1/8/02

Namaste!!!

Every village has its own experience of working together in their community--be it to sustain its culture, maintain its tradition or build a school or any other development work. The people of Radhagaon showed their strength by working side by side by completing a four-room school on schedule.

Thanks to the sweat of Radhagaon villagers together with BwB's self-help methodology, Shree Mukti Primary School was inaugurated on Jan 3, 2002. After 85 days and on the strength of more than 1,300 volunteer workdays, they built the first school for their kids, which will undoubtedly change their lives.

This is an incredible accomplishment if you consider that the community was formed just last year by people who formerly spent their lives as bonded laborers, working as virtual slaves for private landowners. When they were freed by the Nepalese government in 2000, the decision came so quickly that the Kamaiya had no place to go. In search of a roof over their heads and a piece of land to farm, they were forced to live in makeshift huts made of leaves and sticks wherever they could find open space. Some of them came together to form Radhagaon last year and after the government gave them title to the land last summer, they joined forces with BwB to build the school.

The preparation of song and decoration of the school began a few days before the inauguration. As a ritual, the entrance gate was made of banana tree guarded by a water vessel decorated with red vermilion powder and lots of flowers. The Nepalese flag flew atop of the school and the center ground was cleared for dancing as in the picture. The inauguration program started at 11 in the morning with a welcome song:

Swagatam!!!
Swagat garchaun hamra atithi lai ra abhibawak lai,
Kamana garchaun BwB ko ujjwal bhawisya lai,
Dubo jhai Maulawos hamro Nepalai ma......
In english,
We welcome all our guest and our parents to the inauguration of our school and wish BwB to flourish in Nepal.

This was followed by speeches and more traditional dances. The sweat they poured during this three-month period was clearly reflected in the song. The PSC chairman rightly said in his inaugural address that, "As sun brings daylight, similarly education brings light to the insight of all human beings. So let's give every kid an opportunity to go to school." At the same time, everyone thanked all American high school students and donors who helped them to build this school. As a feast, each working group made different food for all villagers and people invited. The inauguration program was attended by villagers, schoolteachers, government officials and guests from other organizations As we finished the program, we found there were more people from other villages ready to invite us to build more schools So we will meet again as we build more schools in Nepal.

Back