Peter Hartzell and Beth Harrison
April 2024
The day after we arrived in Kathmandu, we visited Unisha, one of our ANSWER students who we have corresponded with for six years. She lives in a community just outside of Kathmandu, but we still had to take a four-wheel drive vehicle to reach her village and walk the remaining few hundred yards to her home. Her family warmly greeted us with malas and garlands of marigolds. It was wonderful to meet all her family and converse mostly in English with help in translation from the ANSWER Nepal staff.
We also saw Unisha in Kathmandu at an ANSWER Alumni Association monthly meeting, attended by college age current and former students, and again at a luncheon for all students sponsored by members of our church in Redwood City, California. At the luncheon we interacted with students from all over Nepal, many (including our second ANSWER student Karina) had traveled by bus for over 12 hours to attend the luncheon.
We then spent a week visiting schools throughout eastern Nepal traveling in an 11-passenger bus with a driver, 4 ANSWER Nepal staff, and 3 U.S. ANSWER Board members. The drive introduced us to some of the topography of Nepal and the evident challenge of road building and maintenance, not to mention driving! Up, up, up we climbed on near vertical switchbacks only to drop down the other side without a guardrail in sight and rushing rivers a long way below. After two hours of travel on our first day we arrived in Newakot, located in a verdant valley full of rich green rice paddies and a rushing major Himalayan-fed river. We spent the afternoon at a school where two students were presented with letters from their U.S. sponsors and spent an hour diligently writing their responses.
The next day we visited a very impressive school in Gaindakot. The principal had attended a program for international school leaders in Missoula, Montana and brought back ideas for his own school, including a worm composting project that generated fertilizer for the school garden. Before returning at 7 pm to our hotel we visited the homes of three students whom ANSWER is considering sponsoring. These children introduced us to their parents and the places where they live– small farms and auto parts shop.
Over the next few days our trip took us through the Terai (far eastern Nepal near the Indian border). We visited schools where there are current ANSWER students as well as potential new students for ANSWER scholarships. There is an involved process for evaluating potential scholarship recipients. We felt fortunate to be tag-alongs to meet the students, listen to the evaluations and participate in home visits—we got a real inside view of at least one region of the country. Along the way we met fascinating teachers, administrators, and families and tried novel and strange food and drink.
Overall, we witnessed a part of the world where the standard of living is extremely low. None of the student families we visited had a television and very few even owned a refrigerator. Some had running water, none had modern toilets or plumbing, and air conditioning seems reserved for hotels—not schools or homes. In addition to visiting the private or “boarding” school where there are ANSWER students, we also stopped at two public or “government” schools and the conditions were abysmal: 100 students per classroom, toilets so inadequate that girls often don’t attend school–it was depressing and deplorable, which makes the students’ seemingly upbeat attitudes all the more remarkable. And, it underlines one big reason we all sponsor ANSWER students–so they can attend better (if still not first world standard) schools where they will not only gain a much more comprehensive education, they will also have access to higher education and superior jobs.
We are very grateful to the ANSWER Nepal staff and U.S. Board members who so graciously welcomed us to join on this “working” trip to eastern Nepal to visit current and potential future students.
Overall, we witnessed a part of the world where the standard of living is extremely low. None of the student families we visited had a television and very few even owned a refrigerator. Some had running water, none had modern toilets or plumbing, and air conditioning seems reserved for hotels—not schools or homes. In addition to visiting the private or “boarding” school where there are ANSWER students, we also stopped at two public or “government” schools and the conditions were abysmal: 100 students per classroom, toilets so inadequate that girls often don’t attend school–it was depressing and deplorable, which makes the students’ seemingly upbeat attitudes all the more remarkable. And, it underlines one big reason we all sponsor ANSWER students–so they can attend better (if still not first world standard) schools where they will not only gain a much more comprehensive education, they will also have access to higher education and superior jobs.
We are very grateful to the ANSWER Nepal staff and U.S. Board members who so graciously welcomed us to join on this “working” trip to eastern Nepal to visit current and potential future students.
