Final Report for Making Lives Better

Title of the Project

Making Lives Better

Project Location

Eight Districts of Nepal

(Solukhumbu, Okhaldhunga, Salyan, Lamjung, Tanahun, Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur)                                                  

Home Institution

Westminster College, Fulton MO

Students

Pradipti Rajbhandari, Westminster College, MO

Sneha Bhandari, Westminster College, MO
Raghabendra Pratap KC, Rollins College, FL
Sajala Pandey, Smith College, MA

Section I

With a strong intention of making the lives of thousands of Nepali children better and healthier, we set out on a mission to promote the importance of clean drinking water through the installation of water purifiers. Access to clean drinking water is a basic necessity; however, a significant proportion of the Nepalese population is deprived of this very minimal level of comfort. There exists a significant correlation between clean drinking water and healthier and more productive children. Children in good health today can become industrious citizens of the society, and help build peace and prosperity in the future.

Project expansion was always one of our main concerns and hence, we held multiple fund raisers throughout the academic year to financially support our goal. Two of our major on campus fund raisers were “Dine for Nepal” dinner and a handicraft sale. Besides these, once in Nepal we sought financial help from various business organizations; all of these efforts combined with the generous funding from the Davis Foundation took our project to a whole new level.

Working with a local organization, Sagarmatha Integrated Development Centre in Nepal made the entire site navigation process a lot more efficient. Furthermore, partnering with an international group like Water Aid allowed us to add the WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) dimension to the project. Henceforth, our project not focused on a much wider aspect, installation of water purifiers and promotion of the importance of sanitation and hygiene. The extensive fund raisers that we organized allowed us to cover 34 schools instead of the 10 that we had originally planned for. In addition to the finances, we had the support of multiple volunteers who put their heart and soul in the project, to make sure things worked out well. Both of us being the residents of Nepal, we were very comfortable with the location and never faced any cultural restraint. The warm hospitality of the host schools and the community as a whole made our project an experience of a lifetime. In spite of the extensive level of planning to ensure the smooth functioning of the project, we did run into some minor technical difficulties. Few of the locations that we had chosen differed significantly from what the management had described it to be; in other words those schools used peltric set for electricity generation that did not support the minimum voltage requirement for the machines. Hence, we had to draw back from those schools with orientation only. However, our partner organization had multiple selections that we could choose from.

Our target group mainly included school children in the rural areas of Nepal, our project as a whole benefitted nearly 15,000 students. However, the actual impact is expected to be even larger as our orientation highly emphasized on spreading knowledge throughout the community about clean water and hygiene. Despite the fact that our project was at a grass roots level, the project is expected to have a positive impact both in the short-term and the long-term. With the clean drinking water and better hygiene habits that we expect them to follow, each child will become a much healthier individual with better school attendance. Into the future, with a well educated and a healthier workforce will bring about the bright future for the nation and ultimately for the world as a whole. We mark this project as a beginning to our life long endeavor and commitment to serve the global community as a whole.

Section II

Peace today is more than just the absence of war; it is the idea of being able to live happily with a sense of belonging to the entire global community. For us, a peaceful life strongly correlates with healthier and happier life. Our project mainly targeted the most vulnerable group in this area of Nepal who had the potential to benefit from and live up to our definition of peace. Lack of clean drinking water caused our project areas to face a significant amount of health risks due to water borne diseases. Hence, following the installation of the water purifiers we hope that the total number of children affected by these diseases would be drastically altered. In addition to the filters and water bottles that we distributed, we also talked to the children about water borne diseases, hygiene and sanitation, and alternative ways of water purification. The main purpose behind this was to ensure that the project impact spread across the community. Looking into the future, we hope that these children will develop the feeling of giving back to the society and be supportive of each other. With healthier lives and better education, we believe these children will build a nation that we always have hoped for, as residents of Nepal.

The project not only worked to benefit the children but also the project members as well. The entire process, starting with the initial research to the actual implementation taught us much more than we had expected. It was a learning experience like never before; it was the hands on experience that we actually needed to implement what we had learned. We complain when we have a fifteen minute power cut because of a storm, we complain when we do not get a good reception on our cell phones, we complain about not being able to travel after a heavy snowfall and so on! But now we realize, there is a bigger portion of the world that has to struggle for a 15 minute access to electricity, they will probably never own a cell phone and their world is pretty much limited to their household.

One of the places that we visited during our trip did not have any kind of vegetable because their land was not fertile enough and furthermore, lacked the access to a form of transportation to get it from elsewhere.  All they had for their meals were rice and potatoes, and yet we complain about not having enough restaurants in places we live. We were surprised to see that such a place even existed within a few miles from the capital city.

The project has modified the way we perceive the world in our day to day lives. Living in a community where we have everything, often times we chose to ignore the little things that give us joy. The people that we met and the sites that we saw made us realize that there is so much to see, and much more work that needs to be done in the rural areas of Nepal. More than foreign aid, we need people who are truly committed to the cause and really want to see Nepal prosper. Rather than blaming the government for not doing the job, it is up to us to make every effort possible to keep our community members involved and work for its development. Being the privileged group, it is now up to us to take that initiative and join hands to make lives better. During the course of the project, we realized that we do not need to wait for the right moment to get started on service and you do not need a million dollars to change the world, it has to come from within you.

“The wonderful opportunity that we had through the Davis Foundation allowed me to see what small efforts at an individual level could accomplish. More than a million dollar budget to make a project successful, you need committed individuals who are willing to work together for a cause. Henceforth, this project marks a beginning to my live long endeavor of making lives better around the globe.”

-Pradipti Rajbhandari

“Being a part of the Projects for Peace helped me grow as a person and has made me realize the needs of the people in Nepal. I can never thank the Davis Foundation enough for this wonderful opportunity that has helped me redefine my direction in life. ”

-Sneha Bhandari

Project Summary

Number of purifiers Installed: 33

Types of purifiers Installed: 13 Classic, 10 Aquaflo, 8 Boosters, 2 Pureit

Number of Water Bottles Distributed: 1500

Complete Orientation: 34 schools

Number of Volunteers: 21

Number of Technicians Involved: 3

Areas Covered (See Mapbelow): Okhaldhunga-6, Solukhmbu-7, Kathmandu-7, Bhaktapur-2, Lalitpur-7, Lamjung-3, Tanahun-1

***Numbers indicate the schools covered in each district**

Aama ko Ghar - Home of the Mothers

One day when Dil Shova Shrestha was walking on the street she saw a couple of helpless old ladies. Looking at their condition she decided to bring them home and look after them. At that time she was renting two of her apartments and she thought her income would be sufficient to take care of them. Today 28 elderly women and 47 children reside in "Aama ko Ghar", all of her apartments are occupied and each room has at least 4 beds. All of these people had nowhere to go. some were lying on the streets and had been raped numerous times, some had been asked to move out of their children's home, some were mentally/physically challenged and some just didn't have anywhere else to go. The 47 children had been the victims of 10 year long Maoist insurgency in the country, their parents had been killed during the war. The organization also sponsors their education.

Dil Shova Shrestha has been receiving help from many individuals but she has always had to buy water for drinking purposes. We decided to help her because installing a water purifier in "Aama ko Ghar" would save a lot of money for them that they could otherwise use to maintain the house or to pay their bills. Apart from installing the water purifier we also distributed school bags, copies, pencils and pens to all of the school going children and water bottles to everyone living there. Words can never describe our time there. It was a very heart touching experience and this day will be in our memory forever!

Mini Project Ashirwad

Dil Shova Shrestha inaugurating the machine

A blind lady feeling her bottle

The sign says "Thank you Westminster and Davis Projects for Peace

The Dorms

A day at Jana Udaya School

After completing Project Aashirwad we still had enough stationary left for one more school, so we decided to go to Jana Udaya School in Sainbu village development committee of Kathmandu. There we distribute school bags, copies and pens to 295 students. Our motive was to give these students some kind of inspiration to study and grow up to be a good citizen of the country. Some pictures from the school:

Day 13: End of Journey

We were happy to know that our flight was finally coming today but terrified by the sight of the runway. I had never imagined in my entire life that there would be a runway which isn't even graveled with weeds everywhere!! I took a deep breath of relief after the the aircraft took off.

The runway and the airport tower!

During the 30 minute flight I was thinking how much our entire team has gained from the project and how much we have been able to give to the people there. This entire project would never have been successful without the support of our dear friends Sajala Pandey, Raghabendra KC and Ashish Rana who traveled with us to Okhaldhunga and Solukhumbu districts. We can never forget the kindness of Mrs. Kathryn Davis who funded not just our project but 99 others just like us. Our best wishes to all the fellow project leaders for successful completion of their project and our special thanks to our sister chapter in Rollins College, Florida.

 Wait! We are not done yet, we still have to install a bunch of purifiers here in Kathmandu and the surrounding areas. Stay tuned for updates!

Day 12

We didn't have anything planned for today. We had finished all our installations but still had some posters and pamphlets left so we decided to go to a school nearby and distribute it among the students and teachers there. In the afternoon we were told that "hopefully" our flight will take off tomorrow. The flight cancellations had made us so lazy. All we did was pack our stuff and play UNO the entire day! 

Day 11

Our flight was cancelled and we had nothing to do. We had thought that it would be a good time to take some rest but we got bored and some of us decided to take a walk down to the light house. I chose to stay back because I knew I wouldn't be able to walk but the others went upto the light house, bonded with the people there, went "in" the river and came back with stories to tell me. In the evening we found out that our flight was cancelled once again for Friday and hopefully we would get to fly on Saturday.

Day 10

Our flight was scheduled for tomorrow and we had enough equipment to install another purifier so we decided to go to the school supported by the Canadians. The school was called Everest English School. We had not talked to any of the school representatives before. We were just going to take our chance and talk to the principal and see what he had to say about it. They agreed to install a machine in their school and even though they were not informed and everything was last minute, the school handled everything so beautifully. They brought us everything that we needed and supported us through out the time we were there. We spent time with all of the classes and had lunch with the teachers. By the time we finished the installation, it was 3 already therefore we headed to our hotel. On reaching the hotel we found out that our flight was canceled for tomorrow. We had all our purifiers installed, all our job done and our flight was cancelled. Tomorrow is definitely going to be a long day!

Day 9

All of us woke up happy today. We had completed our project in 11 different school and Sagarmatha Higher Secondary School was going to be the last. We headed to the school but unfortunately we couldn't finish up our program there. The school didn't have water supply brought upto the school which made it impossible for us to install the purifier. We all had to return heavy hearted and took the rest of the day give our feet some rest!

Day 8

We went to Kalika Lower Secondary School today. It is a semi government school supported initially by UNDP and the entire school only has 5 teachers! Even though the school is located right beside a hospital, they didn't have proper resources for even a simple infrastructure like drinking water leave alone safe drinking water. Going from school to school has made me realize our small effort can mean so much for the others. I have probably repeated this line everyday these people are wonderful. They make us feel on top of the world!

The second school that we went to was located at a very difficult location. Well i will rephrase it. Rain had made it difficult to get to our second destination for the day. And rain also delayed everything for us. The students and teachers waited despite that. We had a very good orientation and the children were so grateful to us that they sang and danced for us. some of these children brought tears to my eyes. By the end of the day we were very tired, but glad that we decided to design this project, decided to apply for the Projects for Peace and received the grant.

Day 7

As planned all of us woke up early but the fact that the hotel we were staying in only had one bathroom delayed everything for us. We had 2 schools to cover today but I was happy that we wouldn't have to walk more than an hour. My legs have been sore for a while now.

Our first school was in Barnalu VDC and it was called Rajya Laxmi Secondary School. The principal of the school seemed very committed and very loyal to the school. On asking the locals told us that Mission Aqua had made a big impact to the school and the children. They felt that after knowing about Mission Aqua the school was forced to manage electricity line and to bring water to the school. This will not only give the students clean drinking water but also increases the scope of the school for infrastructure development.

Our second school was called Bhagwati Primary School. It was a small school with only 110 students. we gave them posters and handouts about the water borne diseases and taught them about the importance of clean drinking water. The installation was delayed a little by the rain but the orientation went smooth.

On our way to the first school we followed some children wearing school uniforms and found another school that needed our attention. It was a private school supported by Canadians but the situation of drinking water was worse than others. All of us want to do something for the school and hopefully we will be!   

Day 6

The entire team was up by 5 AM today with the excitement of getting a glimpse of Mt. Everest but all of us were disappointed to the clouds above us. People consoled us by saying that they will clear out by 7am so we went back to work with the installation that we had left incomplete. It didn't take our technician more than 10 minutes to realize what the problem was so after finishing up our work we started loading the jeep. Just like the local people had told us, the clouds started to clear out and the mountains became visible. We clearly saw two mountains "Aama Dablam" and "Numre". Unfortunately we couldn't see the top the world but we did see parts of Everest and I must say, the view was spectacularly breathtaking! I was glad we faced the technical difficulties yesterday and decided to stay back. The clouds covered the mountains in just a couple of minutes and we headed our way to Okhaldhunga.

It had rained so much in the last few days that the roads were all very muddy. After driving for about 30 minutes,  our jeep got stuck in the mud! It took the boys a whole hour to get he jeep out and running. and in about another 2 hours we reached Rumjhatar, Okhaldhunga. Arrangements had been made for us to meet that principals and the management committee of each school that we were visiting. They gave us a warm welcome and we soon started our program. We posted lots of awareness posters in Rumjhatar Higher Secondary School which is the first school we are working with here. After we finished installing, we talked to the management committee and some students who had come to see us despite the fact that it was a Saturday. The management surprised us by setting everything up so quick! We knew for sure now that our project was going to leave a big impact in their lives and that the project is going to sustain!

Day 5

We started walking early today. We had to get to Singhakali Higher Secondary School before lunch and we knew that the walk was not going to be easy. We had to walk through a place where there had been a landslide as as we passed it, we could see some stones rolling down. It was scary as anything but all of us managed to get past it safely. We reached to Tingla VCD on time and met with the principal of the school. He told us that the school was closed but he had managed to collect some students who lived near by for the orientation. We had a good time connecting with the students while our technician completed the installing the filter. The principal thanked us with a very delicious lunch and after that we started our long walk to Pattale VDC.

It took us more that four hours to reach our next destination. As we walked 5 out of 8 of us were experiencing something weird! Were scratching our self all over. We stopped at a place to realize that we were bitten by some bed bugs! Our only option was to keep walking! We walked up a steep hill for almost half the way and when we reached there, we were all so hungry. After grabbing something to eat we headed to the school. Here too the school was closed but the management had asked to students to come for an hour. We finished the orienting them but the installation was taking a while. All the teachers present were helping us with the installation but unfortunately we faced some technical difficulties. It was starting to get dark and one of the founders of the school invited us to stay with her for the night. We had our transportation ready but we had to stay for the night as it was getting dark and the local people promised to take us to a place next day to show us Mt. Everest. We couldn't say no to that!

Day 4

Today was a big day for us. 2 schools and a lot of walking! By the end of the day we had finished installations and orientation in 2 schools. The first one was Jana Jagriti Lower Secondary School which was only about 5 minutes walk. We had encounters with lots of leeches on the way but finally made it safely to the school. We saw that the students were drinking water directly from a pipe that was lying on the ground and was being stepped by their friends. After we completed the installation of the water purifier, we went to each class to talk to the students about the importance of clean drinking water. We also distributed water bottles to all of the children there.

With the principal of Jana Jagriti Lower Secondary School

Then we went back to our hotel to pack up and be ready to leave. After arranging 3 porters we were all set to leave. After about 2 hours of walk we reached to our 5th school. We saw that there were 15 deaf students  enrolled in the school. The management and the students were all very generous and we received overwhelming response from the people. They were so thankful we came. They gave us such warm hospitality  that we forgot it was about to get dark. Playing volleyball with the kids may be one reason. As you might be guessing, we did walk in the dark with only one torch to be shared among 8 people walking on a rough route. We reached where we had to by 8 PM and managed to arrange enough beds for all of us. We knew by looking at all the beds that we were going to have a rough night ahead. We will know how the night goes by tomorrow morning!! 

Day 3

We were told that all our materials would arrive today by flight and we were praying that the weather would be clear. Thankfully it did and we received all our equipment and fitting materials. Our partner organization, SIDC, had arranged for a press conference and invited all the prominent government officials and management committee of all the schools that we were going to visit. The program turned out to be very helpful. We were able to gain support from the district development office and were able to spread the word to the entire region through a local FM radio.

After the program we completed our second installation and orientation in Jana Jagriti Higher Secondary School. It was about half an hour walk from where we were staying. We received warm support from management committee. When we told them we play all kinds of sports, they challenged us for a volleyball game. Later we found out that the girls team of the school were national champions!!!

For our second school , we faced a bit of technical difficulties therefore we decided to send them a different kind of purifier which can purify the required amount of water and doesn't require electricity. All the students going to this school belonged to a caste group called "Dalits". They are considered untouchable and it is believed that if you even drink water touched by them, you become an untouchable too but of course times have changed now. We distributed water bottles to each student of the school.

Day 2

We were heading to Shree Junbesi Secondary School. Some people told us it would be and one and half hour and some told us it would be three. We consoled our self saying it probably would take more than 4 hours. Strong ones out of the group reached there in about four hours and for some of it it was a big struggle walking 5 hours uphill. Once we got there, the school management and our partner organization were really co operative. We got to talk to the students about water, health and sanitation. We also talked about different water borne diseases and how to avoid them. The orientation went well and know we knew what to expect in  the other schools that we were going to visit next. We completed our first installation today and it felt so good to see a girl drinking clean water out of the water purifier. On the way back to the hotel we tried to entertain ourself through the rough walk and took lots of pictures and enjoyed each and every scene on the way. All of us knew that it would be a while before we could return to this place and enjoy such a view.

Handing over the machine to the principal

With the students

Day 1: The Journey Begins

Starting today we are going to post daily journal while we are away for the project and here is our very first one!

The day started with a lot of excitement. we were all very excited as it was the beginning of our big project, we were travelling to a new place, about to meet new people and take first few steps to make their lives better. All of us were nervous too. Nervous because we knew the run way was only graveled, the plane was so small that we couldn't stand up straight and we knew that we would have to carry all of our luggage and walk for 30 minutes to get to the closest hotel. To our surprise the plane didn't bump as much as we had thought it would, the plane landed safely on the graveled runway and 30 minutes of walk didn't seem as bad as we had thought! even though our flight was delayed by about an hour, we reached Salleri on time for lunch. We met with Reena Uprety, our local contact person, and planned out our stay in the district. We had sent all the required machinery and fitting equipment through air cargo and carried only one machine with us. We reached before materials so after lunch we went around for some sight seeing. and prepared for our long walk the next day.

The runway we landed on

School Location around the District of Solukhumbu and the District of Okhaldhunga!

Sponsors for Making Lives Better

Besides the generous funding from the Davis Projects for Peace($10,000), there were several other sponsors from Nepal who helped us with extend our project further. We raised around Rs53,000 ($757), this additional monetary support has helped us extend our project to schools around the Kathmandu valley as well. Our sponsors include:

1. Shahi Creation (Rs.5000)
2. Tibetan Thanka Treasure (Rs. 15000)
3. Quickway Cargo (Rs.3000)
4. Siddhi Das Manandhar (Rs.5000)
5. Paradise Art Emporium (Rs.5000)
6. Birendra Shahi (Rs.10,000)
7. Manoj Rajbhandari (Rs. 10,000)

We also have a number of individuals and organizations who provided non monetary support. Some helped us with soaps, some with publications and others with

1. Sharad Adhikari (Helped us organize the Press Conference)
2. Bijendra Shrestha (Soaps)
3. Water Aid (WASH Publications), http://nepal.wateraid.org/
4. Vivek (BNMT and Image)
5. Chirag Bangdel (Image-Radio Interview)
6. Nepal Tourism Board (Press Conference Venue)
7. Tibetan Thanka Treasure ( Food for the Press Conference)

We would like to thank our sponsors for all their help and support, their help has enabled us to take the project a step further and benefit a greater faction of the underprivileged. Jai Nepal!

Radio Interview now Online!

Thanks to Raghabendra, you can now listen to our radio interview online. There are some commercials in Nepali but the interview was in English. The link below will take you to the recording!

http://www.zshare.net/audio/9203876697940dde/

And yes we are on Facebook!! Like our page and support us!

http://www.facebook.com/makinglivesbetter

For our friends who can read Nepali, we had our story published on an online journal!

http://www.ekantipur.com/np/2068/3/14/full-story/331646.html

Do come back for more updates!!

Official Launch of Making Lives Better, Mission Aqua 2011

Press Conference

Today we officially launched our project in presence of media and supporters. An hour long press conference went very well and we received pleasing response from every one. We are hoping that this will create a ripple effect to spread awareness to the people about the importance of clean drinking water and the knowledge about the need of the people of Nepal.

Pictures from press conference

Live Radio Interview

Later in the day we also had a live radio interview with Mr. Chirag Bangdel. We were all nervous at the beginning but after we met him every thing seemed easy and relaxed. We were on air for an hour on Image FM 97.9 which is heard all around the nation. The interview was a great opportunity for us to get our voice heard and to get to know Mr. Bangdel in person. We were on his facebook status today :) which in itself is an honor for us and our project.

Pictures from the radio station:

Even though this picture is blur, we will treasure it all our life! 

Project Reports

Book Donation (June 8^th, 2011): We were successfully able to donate over 200 hundred books to Maatri Shishu Vidhyalaya in Jawalakhel. We collected the books during our spring semester and all of them came as donation from our staff, faculty, students and community members. We are hoping that this will encourage the students to read more books and develop the creative side of their mind.

“Making Lives Better has really helped to make the lives better of the children in our school. These books will definitely help the children to increase their vocabulary which will go a long way in each and every student’s life” – Sangita Bhandari, Principal, Maatri Shishu Vidhyalaya

View more pictures at: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150272018066391.370991.675661390

Clothing and Toy Drive (June 15^th, 2011): With the help of Rupy’s International School, Making Lives Better was able to collect a truck full of clothes and toys to distribute among the unprivileged people in the Far Western part of Nepal. It felt very good to know that the students had already developed the feeling of giving at such young ages. And to add to it, when the students of 4^th grade saw us loading the truck, all of them came to help us and carried bags that were bigger than them in size!

“It is a great pleasure to be a part of something like this. We are always looking for opportunities to get our students involved in social work. Thank you very much for giving our children a chance to help the people of their nation and thank you to all the members of Making Lives Better for bringing a change in the lives of the citizens of Nepal.” – Rupy Singh, Founder, Rupy’s International School

View more pictures at: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150277655196391.372888.675661390

Aashirwad (June 24^th,2011): The word “aashirwad” means blessings in Nepali. We blessed over 250 students of Kamdhenu School with back packs and school supplies. We received financial support from Machhapuchchre Bank Limited, Investment Bank Limited and Siddhartha Bank Limited. Another huge support was received from Maatri Shishu Vidhyalaya as they sent their students as volunteers to help us with the project.  We hope that this project has encouraged the children to work harder towards getting good grades and taken some burden off from their parents. Also we hope that this will develop the feeling of giving back to the society.

“There are lots of people in this school who are like me. My mom expired 2 years ago and my father is not in very good health. Me and my sister work in the fields to earn money for our education and for the education on two of my other siblings. Support like this can really help us concentrate more on our studies and encourage us to attend school every day” – Archana KC, Student, Kamdhenu School 

View more pictures at: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150289875131391.376024.675661390&notif_t=like