Social Action Report Nepal
Jimmy is working with some of the poorest people in the Helambu communities to improve the quality of education for their children. These are the communities, which are often forgotten by the government and not reached by other support networks. The children attend small local schools, without proper uniforms and without essential supplies or a book to read. Through the project H.E.L.P- Helambu Education and Livelihood Project- supported by the Mondo Challenge Foundation, Jimmy is working on building classrooms, setting up libraries and supplementing lessons with additional teachers across 11 different local schools impacting the lives of about 1,200 children.
“Ensuring gender equality in education is a vital part of our aim while working on improving the quality of education in these schools. When I discuss the needs and ways to resolve their problems with the local people, I use the principles and values shared by the Children of the Earth to respect their feelings, accept them as who they are, seek a partnership at all levels and not to overwhelm them with the modern thinking pattern over their traditional and cultural values. The whole idea of this project is intended to improve the environment of the school in which the children must grow healthily, and improve the facility to foster their creativity.”
- Jimmy Lama Chapter Leader in Nepal
NEWS FLASH May 2011! Currently, Jimmy Lama is engaged in building, furnishing and providing equipment for 7 new classrooms.
Click Here to read Jimmy Lama’s report entitled “Role of Youth for Establishment of Peace” summarizing his attendance at the Interfaith Workshop in Kathmandu, Nepal on February 6, 2010.
On the 21st of September, Jimmy Lama invited 2 schools to celebrate the International Day of Peace and plant trees. With this campaign Jimmy brought awareness to children and villagers about the importance of taking care of our enviroment, helped stop the terrible deforestation and erosion going on in Nepal, and ensured a future source of income for the community from the fruit trees that were planted.
The Event started with the teachers introducing the Principles and Ethics of COE and talking about the importance of celebrating IDP. Over 450 plants were planted by children around the school area and in an opened land vulnerable to landslides. The Children were joyously happy to be able to also join the world with singing, painting and dancing during such an important day and promised to make a difference on a daily basis by helping and loving their younger siblings and showing more respect to their elders.
Report November 2011
COE Nepal Chapter Leader, Jimmy Lama, continues to inspire us by turning spirituality into action through his passionate and effective projects throughout Nepal. Most recently, the COE family received a letter from Jimmy exuberantly discussing the plethora of successes he has achieved in these past few months.
After a slight set back from original plans, Jimmy said he “quickly redirected a small sense of failure into success” by applying for a grant to fund the construction of an educational center in Helambu. He received this prestigious grant and thus began the plan to create a center he says will “enable better education for more children, while establishing a platform of training for teachers in the region.” Such components will include many elements, modules and trainings from the COE Handbook to utilize the concepts of Connect, Reflect, Act.
Currently, Jimmy is working on building six classrooms in three other villages, with two completed last week in the remote village of Dabchung. In addition to that feat, Yash Kumar, a famous Nepalese singer and actor and now COE Ambassador in Nepal, has committed to promoting the work of COE through his music and concerts all over Nepal and abroad. He is starting a month long tour throughout Europe in December, and will wear a COE t-shirt to express the message that we are ONE WORLD and Children of the Earth. Further, he will also print the COE logo on his new album to be released soon, which is expected to sell 400,000 copies.
Now, Jimmy wishes to develop a project to support a large village with a population of around 5000, 500 of those being school aged children. The village school has only four classrooms for the 300 regularly attending students. Jimmy notes that there is “no toilet, lack of good teachers, thus making it one of the most backward villages in the whole region in terms of education.” A region with strong cultural heritage, Jimmy suggests the village as a “great opportunity for youth to volunteer as a way to experience and connect with a traditional way of Nepalese living,” while engaging in peace building and positive development. What a thought…
Jimmy’s Words-
“There is so much of potential within us, and so much more we can and need to do for the world. With our unity and oneness as family, let us tackle the most pressing issues that we identify in our local communities one by one, and leave the example of good work and legacy of real peace. This, for me, is what it means to transform spirituality into action!!”