Schoolhouse in Nepal to benefit from Frisco event

“What school in Nepal has heat?!”

This was a clearly amused Ashim KC, reacting to my questions regarding the poverty and hardships one most endure to get even the most basic education in his family's homeland.

If your child has ever lamented having to go to school — or you've protested the lack of school funding, a talk with Ashim KC, owner of Frisco's Himalayan Cuisine restaurant and Nepal native, will quickly and soberingly put things in perspective. Based on the laughter that followed, asking if a school in Nepal, a country situated in the highest mountain range and thus, one of the coldest places on Earth, has central heat is apparently not the most well-informed question.

The response to Ashim's exclamation at a recent Nepalese holiday party in Denver I was fortunate to attend was an unqualified, “None!” The most basic necessities we take for granted — without which conducting class at an American school would be unthinkable to us, such as school lunches, books, teachers, air-conditioning and even heat — are at best extremely rare luxuries in Nepal, and at worst, inconceivable extravagances.

Ashim and I had been discussing the Sharada Viddya, a school of over 500 students in Gulmi, a remote district of Nepal. Of course there are many impoverished schools and regions even more remote in Nepal, all deserving of assistance, but what makes this one of particular interest to Ashim is that it was originally founded by his late father-in-law, Bhishma Sharma, Phd. (1940-1986) and attended by his mother-in-law, Tarala Sharma, who studied and taught there before moving to Aurora, Colo. Grateful to have enjoyed much professional success, keenly conscious of the importance of education and eager to share his prosperity with his community, in 1965, Bhishma donated the money to renovate and expand an aging and crumbling school in his boyhood village of Wami Maidan and renamed it after his two eldest daughters. Today the school has 13 tiny classrooms and 13 teachers — or just one teacher for every 43 students — all squeezed into a dilapidated building, handmade of stone and mud and so full of cracks staff say a storm or earthquake could easily topple it.

History of neglect

Since the passing of its generous benefactor and in spite of its auspicious beginning, the history of the Sharada Viddya school has been one plagued by neglect and uncertainty. Similar to more developed nations, the government in Nepal is generally expected to provide children with an education to the age of 16. However, government funds have not always been forthcoming and, when they have, they have rarely funded the secondary levels. This is partly because of the mishandling of public funds and political turmoil in the country over the last couple decades due to a civil war, but also because the students that attend Sharada Viddya are members of the so-called Dalits social class, still widely considered to be the most inferior — or “untouchable” — of the caste system and thus a low priority to educate. Consequently, the burden of the operating costs, tuition of the students and salaries of the teachers has fallen on the Dalit families, the very community least able to support such an institution and most in need of public funding to help them help themselves and end the vicious cycle of their misery. So destitute are these hapless human beings that rarely can they afford to allow their kids to stop working in the fields long enough to go to school or even eat more than two meals a day, much less own anything.

“Basically, it's like a living hell!” said Suraj Aryal, a native of Gulmi, now a student of Metro State College in Denver.

To investigate firsthand its current condition and to assess its need for aid, Ashim, who had not returned home for 18 years, traveled to the remote Gulmi district of Nepal in March of 2008 to visit the school and his father-in-law's legacy. Whatever money is missing from the school budgets in Nepal was probably not spent on the roads, which are riddled with accidents. The single-lane road to Gulmi is so rough that the jeep taxi Ashim hired for the trip lost its spare tire from underneath. “It took us seven hours to travel just 26 kilometers!” he said.

Fundraising efforts

In a single evening in July 2007, at the first Sharada Viddya fundraiser in Frisco, the Summit County community raised over $3,000, a substantial sum in any country but especially in Nepal, but not quite enough yet to accomplish Ashim's goal of rebuilding the school and making it a safe place for his people to learn. Encouraged and overwhelmed with the success of the first fundraiser, Himalayan Cuisine of Frisco is inviting everyone to another benefit, “Himalayan Folk Dancing Fotos & Food,” set for 6-9 p.m. Saturday at the Frisco Recreation Building at 3rd Ave. and Granite St. Guests will be dazzled with a delightful evening of traditional Nepalese dancing in brilliant costumes, a slide show courtesy of offbeat and quixotic, globe-trotting, adventure photographer Dietrich “Martín” Baltzer and, of course, a special, savory buffet of Nepalese delicacies. Reserve your seats in advance with a recommended donation of $25 at the Himalayan Cuisine restaurant at 409 Main St. Frisco or by calling (970) 668-3330. Whether enough money will be raised to install central heating remains to be seen!