News from Nepal: An update

School year transition for Yubaraj: Following Yubaraj's poor performance on his first report card, we re-instituted tutoring support and saw better grades on the second set of exams in early 2008. Final exams came soon after (the school year was shortened by a month or so pending April 10 elections), Yubaraj passed all subjects, and he's just started the new school year in level 7.


Changes in Kathmandu: Sudhir Lama, who had been our key liaison with Yubaraj as the office manager for Mountain Fund's Kathmandu volunteer center, moved to England in early February. Phurbu Thokar moved into that role, and in March he accepted a three-month position with the United Nations to assist with monitoring the election process.

In the meantime, and perhaps for the long term, we have logistical support from Shyam Gnawali (Om's brother, Basu's son, and Yubaraj's apartment-mate) to forward funds to Yubarj and his family on schedule. He's been doing a fantastic job of helping with the school enrollment and arranging tutoring support for the next several months.

Basu had a long conversation with Yubaraj last week, and passed along his news that his family is doing well and that he feels ready to tackle the new schoolwork. This weekend, I'll have my first conversation with Yubaraj since last fall and look forward to posting more news soon!