Rural Education and Development

Weekend was great.

It was filled – just filled with brim. Friday was good with the movie. Saturday, as usual was little more relaxing. Sunday we had Shailesh dai, Reema and Atul over for dinner. It was nice and pleasant evening.

Oh! What a hot day today.

It’s been another very warm and sunny day, and apparently there is more to come. Tomorrow promises the same I think……. or there is a rain I heard. I wish I were in the pool soaking up the sun!

Today was good day. A usual Monday, I suppose.

Got woken up early in the morning by the annoying sound of the construction. Seriously, is it not illegal to start the construction as early as 6 in the morning? This thing has really ruined our body cycle.

This afternoon, I went to attend the Nepal-US Indigenous People’s Forum at Harvard University. The talk was about READ (Rural Education and Development). Mr. Sharad Babu Shrestha gave the talk about his experience as a Senior Program Officer with USC Canada and as Project Manager and Deputy Program Officer for Save the Children.

To empower communities by increasing literacy and access to education through the creation, advancement and leveraging of a replicable library-based model for sustainable economic development is the mission of the organization Mr. Shrestha emphasised. The main goal of this organization is Building literacy and communities through libraries.

It all started when Dr. Antonia Neubauer (president of READ) at the end of her trek asked the porter what she could do for him for being such a wonderful guide. The porter, Domi lama humbly requester Dr. Neubauer to build a library in his village and there! She did it.

The READ so far has successfully opened 40 libraries all over the Himalayan kingdom ranging from Panchthar in the east to Darchula in the west and Parsa and Rautahat in far north and south. I was very happy to see the determination of Mr. Shrestha and I am very glad that I got to meet a person like him who has been persistently trying to help our country.

It is heartbreaking to see the news of Middle East. The bluntness and candor, which characterized the war cries of neoconservatives, this weekend was quite striking. Will there be a W. W III? Why can’t there be peace?

I still remember talking with Stephanie, my high school friend from Lebanon and asking whether her families were safe in Beirut. This was almost 12 years ago, back in the high school days. Every one has gone in thier own path. However, the fight is still going on. Meanwhile, the war rages on, the world holds its breath, and the casualties mount.