country without being able to speak (or try) to people. So I found an institute within walking distance of Sneha’s home and I’ll take 24 hours of classes to hopefully become “conversational.” My professor is Muna and it’s just her and me one-on-one which is a really nice way to learn quickly, but it’s a little overwhelming at times because you always have to be on your toes, no day dreaming there! More to come!
-Jackie

An Intoduction to Life in Ktm

Namaste all!

Thanks for your patience…I didn’t want to write until I had good stories of Ktm and Nepal. Well by now I have quite a few! After the first week of being very very sick we have had many adventures, wonderful meals, good conversations, and our project has started! Highlights include:

- Me biking in the city and the outskirts, trying to keep up w/mountain bike pro Sneha, I was exhausted
- Holding hands because crossing the road is just that scary
- Saree shopping!
- Relaxing in the Garden of Dreams
- Bowling and Java
- Meeting our community partners and visiting the school
where we’ll be working
- Bandhs and Spa Days
- Reggae happy hours
- The gym, breath of fire, and long hot showers
- Grasshopper’s burrito and Ktm Dubar Square
- Snowman’s cake and milkshakes….

Tomorrow we have our official meeting with the school, teachers, and community partners. Let’s get this thing rollin’!