Friends of Nepal

No, that is not a typo, one hundred and ten!! This is a re-post from Doug Hall, Friends of Nepal member in New Hampshire…

The Bhutanese community here in New Hampshire, along with the small resident Nepali community, celebrated the 110th birthday of Kashi Ram Rai in Manchester NH in January.

He is New Hampshire’s oldest resident and, as far as anyone knows, the oldest Nepali in the world. We had a 4 hour celebration and culture show and Kashi Ram got up and danced!

A few months earlier the New York Times had published an article noting that the last veteran of World War I had died. When I was talking with Kashi Ram, he surprised me by telling me that he had been in a British/India Gurkha regiment sent to France and had fought there in the war, returning home to Nepal in 1920. He emigrated to Bhutan in 1928. So the NYT was wrong.

Here are two links to photos taken at the event
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7174771@N07/sets/72157622992904375/with/4235719132/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7174771@N07/4235814030/in/set-72157622992904375/

You will note in the photos that the culture show included some very traditional Nepali dances as well as some Nepali hip-hop and a Nepali Michael Jackson routine!

This event was videotaped as well. The cameramen were two refugees who had been given training by the local cable TV station. Eventually the tape will be integrated with other material that is being developed to create a professional movie about the history of the Bhutanese who are now being integrated into New Hampshire. The project planning is being funded by the NH Humanities Council. The organizers of the project are our local non-profit movie theater, the public library, and the cable station.

KATHMANDU SUSTAINABLE URBAN TRANSPORT STUDY

A presentation by Team leader David Irwin

AT:                Indigo Gallery

WHEN:           Friday February 5th

TIME:             6:30pm

ADMISSION:  FREE

The number of vehicles in Kathmandu Valley has increased dramatically in the last 10 years. In 1990 it was 150,000. Today it is 3 times more, at 450,000, of which 74% are motorcycles.

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Edwon is a wonderful organization that we have support through our grants program for several years.

Path way to Empowerment

The prime goal of Association for Dalit Women Advancement of Nepal (ADWAN) is the empowerment of Dalit women of rural parts of Nepal. ADWAN aims to empower Dalit women through education, business initiatives and awareness.  ADWAN tirelessly worked for ten year launching continuous programs and activities related to these themes. Since the process of social transformation is slow, it took longer time to get the achievements and outputs of so much devotion and effort.

The impacts of the programs, in the initial years, were not visible, measurable and remarkable. Gradually the impacts of ADWAN’s work are coming into the limelight. 71 women groups from different part of Nepal are working and struggling independently for their economic, political, social, educational and livelihood betterments. After a long course of time the pre-school program, scholarship, sponsorship, loan program, gender and caste awareness trainings, human rights workshops, group meetings and discussions, inter-group sharing program, motivation and mobilization of groups for community development works have evolved the individual Dalit women and children to have become empowered. There are numerous examples of women and girls leading progressive and transformed way of life in ADWAN’s project areas these days.

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I just received this update from Indra Dai. Thanks to all of you who contributed to his treatment!!!

POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT

Chief of Party, Combating Trafficking in Persons (CTIP) Program
Kathmandu, Nepal

Effective with the release of this position announcement, Winrock International will be recruiting applicants for the position of Chief of Party with the Empowerment & Civic Engagement Group. The responsibilities, duties, and qualifications are described in the attached position description. Position is contingent upon receipt of donor funding.

GENERAL: Winrock International is a nonprofit organization that works with people in the United States and around the world to empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity, and sustain natural resources. By linking local individuals and communities with new ideas and technology, Winrock is increasing long-term productivity, equity, and responsible resource management to benefit the poor and disadvantaged of the world.
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This is Shyam Shrestha former PC/Nepal Admin staff. I am seeking your assistances to find expertise (among our RPCV/N as well Nepali who you know) and are interested working in Nepal on Biodiversity project in Nepal.  We are seeking on the following areas;

* Community-based natural resources management and conservation;
* Biodiversity and climate change (adaptation and mitigation);
* Governance of natural resources and land tenure;
* Environmental policy; and
* Transboundary community managed reserves

I would like to reqeust you to put this message on the air within our friends. Also those who are inerested could reach directly to Jenny Pan at jenny_pan@dai.com for the detail.

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INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP – NEW REPORT

Nepal: Peace and Justice

Kathmandu/Brussels, 14 January 2010: Nepal’s peace process is undermined by the failure to address the systematic crimes committed during the country’s conflict.

Nepal: Peace and Justice*, the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines the impact of the abuses and impunity on the peace process, the institutional cultures that allowed the crimes to be committed in the first place, and the prospects for progress on justice. Tackling justice now is not only feasible but would also improve the chances of re-establishing productive political negotiations and salvaging the credibility of the parties and the state. For those directly affected by the conflict, in particular victims and their families, the pursuit of justice and reparation, as well as the truth about the abuses suffered, is not an abstract concern.

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The The Asia Society and Friends of Mongolia are looking for speakers for their ur event, “Bringing Everyone to the Table” to be held at the end of February/early March in Washington DC. The event is co-sponsored by two nonprofits, The Asia Society and Friends of Mongolia and will be held with the aim of promoting awareness and interest in Asia.
Bringing Everyone to the Table has been regularly held in the past at local DC restaurants by the Asia Society.  This particular event co-sponsored with Friends of Mongolia is themed Asia through the perspective of RPCVs.

The format is for each speaker to host a dinner table of 10-12 diners, speaking with the table on their topic throughout dinner.  We are asking our speakers to informally discuss their Peace Corps country and experience, with the speaker preparing a 10-15 minute general talk to start the discussion off with and then the floor being given over to Q&A from the rest of the diners. The audience will mostly be young professionals who are interested in Asia.

We are in the process of confirming the date now.  If you are interested please let me know, we’d love to add you to our prospective speaker list!  Dinner will be complementary.

Best regards,

Angie Braun
abraun@friendsofmongolia.org

I am a Nepal RPCV (group 193) who is also a member of the American Nepal Friendship Society.  Please consider posting the following invitation to your members in the New York City area;

Dear New York City Nepal RPCV friends and family,

The America Nepal Friendship Society (ANFS) cordially invites you to the Welcome Dinner Reception for newly appointed Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations His Excellency Gyan Chandra Acharya, on January 9, 2010. Please mark your calendar!

Venue : Tangra-39-23 Queens Boulevard, Sunnyside, NY 11104
(At the corner of 39th Street & Queens Boulevard; just off of the 7 train stop).
Tel: 718-786-8181

Date:  January 9, 2010
Time:   6:30 PM
Donation:  $25 per person for Nepal RPCVs

For questions and RSVPs please contact andrew.burtless@anfsusa.org.