I have been asked this question so many times, but I realize
for those of you that have been there no explanation is needed and for others
it just seems like a crazy plan. Why would I leave my home, my family, my job,
my security, the USA. Why would I place my dream ahead of what I have back
home? Sometimes in life, you just know what it is you need to do and there is
no real reason, just a knowledge. Will it be easy, absolutely not! Will I have
security, an income, and all the things that is seen as important. No I will
not. I was asked, “How will you support yourself?” The only answer I have is “With
faith, believing in what I do.”
I will be leaving September to go back to Nepal to start
working on the “Where there is color there is Hope project.” My dream has been for
a long time to start a small art enter in the rural areas. From where we can
train teachers, do art workshops and bring creativity into the schools. The biggest
problem that I realized on my last trip was that nursery children sat in a room
all day without any type of activities. Firstly because they have no supplies
and secondly because teachers are not trained in the majority of cases. The
teachers do not have access to information on activities for child development.
My believe is that we can assist teachers in schools in providing these free workshops
and show them ways to bring art into the classroom without having to spend any
money.
I am trying to recruit teachers and artists to join me from
October month so that we can start working on these programs and begin setting
up something that would be more permanent. You can join for any amount of time,
but periods for longer than one month will be discussed based on your training
and experience. There is a lot of expenses to run these workshops for a long
period of time, but I know in the end it will all work out, even if now it
seems incredibly overwhelming if I try to take it all in at once. So my vision
is just taking small steps at the moment, which the first is to try and recruit
teachers and artists and with the help of FCL find a suitable space to live in Letang.
If anybody would like to join me, as you know I am not charging any fees for
you to join, but we have to cover costs like housing, food, art and workshop supplies,
program expenses, water, lights, internet and basic things like that. I wish I
could do it completely free, but unfortunately, I am not in that position. But
the expenses is not too high and I am sure with a combined fundraising effort
we will be able to cover these costs. I am budgeting around $300 - $350 should
cover all of this per month per person.
Letang is 13 hours from Kathmandu by bus and three hours
from the Indian border, very close if anybody wanted to travel to India. Visa
fees are $40 per month, but you can also get a 2-week visa.
I am planning to arrange
one workshop per day, which is about 2 hours at local schools and nurseries. For
those of you that want to do specific workshops, for example, photography we
can work out a program schedule with the community and schools as it is more
specialized. If you want to commit to this program, please give me an idea of
possible dates and what type of workshops you want to give. School is From
Sunday to Friday (half day). Saturday is rest day. This program is extremely
important to me and to the children. I am planning that this would be the
beginning of something more permanent in the community from where many schools
could be reached. I am open to your ideas and recommendations as I am only
learning still at this point. I am not trained in anything specific, but I have
a dream and a vision for the children and it cannot be possible without your
help.
