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!

A huge part of the progress made in Nangi village is because of our volunteers, who come over from all across the world and share their precious time with the children and rest of the community. Dr. Deb Stoner has recently been contacting our past volunteers to share their story with us. Here are the first of their incredible stories (We will keep you posted as we hear more, and if you are a volunteer, or know a volunteer, have them download the volunteer feedback form and send to Dr. Deb Stoner).

• Jonni Lehtiranta
• Allison Schultz
• Andrea Chen
• Emily Christie
• Anukool Sathu

Hello All;

Nepali friends from Hong Kong have invited me for one week and tell them about the wireless project. My plan is to be there from December 23 to 30 tentatively.

Mahabir

Thanks to Mahabir Pun’s efforts, many village women in Nangi now have a sustainable income to help support their families.  It is difficult for westerners to imagine the impact that bringing an additional $2.00/day can make on a family’s well-being: it is the difference between having enough money for a few extra things at the local ’shop’ for the kids, an occasional chicken from traveling salespersons, or a festive new sari for a special occasion.

Over the last four years, the women have had several trainings focusing on how to construct diaries which are made entirely from handmade paper and how to trim the books so that they are appealing to western markets.  Initially the diaries were transported by tourists but finally this year we were successful in shipping 252 diaries from Nepal to the US.

They are made 100% from the Lokta tree, unlike most other hand made paper that is a mix of ingredients.  The bark from the Lokta tree is renewable so cutting off the branches and stripping the bark only results in more branches sprouting from the shrub.  The women have also began developing local dyes made from the walnut tree.  The process is detailed and time-consuming: harvesting the plant, pealing the soft outer bark from the wooden stack, finely separating the strands of each piece of bark, soaking, cooking, and pulverizing the material until it is the consistency of mushy, wet paper, and then getting the diluted paper mixture onto frames for drying in the sun.  Finally, the finished paper!  Making the diaries themselves consists of cutting, pasting, and sewing.

The Himanchal Educational Foundation is selling these 70 page diaries for $15.00. Please email Jane Sabin-Davis at jane-at-himanchal-dot-org if you are interested in supporting the women of Nangi village.

The original article appeared in the Wilderness Medicine Society Magazine Fall 06 Vol 4. www.wms.org This describes my experience building the Nangi Clinic and learning the truer meaning of being a teacher and pupil.

Your travels take you out of your own community but the teaching doesn’t need to be left behind. Wherever you go bring your teaching mind and look for an opportunity to share your wilderness medicine knowledge and experiences. My travels to Nepal gave me the opportunity to help a community open a clinic and provide continuing medical education for the health care workers, Lila and Rupa.

“Sharing the Knowledge” 

I was glad I remembered to bring the little pieces of cotton as I stuffed them in each ear. Past experience at Shaman ceremonies had left me with yet another language handicap; that of diminished hearing from hours of loud drumming. I could still hear the Shaman’s chants and rhythmic banging on the pan but at least my ears wouldn’t be ringing all night. The pungent incense wafted by my nose and I breathed deeply, taking in all the sights, sounds and smells around me. The clinic looked different at night, gone was the commotion of people coming and going. Everyone was settling in on the floor and along the walls with the same quieting hush before any performance. I sat down with the Shamans, as they prepared to bless the clinic, and remembered back to the first time I had stepped into the building that would one day become Nangi Clinic…..

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Mahabir Pun, Team Leader of the project is attended the annual convention of Associations of Nepalese in Americas (ANA) as a distinguised guest from July 4 to 6 2008. With the strong support of friends from around the world, he has started a campaign - ”Donate One Dollar a Month to help Build Broadband Information Highway Across Nepal”.

Here is the “Speech of Mahabir Pun” he delivered at the opening ceremony of the convention.

Here is the ”Request Letter for One Dollar a Month Campaign“. Please read it. Also let Mahabir know if you have any questions regarding the request letter. Please sign up for the campaign.

• To donate, please go to http://www.himanchal.org/contribute-one-dollar-a-month.html to set up an annual recurring charge of $12 (i.e. one contribution of $12 each year) instead of having 12 separate monthly transactions of $1 each.
• If you wish to set up your contribution of $1 on monthly basis, you can do it through http://www.nepalwireless.thamel.com. Either way, the money comes to our school’s bank account.
• For those friends, who don’t have credit cards or would like to donate cash, please collect money through your local community organization and contact us at contact-at-himanchal-dot-org. We will assist you to send the money to our bank account through our remittance partners.
• You can also send your check earmarked as “For One dollar campaign” to - Himanchal Education Foundation, c/o Dr. Leonard Skov, 5610 Avenue N, Kearney, Nebraska 68847, Phone: (308) 234-1243, Email: leonard-at-himanchal-dot-org.
• For the people living in Nepal, we would like to ask to donate Rs.50 a month through schools, colleges and local organizations. Please let me know about your interest through email or through phone at 977-9841592361 in Nepal.

Click here to print sign-up sheets and distribute it to your friends - Sign up Sheet

Please Note: You will get tax deduction for your contribution in the US because Himanchal Education Foundation is registered as a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit-making corporation in the State of Nebraska, USA.

Encourage your children to initiate the campaign among their peers in schools so that the children can learn from their early age to be involved in projects like these for good causes.

Greetings from Himanchal Educational Foundation

It is time for a renewal of the quarterly messages to you who have been the stalwart anchors of the financing of the work in Nangi and, more recently, a growing portion of Nepal. We will focus on two issues.

The combination of devaluation of the dollar and increasing inflation in Nepal has resulted in the costs to support the teachers’ salaries in Nangi Higher Secondary School now require a 50% increase in the revenues directed to that purpose.

Specifically, we have been supporting the teachers at a rate of about $2050 per month. The combination of inflation and dollar devaluation requires approximately $3050 per month to provide the same support level.

To put this in perspective, we still experience a terrific “bang for the buck”. The salary funds support the 16 high school teachers. That still calculates to about $2300 US per teacher per year. The 16 teachers are providing a quality education to over 200 students for the US equivalent of $180 per student.

However, the bottom line is that we need to receive an additional $1000 per month to sustain our commitment to the teachers.

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Welcome to Himanchal Education Foundation. We are a non-profit corporation based in the US. Our goal is to support Himanchal High School in the remote village of Nangi, Nepal, a school that is a prototype for community-based educational development in rural areas.

With help from volunteers all across the world, today our school supports grades K through 12, including a computer lab with Internet connnection. We welcome you to hear the story of our journey and stay connected with it in the future. Also, visit our sister site NepalWireless.net to learn of our wireless project to bring communication to people living in rural areas.