Update from Nepal: Kantipur newspaper article & translation

Yubaraj and I had the pleasure of being interviewed(!) for Kantipur, Nepal's largest Nepali-language newspaper. Knowing I'd be in Nepal, Kevin Sites suggested we get in touch with Dinesh Wagle, the Nepali journalist who had been with Kevin last may when he met Yubaraj. Dinesh made room in his schedule to talk with us for over an hour on March 5 and his article appeared in Kantipur on March 21.

Here's a translation of the article followed by some thoughts and comments:

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Yahoo! Study after quitting Parking!

Kathmandu- The story of a 14 year old teenager boy was published in Yahoo ‘hot zone’ serial after an International Journalist Kevin, who was riding a taxi, saw Yubaraj Khadka managing taxi parking in a busy street crossing in Thamel. The news printed in a well-read page on the world’s popular website talked about how Yubaraj had to quit his study and get a job to look after his family (parent and others) in a village of Ramechhap. The readers immediately wanted to help. One was Christine Egger, American woman living in Michigan. Over the past few months she contacted donors through a Canadian website and met Yubaraj in Kathmandu last week. She came to Nepal as a backpacker eight years ago and was always thinking about helping people in Nepal, saying those thoughts are “natural and humanity.”

After reading the article about the young Nepali boy, Christine opened a page in Canadian Give Meaning.com to collect donations from people who are interested helping the teenager. In the meantime she researched about Yubaraj through her contacts, and staff from a volunteer coordination office established by a foreigner reached Bethan of Ramechhap [district].

Some people did not want to donate after knowing the actual age of Yubaraj as 16 instead of 14, Christine mentioned; however, he was still eligible to get help. After collecting all the information, Christine sent a letter to Yahoo! Hot Zone giving them information about helping the teenager.

After the letter was circulated on Hot Zone, donations increased. “Now,” she says, “we hope the amount needed will be collected in a few days. The goal is to collect $ 7,700 of which $6,300 has been collected so far. If excess funds are collected, we want to establish a welfare fund for the welfare of children of Bethan.”

Christine’s effort to help Yubaraj, who had dropped out of school and left for Kathmandu after sixth grade in order to earn money for his family, and to send him back to school is an example of how the internet has made this world a small place.

“This is not charity to this individual but an investment in him. The main goal of this effort is that Yubaraj be a capable person after finishing his study and be able to contribute to the society.”

It is thanks to computer networking that Christine came to know about the “Parking Boy,” motivated people from one part of the world to help someone in another part, and collected funds through a website.

“This has been a wonderful medium,” Christine said referring to the Internet. “It plays an important role in connecting one part of the world to another.”

Popular website Yahoo! had appointed Kevin [Sites] as a journalist for their news service and sent him to conflict hit areas. While in Nepal, Kevin published reports in video, pictures, and words – jounalism as a “one man band.”

The young boy, who will start school in the next session, does know what the Internet is however, for him, this opportunity to study has been of inexpressible joy. Yubaraj has his mother and sister at home and his father has been missing for years. He had told Kevin that he used to send money saved from his work to his family.

Christine stressed that their effort through the Internet was not charity or mercy for the Nepali teenager, but that it was an investment. “This is not a help to an individual, but it is an investment on him. For me, this is also a test on whether other children could be helped effectively this way. The objective of effort is to make Yubaraj a person capable to help the society.”

– March 2007. “Kantipur.” Nepal, Kathmandu.

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Some thoughts:

I am mostly extremely grateful that he took an interest in our story and chose to use the Kantipur newspaper to tell people about what we’re doing! I enjoyed spending time with him and it was clear that he was glad for Yubaraj and wanted the very best for him.

A few things we talked about didn’t come through in the article as I’d hoped, though. We talked at length about how our goal with this effort was to fit into Yubaraj’s life and to help him achieve his goals, and I don’t remember ever saying (or thinking!) that our objective was to “make Yubaraj capable of contributing to society.”

I also stressed how collaborative this effort was – that so many people were involved in creating this project, collecting donations, and making it all work. I wish he had stressed that, too, and that he had mentioned the Mountain Fund Volunteer Center by name. They’re doing so much for Yubaraj and it would have been great to bring them some publicity, too.

But my biggest response is gratitude for Dinesh’s time and attention, and an optimism that people in Nepal will read about this project and be inspired to find other ways to use the Internet to bring resources to more children like Yubaraj.