Book by Book: On the way down…

I made my way down to Kathmandu this week, having left the Barpak Children’s Learning Center in the responsible hands of Sita, Sanju and Keyrani (who will report to the librarian at the Himalayan Higher Secondary School, where the Learning Center is housed.)

After the handover ceremony of the Learning Center the week before, we had all sat down with the school management committee to discuss expenses and long term sustainability of the Center.

I was starting to worry about the fate of the library after the handover. Barpak is in reconstruction mode, with everyone (including the school teachers) rebuilding their houses, shops, businesses and livelihoods; there was no way that the school could have designated anyone to run the library. I had heard of so many examples of things that had just been built and left for communities to run with no thought put into the costs involved in keeping it going.

Over the last 6 months, I had raised a little over six thousand dollars through crowdfunding to get the Learning Center started. When we calculated all the expenses, we had more than a third of that amount left. This was wonderful news for me because it was important to me that the Learning Center continue for a long time. The saving opened up a few possibilities for us. We thought creatively, brainstormed ideas, did some calculations and agreed on the best use of the remaining funds:

• US$ 2,300 would be set aside in a separate fund as running cost for the Learning Center. The cost would include staff salaries, moving cost (when moving to one other temporary location, and eventually to a permanent location when the school building is ready) and monthly running costs (in US dollars).
• * Salary ($20 X 3 people X 13 months): $780
  * Running Cost (@ 2.50/month): $30
  * Total salary and running cost per year: $810
  * Contingency (moving to permanent location): $275
  * Total budget for 2.5 years: $2300
• The school would ensure that three 11th grade students would be recruited each year and made available for the running and upkeep of the library. They would be paid $20 a month each (quite a substantial amount in the village for an 11th grader to be earning!) and keep it going.
• School will ensure that the library is open all year round/every day of the week, except for cultural festivals, government holidays and emergencies. The learning center would be open between 4:30 and 6:30 Sunday through Thursday, 1:30 through 3:30 on Fridays and 11 to 4 on Saturdays.
• All children of Barpak would have access to the library, without discrimination, on the basis of ethnicity, religion, and/or political affiliation of their parents and which school they attend.

I am excited about this because this money will keep the Center going for a while; and it also gives us time to think about what we and the community can do beyond the two and half years.

Now for the mandatory before and after pictures:

The morning I was to leave for Kathmandu, I woke up to the sound of rain thumping on the roof (even when it is pretty light, the ruckus it makes on corrugated tin roof is more effective than any alarm I have ever set on my phone). It poured on for the rest of the day, including the whole way down to Baluwa, at the base of the mountain that Barpak sits on.

The misty hillsides were streaked with waterfalls — I have never seen so many in one view! I also saw quite a few landslides that had been triggered by last year’s earthquake (and aftershocks). In fact, even more seem to have occurred in the two weeks since I’d made the journey up. As I was walking, I noticed that the never-ending rains had washed away portions of the trail or blocked them, so we had to make detours and forge new paths through slippery hillsides.

I had left Barpak with a large umbrella and a leech-stick (a long branch with a pouch of salt tied at the end to ward off the leeches — osmosis at work there!). The path was littered with leeches — thousands of them hanging from bushes and lurking in the tall grass on the sides of the trail. Four of them even got as far as my socks! I got to them before they managed to get in and do too much harm. And the trusty leech stick came to my rescue.

The hike up to Barpak had been close to 5 hours; the hike down, even with a lot of chocolate and photo stops, took only 2! Although the journey down was significantly shorter, it took no less of a toll on my legs. I had to pay up the next morning and for a few days after, when I could barely walk and was wobbling along the streets of Kathmandu. My calves hurt like crazy!

I even brought back some presents with me — a bag each of roasted soybeans, red rice, millet flour, a pouch each of Lek ko chyau (high altitude dried mushroom), and Silam (Perilla seeds).

Since I’ve been back in Kathmandu, I’ve talked to Sanju a couple times. The first read-aloud at the library seems to have gone really well with quite a few kids attending. And every day, children from neighboring schools have been coming as early as 4 and asking for the library to be opened up before schedule! Apparently they have been coming to the library straight from school.

I am really excited to see so much interest in the Learning Center. The original intent of the center was that it would be a place where children of Barpak could come together, learn and play. I am happy to be able to say that the this seems to be working.

I am looking forward to checking in with Sanju, Sita and Keyrani on progress occasionally. After all, Barpak is only a call or a click or a message away.