December 4, 2002

After a long discussion, teachers and the villagers agreed on blue and brown for the colors to paint the metal door and windows. The school building is white washed with lime on the upper half and with dark brown on the lower part so that it will look clean for a long time. Villagers also set bricks inline in front of the school to plant flowers. The whole school was cleaned and decorated with colorful papers tied up in string for the inauguration.

After working for nearly two and half months and utilizing over 2,100 volunteer hours, the Ananda Primary School in Daidawari was finally inaugurated on Dec. 2, 2000. When they were freed from bonded labor, the villagers only thought of educating their kids in mud huts, and had built one in their village. A concrete school was only a dream. But with the desire of educating their kids to break the life cycle of ex-bonded labor, they all united and work hard according to BwB methodology to build this school, and in the process, set an example in and around the village.

The program began at 11 a.m. with a prayer to the goddess of learning "Saraswati," followed by the singing of the national anthem while villagers offered garlands to their Majesties. The school was inaugurated by unfolding a cloth with the written statement that the school was built in partnership between BwB and the people of Daidawari (red banner in the picture). This was followed by speeches from villagers as well as from those invited. As per BwB policy, we had four male and four female members from the community to speak. It was their first speech in front of so many people and they have only recently been freed from bonded labor, so most of them were nervous and spoke in their local language. Some spoke fluently and some just laughed in the middle of their speech and left.

The villagers shared their experiences and thanked BwB with a special song which the village women made on their own. In the song, the villagers wished that all students, volunteers, staff, individual donors and others be successful in their future endeavor. They also thanked everyone who directly and indirectly supported the project. A local from a nearby village was shocked to see how confidently these village women spoke in front of such a mass (something that would have been impossible three years back when these people were bonded laborers). Students and elders danced and sang with their traditional dresses between speeches. Among the best was a play reviving the bonded labor period, and dances by the two young kids stole the show. The program continued until late in the evening with a big feast that included local food and wine.

As we watched the happiness in the faces of these children and adult villagers, we all realized that no matter where we live, this whole earth is a family. A member living in one corner of this earth can bring happiness to the other members of family in many ways; Building schools in places of need is one such way.

With this update, I, Gopal Gurung, would like to say goodbye to all of you. Thank you for tracking the construction and progress of the Daidawari school. We will meet again when BwB breaks ground on a new school in a new village in need.

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